Books & Literature

Before the captivity narrative about a Mexican woman abducted by the Apache in the mid-1800s; before the storyline about Geronimo's surrender; before the torrent of details about the life and peoples on the borderlands between present-day Mexico and the U.S.; there's this first sentence:

In the beginning, things appear. Writing is a defiant gesture we’ve long since gotten used to: where there was nothing, somebody put something, and now everybody sees it. For example, the prairie.

As a culture critic, Lemieux has spent years pushing back against the stereotypes and stigma that follow single mothers. Her new book blends her own memoir with the stories of 21 other Black women.

Allegra Goodman's latest novel is called "This Is Not About Us." But our book critic, Maureen Corrigan, says that title is coy. Goodman's readers are bound to see aspects of themselves and their families in these pages. Here's her review.

novelist Tayari Jones. She wrote her first novel more than two decades ago, but it was her fourth, "An American Marriage," that put her into the national spotlight. When it came out in 2018, Oprah chose it for her book club, and Barack Obama put it on his reading list. It went on to win the Women's Prize for Fiction and has been published in more than a dozen countries, praised as a compassionate portrait of love and justice.

Loubna Mrie grew up in Syria, where her father was allegedly an assassin for the regime. She joined the Syrian revolution first as a protester and then as a photojournalist. Her memoir is Defiance.

Dorothy Roberts is a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2024 MacArthur fellow. Her new memoir is called "The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir Of Love, Race, And Family."

Rachel Weaver worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, where she scaled towering trees to study birds of prey and dealt with brown bears in the wild. But one morning in 2006, Weaver woke up and felt like she was being spun in a hurricane. She'd encountered a medical situation she would battle for years. Weaver's memoir is called "Dizzy," and our book critic Maureen Corrigan has this review.

Writer George Saunders is a Buddhist whose practice informs his work, most notably his 2017 novel, "Lincoln In The Bardo," which won the Booker Prize. Saunders' new novel, "Vigil," also explores the Buddhist concept of the Bardo. Our book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Quiara Alegria Hudes, writer of "In The Heights," "Water By The Spoonful" and the memoir "My Broken Language." She recently published her first novel, "The White Hot"

n 2020, celebrated Irish writer John Banville metaphorically killed off Benjamin Black, the pen name under which he had been writing crime novels. Banville said he no longer felt he needed the pseudonym. So over the last few years, his crime series starring the Dublin coroner simply known as Quirke has been reprinted with Banville's name on the cover instead of Black's. The final novel in that series has just been reissued. Book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review and an appreciation.

poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Her new memoir is called "The Flower Bearers." It's in part about the day she married Salman Rushdie, which is also the day her dearest friend suddenly died. Eleven months later, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times and nearly killed while he was being interviewed onstage. She also writes about her mental health issues, her late best friend and her childhood.

Julian Barnes. His new book, "Departure(s)," is part fiction, part memoir. The memoir portion is about being diagnosed with a rare but treatable blood cancer six years ago. His 80th birthday is Monday. An earlier book, "Levels Of Life," is about grief and the death of his wife of nearly 30 years.

Moore says writing is mostly labor, but "2% of the time, usually at the very beginning of a book and the very end of a book, it feels like flying." She's the author of Long Bright River.

Ben Markovits' novel, "The Rest Of Our Lives," was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and has just been published here in the U.S. Our book critic, Maureen Corrigan, says it's the perfect little literary novel to curl up with, especially if winter weather has you feeling cooped up.

Nick Harkaway grew up hearing his dad read drafts of his George Smiley novels. He picked up le Carré's beloved spymaster character in the novel Karla's Choice. Originally broadcast Oct. 23, 2024.

author Zadie Smith. Her new collection of essays is called "Dead And Alive."

book critic Maureen Corrigan's 10 favorite books of 2025

Our book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review of a new novel that she says should spark all sorts of lively conversations about end-of-life care and what the living owe the dying. It's by Ann Packer, and it's called "Some Bright Nowhere."

Cynthia Erivo, the award-winning actress and singer who stars as Elphaba in the "Wicked" films. She's also the author of a new memoir, "Simply More: A Book For Anyone Who Has Been Told They're Too Much."

Smith revisits her childhood and offers insights into her marriage in a new memoir. Bread of Angels offers an intimate, if imperfect, view of the visionary punk poet.