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10 Imaginary Countries in Books
Nabokov, Bellow, Kafka, and 7 other authors who created places so good they seem real.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of March 18, 2013
This week, what we don't know about memory, rethinking caveman nostalgia, and hidden cities. Plus: Aleksandar Hemon's fist book of nonfiction.
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5 Writing Tips from Blake Bailey
Blake Bailey is an award-winning literary biographer, penning books on Richard Yates, John Cheever and, in the future, Philip Roth. His newest book is Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson and it's just as compelling as his others. Pay attention, because when an award winner has advice, we should all listen.
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What Was It Like to Be an Executioner?
A job executing people in the 16th century wasn't nearly as glamorous as you might think. Joel F. Harrington, author of The Faithful Executioner gives us the gory details.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of March 11, 2013
This week, William H. Gass's first novel in nearly 20 years, cyborg cockroaches, and a roof that changes shape. Plus: one of the most memorable FBI agents since Clarice Starling.
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Why Did C.S. Lewis Write Narnia?
Concealed religious doctrine or old-fashioned storytelling? Rowan Williams, author of The Lion's World: A Journey Into the Heart of Narnia, picks apart the legendary children's series.
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10 Food Secrets You Need to Know
Sneaky cheese, how salt is shaped, and what exactly "bliss point" means. Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, tells you 10 things you need to know about how the food giants are hooking us.
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Weird America: Ben Katchor's Look at the Side of Life You Never See
Ben Katchor's brilliant new book, Hand-Drying in America and Other Stories, focuses on light switches, roofs, fast-food packaging, trash cans, coffee cups, and dozens more things in life we never really pay attention to.
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What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About War
Kenneth T. MacLeish's Making War at Fort Hood is a completely different kind of look inside the lives of soldiers and the process of making war--it looks at the normal lives our armed forces are trying to live, the ordinary aspects of a truly abnormal way of life.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of March 4, 2013
This week, Joyce Carol Oates unleashes the demons, one of the best memoirs of 2013, and a vertical city. Plus: redefining the idea of "Southern identity."
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This Is the Hardest Math Problem in the World
Ian Stewart is a math genius. For us non-geniuses, he tells us about the hardest math problem in the world.
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10 Books That Rewrite History
Morrison, Pynchon, Gaddis. What other writers have jolted readers from what they thought they knew about history?
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of February 25, 2013
This week, inexplicably hostile badgers, pet polar bears, and goblins. Plus, who is Adele Hitler?
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10 Classic Books You Read in High School You Should Reread
In Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School, Kevin Smokler takes you on a trip down high school memory lane, when you couldn't stand reading As I Lay Dying or Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Or maybe you could, you bookworm. Either way, Smokler gives us 10 books and 10 compelling reasons why you should revisit them.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of February 18, 2013
This week: the woman who wouldn't die, what to do if a stranger approaches you, and how to live a life of crime.
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The Man Who Saved Queen Elizabeth's Life
John Cooper's The Queen's Agent is an exploration of the rise of espionage in Elizabethan England, and is just as thrilling as any modern spy novel. At the center of this forgotten corner of history is spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham.
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10 Best Romance Novels, Picked by Bella Andre
Just in time for Valentine's Day, bestselling romance author Bella Andre picks her 10 favorite romance books.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of February 11, 2013
This week, the best dystopian story in some time, a dinner that goes horribly wrong, and what it's like to be stalked. Plus: the latest from Karen Russell.
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Why Do Dragons Look Like That?
Marie Brennan's A Natural History of Dragons is a novel with some fine art from Todd Lockwood to boot. Brennan talked about the book's illustrations and how they fit into the book's narrative.
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PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of February 4, 2013
This week, Maurice Sendak's final book, body snatchers, and two books of poetry. Plus: a Woody Guthrie novel edited by Johnny Depp.
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