Books and Literature

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Fill in the Blank: Which U.S. Cities Are in These Book Titles?

      by

      A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights fictional works with the names of real U.S. cities in their titles. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. Links to the books will be listed at the end of the quiz if you’d like to do further reading. More

    • 63 Shares149 Views

      in Elections

      2 Books for Cluttered Minds

      by

      A spare elegy; a weird journey.Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDear readers,I moved apartments recently, a task that made me sorely wish I had added even the breeziest treatise on D.I.Y. organizing to my reading list. How had the “life-changing magic” of decluttering so thoroughly passed me by?Perhaps one of those neat, cheerful manifestoes from Scandinavia or Japan could have taught me something about writing more tidily, too. In that arena, alas, as in home decor, minimalism is generally not my bag. Give me a lily and I will gild it; sing me a song of semicolons and fat, flamboyant sentences that wrap around corners like overgrown houseplants. Let my windy paragraphs, like my kitchen-drawer hoard of expired Covid tests and obsolete technologies (hello again, sweet BlackBerry), run free!In the cold light of a moving truck I eventually found some fortitude, consigning piles of personal flotsam and unread periodicals to the curb. Still, all actual houseplants survived the purge, and so did the works of two authors whose prose style evokes its own whiff of Swedish Death Cleaning: direct, purposeful, shorn of sentiment and curlicues. I like to think they both have gorgeous living rooms.—Leah“A Woman’s Story,” by Annie ErnauxNonfiction, 1988We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 175 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Book Club: Read ‘The Safekeep,’ by Yael van der Wouden, With the Book Review

      by

      In May, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss “The Safekeep,” Yael van der Wouden’s novel about a woman wrapped up in a historical drama and a forbidden romance.Welcome to the Book Review Book Club! Every month, we select a book to discuss with our readers. Last month, we read “Playworld,” by Adam Ross. (You can also go back and listen to our episodes on “We Do Not Part,” “Orbital,” and “Our Evenings.”)Whenever I mention that I work in books, the next question I invariably get is: “Do you have a good book recommendation?” It’s a surprisingly difficult question to answer effectively on the spot. Tastes vary. The genres, tones and moods that I love may not be what someone else finds compelling. The trick becomes suggesting something that is excellent, that the inquirer likely hasn’t already read and that will appeal no matter what kind of reader I’m talking to.For the past few months, when faced with this query, I have had one go-to answer: “The Safekeep,” by Yael van der Wouden.A debut novel that was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, “The Safekeep” is many things at once — a historical tale (sure, it’s set only 60 years ago, but it’s grappling with the baggage of a discreet, postwar era), a psychological thriller, a forbidden romance. It opens in the Netherlands in 1961. Isabel is a joyless loner who spends most of her time hiding in her deceased mother’s old country house. One night she goes out to dinner with her brothers, Hendrik and Louis. Surprisingly, Louis brings along a new girlfriend, Eva, and Isabel immediately senses something is amiss. On the surface Eva is silly and brash, but Isabel can detect that under Eva’s ditsy facade lurks a sharper, more dangerous disposition.When Louis has leaves for a work trip, he sends Eva to stay at the country house, much to Isabel’s chagrin. But Isabel doesn’t have a say; technically, the house was promised to Louis and he can do with it as he pleases. Forced together, Isabel and Eva form a charged and ever-evolving relationship that threatens to upend everything that Isabel thought she knew.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More