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Books

Looking for book recommendations? What to read, what not to read, and the latest news in the world of books.

Culture
What the hard-won HarperCollins union contract means for the future of booksWhat the hard-won HarperCollins union contract means for the future of books
Culture

Almost 250 employees spent 66 days on strike for higher wages and increased diversity.

By Constance Grady
Explainers
The State of the Union address’s history, explainedThe State of the Union address’s history, explained
Explainers

Thomas Jefferson’s stage fright! Woodrow Wilson’s academic research on presidential rhetoric! Reagan’s special guests!

By Andrew Prokop
Culture
How Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin rewrote the book’s ending for a big twistHow Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin rewrote the book’s ending for a big twist
Culture

M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie is based on the book A Cabin at the End of the World, and largely follows it — until it doesn’t.

By Alex Abad-Santos
Culture
Vintage Contemporaries is a warm-hearted novel that walks in the footsteps of Laurie ColwinVintage Contemporaries is a warm-hearted novel that walks in the footsteps of Laurie Colwin
Culture

In his debut novel, Dan Kois vividly conjures the lost New York of 1991.

By Constance Grady
Politics
Biden worries the Secret Service may be loyal to Trump, according to a new bookBiden worries the Secret Service may be loyal to Trump, according to a new book
Politics

The biggest revelations from Chris Whipple’s new look at the Biden administration.

By Ben Jacobs
Culture
Prince Harry’s Spare is a sad and self-indicting portrait of royalty on the brinkPrince Harry’s Spare is a sad and self-indicting portrait of royalty on the brink
Culture

The press is the villain but there are no heroes in Prince Harry’s new memoir.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Hulu’s Kindred solves the Handmaid’s Tale problemHulu’s Kindred solves the Handmaid’s Tale problem
Culture

The 8-episode first season forms an uneven, haunting adaptation of Octavia Butler’s classic.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Vox’s 16 best books of 2022Vox’s 16 best books of 2022
Culture

From kid art criminals to feminist histories, these are our favorite books from the past year.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Why is Hulu’s Fleishman Is in Trouble so boring?Why is Hulu’s Fleishman Is in Trouble so boring?
Culture

The TV adaptation, now on Hulu and FX, is too literary for its own good.

By Constance Grady
How a Holocaust memoir became a self-help Instagram hit
Money

#Inspo from Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl’s iconic book on perseverance in Jewish labor camps, is everywhere.

By Mattie Kahn
All of the 2022 National Book Award finalists, read and reviewed
Culture

A look at this year’s best in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature.

By Vox Staff
Culture
The planned Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger has been struck down in courtThe planned Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger has been struck down in court
Culture

Penguin Random House is officially not going to become Penguin Random Simon & Schuster.

By Constance Grady
Technology
How tech is helping us talk to animalsHow tech is helping us talk to animals
Technology

Researchers are using drones, AI, and digital recorders to create a “zoological version of Google Translate.”

By Neel Dhanesha
Culture
Cormac McCarthy’s two new novels are deliberately frustratingCormac McCarthy’s two new novels are deliberately frustrating
Culture

The Passenger is out now, and Stella Maris is out in December. They’re McCarthy’s first new books since 2006.

By Constance Grady
The novelist Kim Stanley Robinson’s vision roves from the deep past to the distant future
The 2022 Future Perfect 50

Robinson gives readers grounded sci-fi with a soaring spirit.

By Bryan Walsh
Culture
Celeste Ng is back with a dark parable of America’s history of child removalCeleste Ng is back with a dark parable of America’s history of child removal
Culture

The author of Little Fires Everywhere’s new book, Our Missing Hearts, brings Cold War dystopia into the present.

By Constance Grady
Who built Marilyn Monroe?
Culture

Marilyn Monroe was an artist. Her magnum opus was her own image.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Pop culture loves gender war stories. They leave something out.Pop culture loves gender war stories. They leave something out.
Culture

Don’t Worry Darling and Barbarian want us to remember gender is scary.

By Emily St. James
Culture
In Ducks, Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant goes bleak and desolateIn Ducks, Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant goes bleak and desolate
Culture

This graphic memoir delves into some of the world’s most plentiful — and destructive — oil mines.

By Constance Grady
Science
How power companies have caused and worsened wildfiresHow power companies have caused and worsened wildfires
Science

“California Burning” author Katherine Blunt on the lessons learned in California.

