Book Review: Spineless
/A fascinating new book looks at the unendingly odd jellyfish - and some of the unexpected roles it plays in the 21st century world.
Read MoreOver the Top
/An ambitious new novel joins a long and illustrious parade of writers in telling the story of WWI as a tale of innocence lost.
Read MoreThe Tools We Need
/In times of crisis, what good are books, exactly? Two explorations of the virtues of reading and writing make the hard sell for literature's continued relevance.
Read MoreA Year with the Tudors II: A Flash, a Thud, a Crimson Deluge
/Poor innocent Lady Jane Grey has been an ostentatious martyr to the Protestant cause for centuries; a new book tells her brief but familiar life story as continues.
Read MoreJubilant Cosmos
/The inimitable and meteoric Margaret Cavendish is the subject of a captivating new historical novel by Danielle Dutton.
Read MoreOnce Upon a Time in Kerala
/A pivotal work of Indian literature, Chemmeen is both a romantic tale of star-crossed lovers and a stinging critique of women’s oppression.
Read MoreLessons from History
/In the new novel from the author of The Historian, a young American woman travels across present-day Bulgaria and delves into the country's dark past.
Read MoreThe Disgraceful Lowlands of Writing
/Reiner Stach's masterful, epic biography of Kafka is finally complete. Never has the man been less mysterious, but can it illuminate the confounding, beguiling mystery of his writing?
Read MoreWest of Lovelorn
/The author of the uproarious debut Radium Baby returns with a surreal and oddly heartfelt riff on the YA genre, set in an Old West that ripples with unreality.
Read MoreRacing Toward Mytilene
/Two and a half millennia ago, a war between Athens and Sparta drove Greek civilization to its knees. A new book explores what demagogues and democracies can teach us about the fall of nations.
Read MoreBar-Kochba and Old Bolsheviks
/Not easily classified, Paul Goldberg's The Yid is historical but counterfactual, polemical yet absurd. Above all it is a testament to the Jewish experience.
Read MoreOne More for the Pantheon
/In tense action scenes, stylized dialogue, and rich narrative depth, novelist Ron Hansen tells the story of the Old West's signature outlaw, Billy the Kid.
Read MoreA Year with the Tudors II: Have You Heard It?
/A new book on the famous Tudor dynasty promises that most alluring of all perspectives on royalty: the back-stage details. But can it succeed? A Year with the Tudors continues.
Read MoreIt’s a Mystery: “It is always best to be invited when entering a dangerous place”
/Rennie Airth returns with the fifth novel featuring John Madden, who belongs in the pantheon of great, civilized English sleuths
Read MoreMind the Gap
/A new historical thriller hearkens back to the sensation novels of the 1860s, offering up a twisty tale of murder and madness. But can it live up to its predecessors?
Read MoreIt Happened in Two Mills
/A keenly felt nostalgia mixes with themes of race, loneliness, and forgiveness in Jerry Spinelli's latest novel, The Warden's Daughter.
Read MoreA Year with the Tudors II: “You Are My Grace”
/Jane Seymour is in many ways the most elusive of all the wives of King Henry VIII, dying just weeks after giving the king his longed-for male heir. A new novel delves into the human connection between Henry and his third wife.
Read MoreBook Review: I Contain Multitudes
/If who we are includes the multitudes of microscopic organisms that we house and feed, which in turn help regulate our immunity and sculpt our destinies, then what constitutes the individual?
Read MoreA Slow, Inquiring Narration
/A translation of Peter Handke's latest novel shows the author exploring the essence and possibilites of narration.
Read MoreThe Man Moses
/He challenged tyrants, parted waters, and bickered with God Almighty. Zach Rabiroff reviews a new biography of the Biblical prophet Moses.
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