Books
Looking for book recommendations? What to read, what not to read, and the latest news in the world of books.
The community that underpins Heated Rivalry, explained.
Hint: The Puritans were involved.
The history of how we talk mirrors the history of the country.
The book has left many readers feeling baffled and disappointed.
From moors to manors, the key to adapting 19th-century romance on film is in Great Britain’s epic landscapes.
For all its provocations, the film has more in common with a Nicholas Sparks book.
The sport feels unstoppable — yet also doomed.
It’s not just the smut. It’s about a deeper desire.
What algorithms and God-pizza teach us about “mechanical values” and living a good life.
The bizarre conservative misunderstanding of The Lord of the Rings, explained.
The decay of Google, Amazon, and Facebook are part of a larger trend.
Philip Pullman’s new book finishes the story The Golden Compass started.
It’s not millennial cringe to wonder if you can enjoy the work of problematic artists.
Reckoning with Jane Austen and empire on her 250th anniversary.
How ignoring two-parent families has warped the narrative.
Trump wants to be a cultural tastemaker. The CIA did it first.
And why fitness culture is a quintessentially American invention.
The novel published 70 years ago that still explains America.
A celebrity memoir, a dystopian comic tour-de-force, and more of what we couldn’t put down.
This quietly subversive book has been captivating kids for generations.
From Lord of the Rings to the ramen craze to Ozempic, the cultural touchstones that help us understand the 21st century.
On literati Substack, it’s still 2005.
Find your next read and explore the big ideas around literature and publishing with the 2025 Summer Book Club.
How the beach read became so much more than escapism.
From witches to shipwrecks, our book critic’s favorite new releases of the year to date.
Is there a literacy crisis? Or am I just old?
Muscles are a symbol of strength. So who’s allowed to be strong?
How women took over literary fiction.
The broligarchs share a favorite author, but they might be missing the point entirely.
Books for midnight baby feedings, contemporary nonfiction masters, and novels as good as the classics.
Are repressed memories for real? The Tell thinks so.
Tiny, lovely books for luxurious reading, and other recommendations.
Cutting red tape is a social justice issue.
A deceptively comic novel of transitioning, a beautiful divorce memoir, and more recommendations.
The Meta CEO’s commitment to free expression doesn’t apply to embarrassing memoirs.
The Great Gatsby is more than cocktail parties and color symbolism.