jtrent238 test blog: Books Briefing: December Books

November 30, 2021

Hi readers,

Here's your weekly catch-up on everything you need to know going on in the book world.

The news:

2021 has been a wonderful year for reading, but more is on the way: Here are eight new books to watch for next month.
A man was exonerated last week in a 1981 rape case that the author Alice Sebold described in her book "Lucky." A New York district attorney and state judge agreed the case was flawed.
"The Anomaly," by Hervé Le Tellier, sold more than a million copies and riveted France during the pandemic. Now the genre-bending novel has arrived in the U.S.
In case you missed it, the Book Review announced its 10 Best Books of 2021, and 100 notable books of the year.
Fiction out today: "Pilot Impostor," by James Hannaham; "Small Things Like These," by Claire Keegan; "In Case of Emergency," by Mahsa Mohebali; "The Sisters Sweet," by Elizabeth Weiss.
Nonfiction out today: "Essays Two," by Lydia Davis; "Looking for the Good War," by Elizabeth D. Samet; "Magritte," by Alex Danchev; "Flying Blind," by Peter Robison.

The critics:

Jennifer Szalai says that Elizabeth D. Samet's "Looking for the Good War," a book about the gauzy mythology that has shrouded the historical reality of World War II, is "a work of unsparing demystification."
Szalai also reviews an unnerving book about life after a bear attack, calling Nastassja Martin's "In the Eye of the Wild" a "haunting, genre-defying memoir."
And Molly Young takes up Lydia Davis's new collection, "Essays Two," writing, "Whatever the topic, Davis is always superb company: erudite, adventurous, surprising."

That's all for now. Please stay in touch and let me know what you think — whether it's about this newsletter, our reviews, our podcast, our literary calendar, our Instagram or what you're reading. We on the Books desk read all of it, and I'll make every effort to write back. You can reach me at books@nytimes.com.

All my best,

Joumana Khatib

Books at The New York Times

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