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Like many of you, I woke up this morning to the news that Hilary Mantel had died, and I immediately flashed back to the thrilling, immersive pleasure of reading the Wolf Hall trilogy, remembering what it felt like to lose myself in 16th-century England for hours at a stretch. |
If you're looking for a guide to Mantel's books, or links to some of the wonderful pieces she wrote for The Times, you'll find them here. Don't miss her razor-sharp 2013 By the Book interview, which captivated me anew when I reread it this morning. Asked what her favorite part of writing a book was, Mantel replied, "The moment, at about the three-quarter point, where you see your way right through to the end: as if lights had flooded an unlit road." |
On our cover this week: Rachel Aviv's exploration of mental illness, "Strangers to Ourselves," which our staff critic Jennifer Szalai calls "intimate and revelatory." I'm halfway through the book, which is utterly absorbing; I'd love to set work aside and sit on the couch tearing through the rest. |
There are other books I enjoyed in this issue, too: Edward Enninful's memoir, "A Visible Man"; W. David Marx's "Status and Culture" (which is, as our reviewer Kaitlin Phillips points out, irresistibly "peppered with the extravagant eccentricities of rich people"); and Jonathan Dee's latest novel, "Sugar Street." |
If you have time, tell me what you're reading! (We may publish your response, or feature it in an upcoming newsletter.) I just started Richard Osman's "The Bullet That Missed," which Sarah Weinman recommended in her latest crime fiction column. On TV, I'm almost done with "The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe," which I think is terrific. |
You can email me at books@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent, and I answer as many of them as I can. Some weeks I do pretty well; other weeks, less so. |
Tina Jordan
Deputy Editor, The New York Times Book Review
@TinaJordanNYT |
- In his new novel-in-verse, "The Door of No Return," Kwame Alexander works hard to show that white people weren't the only ones perpetuating an unjust system. Reviewed by Kwame Dawes
- A West African girl thrust from her family's private Eden confronts awful truths on the high seas in Timothée de Fombelle's "The Wind Rises." Reviewed by M.T. Anderson
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- In the latest By the Book, Andrew Sean Greer, the novelist whose new book is "Less Is Lost," reveals the classic American novel that he detests.
- Essay My Life in Error: A copy editor recounts his obsession with perfection. By Benjamin Dreyer
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