 | | "I didn't know that was something you could do, file a criminal complaint against a book," said George Johnson, author of the memoir "All Boys Aren't Blue."Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times |
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Here's your weekly catch-up on everything you need to know going on in the book world. |
- Book banning efforts are spreading across the United States, and while challenges to books that tackle race and sexual identity in schools are nothing new, the tactics and polarization are. Attacking these titles amounts to "removing the possibility for conversation," said Laurie Halse Anderson, whose books have often been challenged. "You are laying the groundwork for increasing bullying, disrespect, violence and attacks."
- Welcome to February. Here are 12 new books to watch for this month.
- I talked to the writer Gish Jen about her new story collection, "Thank You, Mr. Nixon," how China has influenced her work and why it's important — even in fiction — to get the facts straight.
- The Broadway star Chita Rivera — who has defined some of American musical theater's most iconic roles, from Anita in "West Side Story" to Velma Kelly in "Chicago" — is writing a memoir. The book is expected to come out next year from HarperOne, and will be released simultaneously in English and Spanish.
- Fiction out today: "Recitatif," by Toni Morrison; "The Books of Jacob," by Olga Tokarczuk; "Mercy Street," by Jennifer Haigh; "Other People's Clothes," by Calla Henkel; "Vladimir," by Julia May Jonas; "Black Cake," by Charmaine Wilkerson; "Thank You, Mr. Nixon," by Gish Jen; "Don't Cry For Me," by Daniel Black; "My Father's Diet," by Adrian Nathan West; "The Violin Conspiracy," by Brendan Slocumb.
- Nonfiction out today: "Eating to Extinction," by Dan Saladino; "Phantom Plague," by Vidya Krishnan; "In the Shadow of the Mountain," by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado; "What's Good," by Daniel Levin Becker; "The Power Law," by Sebastian Mallaby.
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- "It might be hard for most Americans to muster much sympathy for ultrarich venture capitalists," Jennifer Szalai writes in her review of "The Power Law," but the book's author, Sebastian Mallaby, wants readers to try. The book sets out to explore the "alleged shortcomings" of venture capital but is ultimately bullish about what it has to offer, Szalai says.
- Szalai also reviews "Civil Rights Queen," the first major biography of Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge (among other achievements), by the Harvard legal historian Tomiko Brown-Nagin. Szalai calls the book a "balanced assessment of a brave and brilliant woman who helped to reconfigure the system before she became a part of it."
- And Alexandra Jacobs writes about "The Nineties," Chuck Klosterman's examination of the decade's arts and diversions, from "Seinfeld" to fax machines.
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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. |
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