Madeleine Wickham, known for writing the bestselling novel Confessions of a Shopaholic under her pen name Sophie Kinsella, has died aged 55. Wickham, dubbed “the queen of romantic comedy” by novelist Jojo Moyes, wrote more than 30 books for adults, children and teenagers, which have sold more than 45m copies. Read more
Author: GR
Fern Michaels, Prolific Author of Romance Novels, Dies at 92
Fern Michaels, a mother of five in suburban New Jersey who responded to her husband’s request to get a job by taking up writing, only to blossom into a best-selling author of more than 200 romances and thrillers, died on Nov. 12 at her home in Summerville, S.C. Read more
‘Midnight Somewhere’ by Johnny Compton
Readers who enjoy the imaginative yet unsettling horror of John Langan and Ananda Lima should bask in the uncanny visions of Compton’s haunting tales. It is a solid collection with no weak stories. Read more
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The 10 Best Audiobooks of 2025
Including explosive tell-alls, dreamy fantasy, and what may be the best fiction narration out there. Read more
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The Curious Notoriety of ‘Performative Reading’
Performative reading has emerged as a suspicious activity not because reading books is suspect but because being beheld reading a book is understood to be yet another way for one to market himself, to portray to the world that he is indeed deeper and more expansive than his craven need for attention—demonstrated by reading a difficult book in public—suggests. Read more
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Our Favorite New Cookbooks of 2025
To round up 2025’s best cookbooks, we consulted a large group: Bon Appétit and Epicurious staffers, as well as other food writers and editors, cookbook authors, and chefs. Read more
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100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025
…our reviewers were free to read any small press books they chose, and as a result you’ll find this list dappled with well-known presses, such as Tin House and Europa Editions. But for every Graywolf, we feature presses that are not household names, like LittlePuss and Publication Studio and Kallisto Gaia. Read more
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Daniel Woodrell, ‘Country Noir’ Novelist of ‘Winter’s Bone,’ Dies at 72
Daniel Woodrell, a novelist known for prose as rugged and elemental as the igneous rock of the Ozark Mountains, his birthplace, which he returned to just as his artistic craftsmanship peaked, died on Friday at his home in West Plains, Mo. Read more
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88
Tom Stoppard, the Czech-born English playwright who entwined erudition with imagination, verbal pyrotechnics with arch cleverness, and philosophical probing with heartache and lust in stage works that won accolades and awards on both sides of Atlantic, earning critical comparisons to Shakespeare and Shaw, has died at his home in Dorset, England. Read more
‘This Year: 365 Songs Annotated’ by John Darnielle
Too often, lyrics collections can be little more than keepsakes for fans, easily thrown together and presented without any context or new material. That was never going to be the case for Darnielle—the indie folk musician has always had a strong literary bent, as evidenced by his three well-received novels, Wolf in White Van (2014), Universal Harvester (2017), and Devil House (2022). His new book, which shares its title with one of his most well-known songs, is structured as a book of days, with a song for each one. He writes, “Some are accompanied by detailed explications, and some by autobiographical reflections; some get elliptical glosses and some get extended question marks.” The lyrics are brilliant; Darnielle is one of the best songwriters of his generation, and his words are achingly beautiful, sometimes angry and triumphant… Read more
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