The New York Times

Tom Sancton’s book recounts the implications and intrigue that surrounded the L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt’s relationship with a younger man.

Knausgaard’s latest book, the first in a planned quartet, closely describes the material world for his daughter.

In “The New Education,” Cathy N. Davidson argues that colleges must do more to adjust to social and economic realities.

In her new novel, Claire Messud writes about “secret sisters,” “umbilically linked and inseparable,” and about how their bond dissolves.

The narrator of Kristen Iskandrian’s novel, “Motherest,” hoped college would be an escape from an unhappy home. Now she must make a home for her baby.

George Anders’s “You Can Do Anything” and Randall Stross’s “A Practical Education” argue for the value of a liberal education in today’s economy.

In her new memoir, “Rabbit,” the standup comedian tells how she overcame a young life of poverty and drug dealing to become a performer.

George Prochnik discusses Frederick Crews’s “Freud,” and Nancy MacLean talks about “Democracy in Chains.”

All the lists: print, e-books, fiction, nonfiction, children’s books and more.

Two books look at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s strengths, weaknesses, successes and failures as his term comes to a close and he prepares for the election.

One summer, the novelist and the man who would become her husband embarked on an unlikely journey through the heart of New England.

Rereading Maya Angelou, Richard Wright and other mid-20th-century writers is to see anew that Appomattox was as much a beginning as an end.

In “Into the Gray Zone,” the neuroscientist Adrian Owen describes finding signs of consciousness in the brains of vegetative patients.

In her novel, “See What I Have Done,” Sarah Schmidt turns the story of Lizzie Borden and the Fall River murders into a grisly exploration of madness.

Jacques Berlinerblau, a professor at Georgetown, explains that at colleges and universities, you don’t get what you pay for.

Three books on the land, people and culture of the region.

A brotherless reader seeks the fraternal bond through fictional works starring male siblings with fierce and complex attachments.

The growing emphasis on teaching kids computer literacy and programming skills has started to shape children’s fiction.

Pointed ears are not just for Spock anymore. The popularity of “Lord of the Rings” has given rise to latex prosthetics and even surgical modification.

Rachel Seiffert’s novel “A Boy in Winter” probes the bonds and betrayals in a Ukrainian town as it succumbs to Hitler’s armies.

“Cultural Revolution Selfies,” a new book by Wang Qiuhang, includes subversive images, taken during China’s Cultural Revolution, of the photographer himself.

In an age of alternative facts, “fan fiction” about celebrities (living and dead) has become more popular.

The best-selling author Nelson DeMille wanted a house that was appropriately large and Tudor-style — just not too Tudor.

An updated edition of James D. Watson’s “DNA: The Story of the Genetic Revolution” includes new material on the progress in cancer research and the latest in personal genomics.

Yu Xiuhua, born with cerebral palsy, lived a quiet village life. She is now a literary sensation whose vivid, erotic poems are “stained with blood.”

In which we consult the Book Review’s past to shed light on the books of the present. This week: the legacy of Roland Barthes.

Robert Wright, whose book “Why Buddhism Is True” is a best seller, has been a spiritual seeker for a long time.

A writer finds commercial success in Scott Spencer’s novel “River Under the Road,” but at what cost to his self-esteem and his marriage?

In Christopher Bollen’s new literary thriller, “The Destroyers,” a young playboy vanishes on the Greek island of Patmos.

Artists, authors, performers and others stepped down from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities after Mr. Trump’s remarks about white nationalists.

The Chinese authorities had ordered the publishing house to censor more than 300 articles related to sensitive issues or its site risked being shut down.

In three new thrillers the search is on: for a missing best friend, a possibly dead mom and a really angry stalker.

In his latest book, the philosopher Aaron James finds profound meaning in his favorite pastime.

Yuri Slezkine’s “The House of Government” tells the story of Bolshevik elites who became targets of their own terror.

Six new paperbacks to check out this week.

The protagonists of two summer novels, by Nina George and Hannah Tunnicliffe, discover the lives they really want in the French region of Brittany.

Svetlana Alexievich’s “The Unwomanly Face of War” collects memories of the Russian women who fought against Hitler.

Readers respond to the single genre issues, Allen Ginsberg and more.

The first New York showing of all 57 illustrations that Maira Kalman dared to make for “The Elements of Style,” the primer on writing well.

Many celebrities are in on the audiobook business. Here, readings from more than 20 of them.