By Rebecca Leber
Culture
Nona the Ninth features dogs, lesbians, necromantic battles, increasing levels of CatholicismNona the Ninth features dogs, lesbians, necromantic battles, increasing levels of Catholicism
Culture

Tamsyn Muir’s latest sequel to Gideon the Ninth brings a vital new urgency to the Locked Tomb series.

By Constance Grady
The radical political power of friendship
Features

It can help us push back against tyranny. Philosopher Hannah Arendt’s legendary cocktail parties were proof.

By Alissa Wilkinson
Podcasts
The ovarian “biological clock” and other reproductive health metaphors that have led science astrayThe ovarian “biological clock” and other reproductive health metaphors that have led science astray
Podcast
Podcasts

And why even the phrase “reproductive health” might be kind of misleading.

By Byrd Pinkerton
Culture
With I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy lays bare the horrors of child actingWith I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy lays bare the horrors of child acting
Culture

The former Nickelodeon star burns her bridges in her new memoir.

By Constance Grady
World Politics
Salman Rushdie and the enduring risk of political artSalman Rushdie and the enduring risk of political art
World Politics

Did Americans forget the risks of free speech?

By Jonathan Guyer
Culture
One Good Thing: A food memoir about love, grief, and lockdownOne Good Thing: A food memoir about love, grief, and lockdown
Culture

In The Year of Miracles, Ella Risbridger cooks through the end of the world.

By Constance Grady
The power of silence in a deafening world
Features

Why there’s more noise, and more kinds of it — and why it might be ruining our focus.

By Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz
How to fall back in love with reading
Even Better

Even when your brain feels like mush.

By Alissa Wilkinson
Culture
Netflix’s Persuasion is an absolute disasterNetflix’s Persuasion is an absolute disaster
Culture

The new adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, starring Dakota Johnson, swings wildly from dour to dull.

By Constance Grady
How the world changed its mind on Tracy Flick
Culture

The new Election sequel shows how far we’ve come in handling ambitious women — and how far we have to go.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Our submissions to the queer canonOur submissions to the queer canon
Culture

The queer canon should point us toward the future. We made a list of new, vibrant queer stories helping us get there.

By Alex Abad-Santos, Constance Grady and 3 more
Culture
Raising Raffi is a portrait of the author as modern fatherRaising Raffi is a portrait of the author as modern father
Culture

Still sad, no longer young, kind of literary.

By Bryan Walsh
Culture
In The Immortal King Rao, a tech billionaire becomes king of the worldIn The Immortal King Rao, a tech billionaire becomes king of the world
Culture

A new novel paints a portrait of a world ruled by almighty algorithm.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Join the Vox Book Club!Join the Vox Book Club!
Culture

Our pick for November 2021 is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

By Vox Staff
Culture
Elif Batuman’s Either/Or is a portrait of the artist as a young idiotElif Batuman’s Either/Or is a portrait of the artist as a young idiot
Culture

Batuman’s second novel is shaggy, strange, and sweet.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Spend June with a novel of colonialism, technological capitalism, and coconutsSpend June with a novel of colonialism, technological capitalism, and coconuts
Culture

The next Vox Book Club pick is The Immortal King Rao.

By Constance Grady
Culture
The Fortress of Solitude is a fraught and uneasy love letter to a vanished BrooklynThe Fortress of Solitude is a fraught and uneasy love letter to a vanished Brooklyn
Culture

In this lovely and heartbroken novel, neither superpowers nor true love can stop systemic racism.

By Constance Grady
Technology
Bill Gates knows philanthropy alone can’t solve inequalityBill Gates knows philanthropy alone can’t solve inequality
Technology

The billionaire and public health leader answers five of Recode’s questions about pandemic prevention and economic disparities.

By Whizy Kim
Culture
The Vox Book Club is going back to Fortress of Solitude, one of the best novels of the 2000sThe Vox Book Club is going back to Fortress of Solitude, one of the best novels of the 2000s
Culture

Spend May with Jonathan Lethem’s lovely and prescient novel of friendship, race, class, and superheroes.

By Constance Grady
Culture
Revisiting the Christian fantasy novels that shaped decades of conservative hysteriaRevisiting the Christian fantasy novels that shaped decades of conservative hysteria
Culture

Demons, angels, and elite liberal conspiracies: Frank Peretti’s books sound like today’s headlines.

By Aja Romano, Alissa Wilkinson and 1 more