The Book Review
Episodes
Matt Haig on ‘The Midnight Library,’ Mental Illness and Winnie-the-Pooh
15 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Haig was already several books into his career as a writer by the time he published “The Midnight Library” in 2020. One of those books, the 2...
Patricia Cornwell on Her Dark Childhood and Best-Selling Novels
08 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“Angel Down,” a grisly novel about World War I told in a single, almost 300-page-long sentence, was awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for ficti...
‘The Book Review’ Podcast Turns 20
01 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since its first episode in April 2006, the “Book Review” podcast has played host to hundreds of authors talking about their new works and possibly...
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Renovation,' by Kenan Orhan
24 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dilara, the heroine of Kenan Orhan’s debut novel, is a Turkish exile living in Italy and undergoing a routine bathroom renovation that turns out to ...
The Time Loop Book Series You Should Be Reading
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How is it that a seven-book series written in Danish about a single day repeating over and over has become something of a sensation among the literary...
Patrick Radden Keefe on the Mystery at the Center of ‘London Falling’
10 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick Radden Keefe joins “The Book Review” to discuss his new book, “London Falling,” which begins when a family loses a 19-year-old son, Za...
23 Books We Are Looking Forward to This Spring
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We have made it to April. We survived the snowstorms and the cold, and now that the days are getting longer, there’s more time to read. So this week...
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Kin,' by Tayari Jones
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tayari Jones’s new novel, “Kin,” follows two orphaned girls, Annie and Niecy, who grow up together in Louisiana in the 1950s. Annie was abandone...
Andy Weir on Writing the Hit Book Behind the Movie ‘Project Hail Mary’
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Andy Weir’s first time at the Hollywood rodeo was a singular trip. His debut novel, “The Martian,” went from self-published project to blockbust...
Louise Erdrich on Her New Story Collection and the Mystery of Writing
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since the publication of her first novel, “Love Medicine,” in 1984, Louise Erdrich has written fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books....
The Avett Brothers’ Bassist on Writing a John Quincy Adams Book
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For more than two decades, Bob Crawford has toured the country as the bassist for the Avett Brothers. But long before he began his career as a musicia...
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Wuthering Heights,' by Emily Brontë
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” is a tale of star-crossed lovers: Catherine, the wild daughter of an aristocratic family, and Heathcliff, an...
Director Clint Bentley on Adapting ‘Train Dreams’ for the Big Screen
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The latest film from the writer and director Clint Bentley, “Train Dreams,” is nominated for four Oscars, including best adapted screenplay. The m...
Guillermo del Toro on Writing and Directing the Oscar-Nominated ‘Frankenstein’
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the director Guillermo del Toro has built a career blending the grotesque and the beautiful in films like “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The...
Julia Quinn on Her 'Bridgerton' Books and the Smash Netflix Series
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Quinn published "The Duke and I," the first book in the 'Bridgerton' series, in 2000. Seven books and a quarter century later, its adaptation re...
How Nintendo Became the World's Most Fun Video Game Company
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Keza MacDonald, the video games editor at The Guardian and author of the new book “Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power...
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Hounding' by Xenobe Purvis
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Xenobe Purvis’s slim but powerful debut novel, “The Hounding,” opens with a jolt: “The girls, the infernal heat, a fresh-dead body. Marching u...
Chuck Klosterman Has So Much to Say About Football
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The journalist, novelist and cultural critic Chuck Klosterman is best known for writing about rock music and pop culture in astute essay collections l...
The Books We're Excited About in Early 2026
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A new year means new books are on the way! So many new books. On this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz talks with fellow Book Review editors Jouman...
'The Correspondent' Author Virginia Evans On Her Breakout Year
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Virginia Evans’s debut novel, “The Correspondent,” was published last April and became one of the publishing industry’s heartwarming champions...
Book Club: Let’s Talk About ‘What We Can Know’
27 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ian McEwan’s latest novel, “What We Can Know,” is many things at once: It’s a science fiction imagining of a future world devastated by climat...
What Did 2025 Mean for Books?
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From political tell-alls to the continued triumph of romantasy novels, it’s been an eventful year in the publishing world. On this week’s episode,...
Our Book Critics on Their 2025 in Reading
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Here we are in mid-December, which means that along with all of the other year-end lists we produce and avidly consume at this time each year, The New...
The 10 Best Books of 2025
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
All year long, the staff of The New York Times Book Review conducts a running discussion over what belongs on its year-end Top 10 list. In this week’...
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Hamnet'
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
History has not graced us with many details about Shakespeare as a person, but we do know that he and his wife had three children, including a son nam...
Welcome to Literary Award Season
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Literature isn’t a horse race. Taste is subjective, and artistic value can’t be measured in terms of “winners" and “losers.”That doesn’t m...
Nicholas Boggs on Writing a James Baldwin Biography
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nicholas Boggs’s “Baldwin: A Love Story,” is many things at once. It’s a comprehensive biography of James Baldwin. It’s a nimble excavation ...