CHICAGO — “When I daydream,” Nick Offerman says, “it’s of having quiet moments with a cup of tea, sitting out by the birdfeeder and coming to know my neighborhood birds by name as they come to eat out of my hand.”

The fantasy, however, has yet to become a reality. “I’m moving too fast to do that right now.”

Offerman's newest ...Read more

Of the title character in “Lost Evangeline,” it is said she “lived a great life of the imagination.” You could say the same about Evangeline’s creator, Kate DiCamillo.

The beloved, Minneapolis-based writer has created more than three dozen books, including two that won the coveted Newbery Award, “The Tale of Despereaux” and “...Read more

Fiction is full of characters falling in and out of love. Less common, at least outside the realm of slushy romantic comedies, are novels in which lovers go their separate ways, voluntarily or otherwise, and later reunite to revive what they lost.

H.S. Cross’ new novel, “Amanda,” is about two individuals, Marion and Jamie, who seem ...Read more

How would you like to spend time with some dangerous women?

This summer, I came across two recently reprinted series of literary crime fiction originally published around the millennium. My appreciation for the mysterious ways of Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt novels is documented, but these cult favorites – by authors who would become even ...Read more

We hold these fears to be self-evident:

Go outside alone to see what’s making that noise, that weird skittering, metallic scratching, and you won’t be returning to your couch. Answer your phone at 3:30 in the morning and someone died or someone’s calling from beyond the grave. The folks in the small town you’re passing through are not ...Read more

Does this amuse you? “She gave an unnatural little laugh — one she had taken to using with her stepchildren as a signal that humour had been committed, and any consequent mirth would not be discouraged. In the silence that followed, Fanny laughed long and alone."

I get a bang out of that pressed-and-starched description, from Gill Hornby’...Read more

Books about older amateur sleuths are all over the bestseller lists (Richard Osman’s “ Thursday Murder Club” series, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong mysteries, among others).

It isn’t much of a leap, then, to see the appeal of setting a horror novel in a retirement community, or upping the stakes and making it into a slasher story, which...Read more

Keira Knightley is one of several A-listers starring in the audiobook adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter fantasy novels. But the Oscar-nominated actress claims she was unaware of the backlash facing the controversial author.

While promoting her upcoming Netflix film “The Woman in Cabin 10,” a reporter asked Knightley ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Oct. 4, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2025 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2025, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Iron Flame (...Read more

In the arresting opening scene of Sarah Moss’ new novel, “Ripeness,” we meet Edith, 73, smushed beneath the substantial body of her once-a-week lover, a potter named Gunther.

Lines from Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” flit through her mind — “Every woman adores a Fascist” — leading to the reflection that Gunther is hardly a ...Read more

David Stipp’s “Why Rats Laugh & Jellyfish Sleep” is a breezy ode to nature’s long game.

The respected science expert’s beautifully written book celebrates the adaptive ingenuity of animals whose traits have evolved over millions of years. That includes us — though humans are, at best, supporting characters in the book. Perhaps that�...Read more

Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series is one of those rare and incredible publishing success stories. An example of LitRPG, which combines elements of fantasy, sci-fi and gaming, Dinniman’s books began in 2020 as a self-published series about a Coast Guard veteran who, along with his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, becomes a ...Read more

Publicity materials for “Heart the Lover” describe it as a novel about a romantic triangle, which strikes me as lazy and unworthy of this witty, insightful book.

Yes, the triangle is absolutely writer Lily King’s favorite shape: Her “Euphoria" turned on the isosceles relationship between naturalist Margaret Mead and two men. And “...Read more

Film and music stars peddle booze, beauty, and everything in between.

But the hottest status symbol touted (and toted) by the modern-day it girl? A book.

It all started with Oprah Winfrey, the OG of the buzzy celebrity book club. She launched Oprah’s Book Club on her eponymous talk show in 1996 and has since inspired a movement of ...Read more

Here are the bestsellers for the week that ended Saturday, Sept. 27, compiled from data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide, powered by Circana BookScan © 2025 Circana.

(Reprinted from Publishers Weekly, published by PWxyz LLC. © 2025, PWxyz LLC.)

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. "Alchemised" ...Read more

Most folks know Frank Lloyd Wright as America’s most influential architect. What’s lesser known is he loved the movies, and Hollywood loved him.

“Wright was a big fan of the movies. He really admired Walt Disney, and even gave his staff advice on designing some of their most famous films in the 1930s and ’40s,” says Mark Anthony ...Read more

“I’d love to kill you sometime,” murmurs a character in “One of Us,” all but announcing the quiet, matter-of-fact evil that will drive him to pursue the book’s protagonists over the next 200 pages.

Charlie is his name. Or, at least, that’s what he calls himself but he also says he’s the uncle of sister-and-brother escapees ...Read more

I’m tempted to call “The Phoebe Variations” a came-of-age book.

Wisconsin writer Jane Hamilton’s eighth novel — the “A Map of the World” writer’s first since “The Excellent Lombards” in 2016 — is of a familiar type. It’s a summer-that-changed-everything story that focuses on Phoebe, who is 17, very dramatic, obsessed ...Read more