Books Briefing
Our culture editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Our culture editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Wasting time can feel morally suspect—but it’s essential to the creative process.
The feeling can’t be cured—but sometimes, the words of others can help.
Published works of fiction by nonwhite authors more than doubled from 2019 to 2023—but we may now be seeing a reversal in this trend.
Being stuck is a regular affliction when you do this work for a living, though it can affect anyone who just has to write an email or a birthday card—all of us, that is.
Adam Higginbotham’s new book on the tragedy manages to add depth to a well-known story.
Joan Nathan reflects on Judith Jones and the cookbooks she edited.
Two new literary works from Colombe Schneck and R. O. Kwon feature fascinating, flawed women.
Alice Munro’s death was an occasion to praise her life as a writer as much as her actual work.
Meghan O’Rourke recommends her favorite books about sickness and health.
Through verse, we can perhaps come closest to capturing events that exist beyond our capacity to describe.
The author Adam Hochschild recommends books that vividly illustrate moments of great change.
The author Ruby Tandoh argues for the freedom to cook—and eat—for pleasure.
The Children’s Bach is a striking picture of how ravaged a life can be when unmoored from any responsibility, and of how necessary it is to take care of others.
The books Sophie Gilbert turns to while writing
Two literary accounts of the former president’s rise
In this novel, the act of seeing is an art in itself.
The Atlantic assembled a list of 136 works of fiction that we consider to be the most significant of the past 100 years.
Publishing and film have long had a special relationship.
Lily Meyer recommends books that recollect personal experience without being prescriptive.
Edith Wilson may have been closer to running the country than being a kindly helpmate.