Recent Reviews
‘One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories,’ by B.J. Novak
Novak’s first work of fiction is a hilarious collection of stories and vignettes.
Anthony Marra’s ‘A Constellation of Vital Phenomena’ comes to paperback
Publisher hopes to attract larger audience to new edition of celebrated novel.
Thriller: ‘From the Dead,’ by Mark Billingham
When a clever crook frames his wife for his own murder, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne is on the case.
Fiction: ‘The Exiles Return,’ by Elisabeth de Waal
In novel informed by author’s life, residents return home to Vienna after the destruction of World War II.
Looking for someone more stressed than you? Right here
‘My Age of Anxiety’ is Scott Stossel’s candid account of his many worries and phobias.
When the age of liberty was also the age of slavery
‘The Empire of Necessity’ is the story of a slave ship and the mariner who wanted to profit from the chattel
The AIDS epidemic, as told by a survivor
‘Body Counts’ is the memoir of a gay Congressional intern who became an AIDS activist during the plague years
The partnership between Eisenhower and Nixon
‘Ike and Dick’ is an enlightening account of one of the most important political relationships in U.S. history
The Africans involved in the slave trade
‘Where the Negroes Are Masters’ is an important work about an African port during the slave trade
Book World: ‘Moments That Made the Movies’
Full of memorable photos and savvy commentary by David Thomson, this is a coffee-table book with a brain.
Richard Powers on the power of music to wake us up
His new novel “Orfeo” offers a lifetime’s worth of great listening.
Publisher Richard L. Grossman dies at 92
He published Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed” during the 1960s.
Short fiction: ‘Leaving the Sea,’ new stories by Ben Marcus
These 15 tales are by turns tender, funny, heartbreaking, frightening and occasionally overweening.
D.C. artist wins honors for children’s book about DJ Kool Herc
American Library Association praises “When the Beat Was Born”
Biography: ‘Call Me Burroughs,’ by Barry Miles
A fascinating new biography of the Beat writer William Burroughs.
Fiction: ‘This Dark Road to Mercy,’ by Wiley Cash
REVIEW | All the elements are here for a thrilling drama, but the whole production never generates much heat.
Q&A with Anna Quindlen on the freedom of fiction writing
Her new novel, “Still Life With Bread Crumbs,” is being published this week.
Graphics: ‘Ant Colony,’ by Michael DeForge
DeForge delights in graphic acts of insecticide that yield wonderfully warped and funny results.
What makes an adult book right for teens?
Mark Slouka’s “Brewster” is one of the 10 Alex Award winners this year.
‘The Guts,’ by Roddy Doyle
In this sequel to ‘The Commitments,’ Jimmy Rabbitte and his bandmates face the end of the music.
The American Library Association announces Caldecott and Newbery awards
Kate DiCamillo wins her second Newbery Medal for “Flora & Ulysses.“
Wait is over for paperback of Philipp Meyer’s ‘The Son’
“The Son,” his saga of Texas and oil, was one of the most spectacular novels of 2013.
Historical fiction: ‘An Officer and a Spy,’ by Robert Harris
Robert Harris offers a thrilling novelization of the Dreyfus Affair that rocked France.
Fiction: ‘Under the Wide and Starry Sky,’ by Nancy Horan
From the author of “Loving Frank,” a novel about the marriage of Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny.
Ping pong in the service of world peace
‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy’ is the story of how the Chinese used table tennis as the a tool for Communist propaganda
The marriage of Pat and Richard Nixon
“Pat and Dick” reveals a little more of a marriage that has interested and puzzled this country for a long time.
Unexpected ways creatures populate corners of the earth
“The Monkey’s Voyage” explains how animals took to the sea and colonized the world
Finding one’s way through the landscape and through life
Beset by “empty nest syndrome” Lynn Darling relocated to an unfinished, off-the-grid house in Vermont
‘The Parthenon Enigma,’ by Joan Breton Connelly
The grand frieze on the exterior colonnade of the temple doesn’t mean what you think it does.
Carl Phillips coming to the Hill Center Poetry Series
An in-depth conversation at the beautifully restored Old Naval Hospital on Feb. 6.
Fiction review: ‘What We’ve Lost Is Nothing’
In journalist Rachel Louise Snyder’s novel, break-ins rock a suburb already tense with racial divisions
How the FBI’s surveillance empire collapsed
Betty Medsger’s “The Burglary” is the tale of eight activists who stole files and brought the FBI’s spying to light.
‘Egyptomania,’ by Bob Brier
Readers seeking a serious history of the West’s infatuation with “the land of the pharaohs” should look elsewhere.
“What Humanists Do” — the winter issue of Daedalus
For this special issue, a range of scholars chose the books that inspire them most.
Book World: ‘Orfeo,’ by Richard Powers
A brilliant novel tells the tale of an avant-garde composer accused of bioterrorism.
Fiction: ‘The Lost Domain,’ by Alain-Fournier
The 100th anniversary of the French masterpiece, “Le Grand Meaulnes.”
‘Tales of the City’ wraps with ‘The Days of Anna Madrigal’
Forty years after “Tales of the City” began, and elderly Anna prepares to leave like a lady.
New issue of Granta: ‘Do You Remember’
An essay about South Africa by Jonny Steinberg and a story about dying by David Gates are among the highlights of the winter issue.
Fiction: ‘The Kept,’ by James Scott
A boy and his mom set out to find the men who murdered their family in James Scott’s powerful debut novel.
Washington Post Bestsellers Feb. 2
The books Washington has been reading.
Washington: From cover to cover
From novels to history to cooking and ghost stories, Post editors and critics offer introduction to capital.
Fiction: ‘This Dark Road to Mercy,’ by Wiley Cash
REVIEW | All the elements are here for a thrilling drama, but the whole production never generates much heat.
Book World: ‘Orfeo,’ by Richard Powers
A brilliant novel tells the tale of an avant-garde composer accused of bioterrorism.
Fiction: ‘Andrew’s Brain,’ by E.L. Doctorow
REVIEW | The rambling testimony of a depressed scientist presents a puzzle that’s not worth solving.
Biography: ‘Call Me Burroughs,’ by Barry Miles
A fascinating new biography of the Beat writer William Burroughs.
‘Egyptomania,’ by Bob Brier
Readers seeking a serious history of the West’s infatuation with “the land of the pharaohs” should look elsewhere.
Fiction: ‘The Conductor and Other Tales,’ by Jean Ferry
These very short stories may remind you of Italo Calvino or Steven Millhauser at their most beguiling.
The Africans involved in the slave trade
‘Where the Negroes Are Masters’ is an important work about an African port during the slave trade
The marriage of Pat and Richard Nixon
“Pat and Dick” reveals a little more of a marriage that has interested and puzzled this country for a long time.
Coming of age in Flyover Country
The writer Diane Johnson recounts her Midwest childhood in the 1940s and ‘50s
Literary Calendar
Going Out Guide: Upcoming events
Get the latest on readings, signings and author appearances in the D.C. area.
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Renee Fleming's Super Bowl anthem: Opera goes under the bright lights -
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'Richard III,' freshly unearthed at Folger Theatre -
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Toni Braxton and Babyface team up to sing about when relationships break down
