Fiction

Orange clouds over the west hills of Portland as the light from the sunset and smoke from historic Oregon wildfires mix over Mt. Calvary Cemetery, 2020.

A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything A Climate Change Novel That Questions Everything

In God and Sex, Jon Raymond has recontextualized timeless novelistic questions—on faith and love—in an era of environmental collapse.

Apr 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Jessica Swoboda

Early movie house interior with audience and piano player, 1913.

Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams Esther Kinsky’s Celluloid Dreams

In Seeing Further, a novel obsessed with the tactile feeling of arthouse cinema, the sad state of our moviegoing comes into focus.

Apr 28, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Walker Rutter-Bowman

Wolfgang Koeppen, 1986.

Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure” Wolfgang Koeppen—“Poet of Failure”

The German writer’s postwar works were ruthless in their condemnation of a country that, in its inability to reckon with historical atrocity, was beyond reform.

Apr 22, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Pankaj Mishra

Larry McMurtry, 1978.

Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales Larry McMurtry’s Tall Tales

By questioning the myth of the cowboy, he offered a different kind of legend, one more suited to this country and its contradictions.

Apr 16, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Gus O’Connor

Jamaica Kincaid in Toronto.

The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid The Worlds of Jamaica Kincaid

Memory pervades a new collection of nonfiction, and so do the ghosts of empire.

Apr 8, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Edna Bonhomme

Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons

Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons Ben Lerner’s Novel of Fathers and Sons

His most experimental and unsettling book, Transcription asks us whether art is futile or the most important weapon we have.

Apr 7, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Tara K. Menon

Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York

Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York Jay McInerney’s Yuppie New York

The novelist has spent a career mocking and romanticizing the lifestyle of New York's bourgeoisie. Now, in his latest, he examines them as they come to the end of their lives.

Apr 6, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Erin Somers

Gertrude Stein holding her dog Pepe, 1939.

The Enigma of Gertrude Stein The Enigma of Gertrude Stein

Why do we misunderstand one of modernism’s great writers?

Mar 30, 2026 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

A woman cleans the street near the Drum Tower in Beijing, 2025.

What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite What Its Like to Serve the Chinese Elite

Zhang Yueran’s novel Women, Seated—a take on the upstairs, downstairs drama—examines class conflict among the Chinese upper crust and the people who wait on them.

Mar 27, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Ting Lin

In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster

In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster In “Bomarzo,” the Renaissance Man is a Monster

Manuel Mujica Lainez’s historical novel, a strange biography of a 16th-century duke, leaves the reader wondering if human nature can ever change.

Mar 26, 2026 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl

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