NYT Books

In “The Language Puzzle,” the archaeologist Steven Mithen asks exactly how our species started speaking.

In Munir Hachemi’s novel “Living Things,” four young men seek adventure for “literary capital” and find exploitation.

In “The Indispensable Right,” Jonathan Turley argues that the First Amendment has been deeply compromised from the start.

In “A Place of Our Own,” June Thomas considers “six spaces that shaped queer women’s culture.”

A comprehensive new biography, by Michael Nott, lays bare the tragic circumstances behind a brilliant iconoclast’s life and work.

In Akwaeke Emezi’s latest novel, “Little Rot,” two exes trying to recover after a breakup inadvertently stumble into a dark, disturbing and dangerous side of Nigeria.

In her new book, “Traveling,” the music critic Ann Powers offers a highly personal, even confessional, meditation on Mitchell’s life, work and influence.

Justice, feminism, freedom and cheap horror thrills make for an exciting month of reading.

Notoriously reluctant to give advice, the author offered his views, and meticulous edits, to a lifelong friend: Roger Payne, the marine biologist who introduced the world to whale song.

The second novel from the co-host of the “Who? Weekly” podcast follows a West Village writer in the early 1990s and today.