The New York Times Book Review:

April 21, 2020

Alexis Jamet

Hi readers,

Here’s your weekly catch-up on everything you need to know going on in the book world.

The news:

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we worked with our colleagues on the climate desk to put together an essential reading list about climate change. No matter what kind of book you’re looking for, from something to help you argue with a skeptic to a primer for your kids, we have you covered. And if you’re eager to hear more: Join us for a live video call on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, where a Book Review editor, Gal Beckerman, and the climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis will discuss this recommended list, joined by Amitav Ghosh, author of “The Great Derangement.”
Michelle Obama read aloud one of her favorite children’s books yesterday, live streaming to families stuck at home. The virtual storytime was the first in a four-week series, “Mondays with Michelle Obama.”
Ottessa Moshfegh calls her latest book “a loneliness story.” But just as it was scheduled to come out, the pandemic hit — and isolation became the new normal. When she was writing the new book, “Death in Her Hands,” five years ago, Moshfegh couldn’t have predicted the resonance the story would have in 2020. Even she is seeing it through a new lens these days.”
Nerve,” a new book by the journalist Eva Holland, is an intimate and wide-ranging look at fears and how we overcome them. She talks to us about the progress she made on her fears, what action movies taught her about writing and more.
Fiction out today: “Kept Animals,” by Kate Milliken; “How to Pronounce Knife,” by Souvankham Thammavongsa; “Reproduction,” by Ian Williams; “If It Bleeds,” by Stephen King; “The Moment of Tenderness,” by Madeleine L’Engle.
Nonfiction out today: “Sigh, Gone,” by Phuc Tran.

The critics:

Long live the slacker hero, says Dwight Garner, who surveys the varied and glorious classic works on indolence. Like Protestants, he notes, the literature of indolence comes in many denominations, from “Oblomov,” the Russian satire about a man who hates to leave his bed, to Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing.”
Separately, Garner reviews Kate Lister’s “A Curious History of Sex,” a lighthearted romp that covers everything from graham crackers to bicycles.
Parul Sehgal writes about “Fifty-Two Stories,” a new collection of pieces by Anton Chekhov that brings together what Sehgal calls his “minor pieces”: “the juvenilia, playful sketches and a handful of more fully realized stories.”
And Jennifer Szalai reviews “Burn It Down!,” an anthology edited by Breanne Fahs, which collects feminist manifestos from a range of perspectives and voices.

That’s all for now. Please stay in touch and let me know what you think – whether it’s about this newsletter, our reviews, our podcast, our literary calendar, our Instagram or what you’re reading. We on the Books desk read all of it, and I’ll make every effort to write back. You can reach me at books@nytimes.com.

All my best,

Joumana Khatib

Books at The New York Times

Continue reading the main story

Book Your Calendar Here: 2020’s Major Literary Events

Don’t forget that The New York Times Book Review has curated a calendar of must-know literary events, including new books, festivals, film adaptations and more.

Add to your calendar on Google or iOS.

Love this email? Forward to a friend.

Want this email? Sign-up here.

Have a suggestion for this email? Then send us a note at books@nytimes.com.

Continue reading the main story