Recent Book Reviews

In Ramona Ausubel’s fablelike novel, a Romanian village shields itself from the Nazis through sheer force of imagination.

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

M. G. Lord sees feminist themes in the roles of Elizabeth Taylor.

Toby Lester examines one of the world’s most intriguing drawings.

Dan Chaon’s characters wander between ordinary lives and psychological shadowlands in this collection.

William J. Broad explores yoga’s winding path and weighs claims about the practice’s benefits.

Three books explore the true lives behind the fictional world of “Downton Abbey.”

In a dialogue with another historian, Tony Judt reviews his life’s journey.

Film director Neil Jordan’s fifth novel follows two men who can pass for each other.

William Burroughs’s letters from the years of his literary success.

An American couple’s marriage spins out of control after they become proprietors of a moldering Irish local.

Through the lens of one household, Steve Erickson’s novel spans history, continents and realities.

A father describes, and rages at, the loss of his teenage son.

U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, now the star of the TV show “Justified,” returns to confront gambling, mining and organ trafficking in Elmore Leonard’s latest.

Failed allusions produce feelings of betrayal on all sides. Is the speaker a snob or the listener a dolt?

This week, Judith Newman discusses the real world behind “Downton Abbey”; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; Liesl Schillinger talks about Elizabeth Taylor’s feminist credentials; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Stephen Elliott, Dave Eggers and Mary Robinette Kowal are among the authors looking to revive the art of writing letters.

Judith Newman’s interest in worlds that clearly divide the public and private.

Paperback books of particular interest.

A book about JFK falls off the list, but RoseMarie Terenzio’s “Fairy Tale Interrupted,” about her years as John F. Kennedy Jr.’s executive assistant, enters the nonfiction hardcover list at No. 8.

Readers respond to a recent essay about prostitute directories throughout history.

A reader responds to a recent review of John Matteson’s biography “The Lives of Margaret Fuller.”

A reader responds to a recent review of William Shawcross’s “Justice and the Enemy.”

Blue Rider Press has acquired "Siri & Me," a new work of fiction by David Milgrim, about a 29-year-old writer and blogger who falls in love with the woman living inside his iPhone.

A new literary award honors the best hatchet job of the year.

Complete contents of the Book Review since 1997.

Sam Tanenhaus has been editor of the Book Review since April 2004.

The Book Review picks the year’s best fiction and nonfiction.

The Book Review’s annual list.

The Book Review’s spring roundup of the best of what’s new in children’s literature.