jtrent238 test blog: The Book Review: A murder mystery locked inside a great American novel

August 25, 2023

Illustration by Juan Bernabeu

Dear fellow readers,

Look at that gorgeous cover! It's for James McBride's latest, "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store," which is the kind of novel I love — one that starts small (in this case, with the discovery of a skeleton in a small-town well) and then slowly unfurls into a story brimming with multiple plotlines, lots of characters, big ideas.

Danez Smith, who reviewed it for us, admired McBride's "full constellation of characters, all of whom orbit around one another with different gravities, pushing and pulling the story in different directions," adding, "the skeleton at the novel's start is almost forgotten as the story lives in the town's past, patiently braiding a tale of this large cast as we make our way back to those promised bones."

For me, it's been the perfect late-summer read, the kind of book you can lose yourself in for hours at a stretch. I'm not sure what I'm going to pick up when I'm done. I'm casting about for something just as immersive — please send recommendations! And if you have time, tell me what you're reading, too. (We may publish your response, or feature it in an upcoming newsletter.)

You can email me at books@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.

Tina Jordan
Deputy Editor, The New York Times Book Review
@TinaJordanNYT

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT READ?

If you like historical fiction, thrillers, crime novels, romance, horror, science fiction or fantasy, we've got ideas. And there's plenty more:

What Book Should You Read Next?

Finding a book you'll love can be daunting. Let us help.

By The New York Times Books Staff

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Editors' choice

9 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

Continue reading the main story

FOR AUDIOBOOK LOVERS

Audiobooks

Audiobook of the Week: 'How to Write About Africa'

A new recording revisits the late Binyavanga Wainaina's rhetorical strength and disarming humor in a collection of essays, stories and satire.

By Dipo Faloyin

A color photo of a man from the shoulders up, staring straight at the camera, wearing a blue-and-white striped polo shirt and yellow-framed sunglasses on his head. He is carrying a backpack.

Audiobooks

From Subatomic Particles to the Cosmos, and Every Bird in Between

Five new audiobooks to download this summer include a breakdown of quantum computing and a tribute to Mary Oliver.

By Sebastian Modak

This is an illustration of sea creatures at the bottom of the sea floor: coral, a pink shell, an octopus, an eel, a crab, a starfish and other fish.

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THIS WEEK IN THE BOOK REVIEW

This is a black-and-white photograph of the actress Anna May Wong. She is wearing a heavily embroidered dress and looking down, with her chin resting on one of her hands. She has blunt-cut bangs, and the rest of her hair is hidden by a giant scarf wrapped over her head.

George Hurrell/Kobal, via Shutterstock

Nonfiction

The First Chinese American Movie Star and the Cost of Glittering Fame

A new biography of Anna May Wong, "Daughter of the Dragon," is intended as a form of reclamation and subversion.

By Jennifer Szalai

This is an abstract illustration of a forest of towering trees, from the perspective of a person who is lying on the ground and looking straight up.

Rachel Levit

Fiction

A Dad Disappears, and His Family Cracks Open

In Angie Kim's new novel, "Happiness Falls," Adam Parson's wife and children question everything they thought they knew about him.

By Jennifer Reese

In this photograph, Sal McCloskey is reading her father's book, "One Morning in Maine," to a crowded room at Curtis Memorial Library in Maine. McCloskey is wearing a yellow shirt and khaki pants. Over her left shoulder, one of her father's illustrations is propped up on a table.

Gin Majka for The New York Times

One Morning in Maine, 225 People Went to the Library

Books or beach? In a coastal town, the decision is easy, thanks to artwork by the author of "Blueberries for Sal" and "Make Way for Ducklings."

By Elisabeth Egan

Continue reading the main story

BEST SELLERS

Read all of our lists
Inside the best-seller list James McBride doesn't read reviews. Here's why.

ETC.

In this illustration of R.J. Palacio, she has shoulder-length wavy brown hair and dark-rimmed glasses. She smiles directly at the viewer, in a blue jacket and a pink scarf that matches the color of her dangly earrings.

Rebecca Clarke

By the Book

The Book That Made R.J. Palacio Cry on the Subway

Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" got to her: "Sure, it's a novel full of unbelievable violence and apocalyptic nightmare stuff," says the best-selling author of "Wonder," "Pony" and "White Bird," soon to be a feature film. "But the humanity and love is there right from the first line."

On the left is an illustration featuring snippets of the book cover for

Photo by Marian Wood Kolisch

The Essential Ursula K. Le Guin

Her powerful imagination turned hypothetical elsewheres into vivid worlds governed by forces of nature, technology, gender, race and class a far cry from our own.

By Shreya Chattopadhyay

This illustration, formed from black paper cutouts on a pale background, depicts two kneeling Black women facing each other in silhouette, their hands entwined. Above them shines a large sun; the space around them is filled with stars, birds, blooming plants and vegetation.

Andrea Dezso

Imprinted By Belief

What Can Literature Teach Us About Forgiveness?

American fiction has always grappled with sin, atonement and mercy. In the second installment of an essay series on literature and faith, Ayana Mathis examines what we can learn from forgiveness.

By Ayana Mathis

A photo of the back of a woman's head and shoulders. Her hands are holding her long black hair behind her neck. Everything except her hair is bright red.

Courtesy of the artist

Up Close

'A Wound That Is On the Mend': Indigenous Art Today

A new book surveys a range of creative output, collectively replacing outdated narratives of Indigenous cultures with the perspectives of the artists themselves.

By Lauren Christensen

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

The book's cover features a full-color comic strip portrait of Schulz (with gray hair and glasses) sketching at his desk, as drawing paper flies through the air.

Children's Books

A Panel-by-Panel Life of the Man Who Created Charlie Brown

Rather than treading on sacred ground, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi's "Peanuts"-style biography brings Charles M. Schulz and the strip together as one.

By Jeff Smith

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OUR COLUMNISTS

Thrillers

A Slow-Fuse Tale of Obsession and Marital Claustrophobia

In Maud Ventura's "My Husband," a Frenchwoman cannot stop surveilling her spouse: "I think of my husband all the time; I wish I could text him all day."

By Sarah Lyall

In this illustration, threads dangle from a woman's hand. Tied to the threads are a house, a car and a face.

Historical Fiction

Big Personalities, Small Towns and Rules Made to Be Broken

These novels remind us of old-fashioned human connections that can't be severed, for better or worse.

By Alida Becker

This is an illustration done in shades of red, pinks, periwinkle and purple. It shows people standing in the windows of a series of adjacent buildings, connected by white dotted lines that appear to stand for noise or music.

Romance

Romance Novels That Celebrate the Hard Work of Love

In these books, love is a choice you make over and over, not just on one day in a white dress.

By Olivia Waite

Continue reading the main story

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