Books Update: A People on Fire

Anne Fadiman reviews Barbara Demick's "Eat the Buddha"

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story July 31, 2020 Buddhist monks on their way to celebrate a festival at Kirti Monastery.Gilles Sabrié Dear Reader, This week, the book featured on our cover takes readers to a region outside the “official” borders of Chinese-controlled Tibet, to one of the many areas within mainland China where Tibetans live in significant numbers. In “Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town,” Barbara Demick, the former Beijing bureau chief of The Los Angeles Times, does what she did so effectively in her acclaimed previous books, “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” and “Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood”: She tells the story of a people through the stories of individual people. Our reviewer is Anne Fadiman, whose many books include “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader” and “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures.” This week’s fiction includes the most recent novel by Roddy Doyle, a debut novel by the filmmaker and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, a first story collection from Andrew Martin, the author of the recent debut novel “Early Work,” and the latest in crime. Please stay in touch and let us 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 read and ponder all of it. I even write back, albeit belatedly. You can email me at books@nytimes.com. Pamela Paul Editor of The New York Times Book Review @PamelaPaulNYT Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Like this email? Sign-up here or forward it to your friends. Have a suggestion or two on how we can improve it? Let us know at newsletters@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. THE BOOK REVIEW PODCAST The ‘Seductive Lure’ of Authoritarianism Anne Applebaum discusses “Twilight of Democracy,” and Barbara Demick talks about “Eat the Buddha.” FICTION & POETRY crime Stabbed in the Convent, Murdered in the Yard In the newest batch of crime novels, bodies accumulate at a rather alarming rate. By Marilyn Stasio fiction The Language of Friendship, as Heard in a Dublin Pub In Roddy Doyle’s novel “Love,” a pair of lifelong drinking buddies reconnect to discuss life’s amusements and regrets. By Roger Rosenblatt fiction In Charlie Kaufman’s Novel, a Comic Hero Is Haunted by a Lost Film “Antkind,” Kaufman’s hallucinogenic debut novel, features the madcap effort to reconstruct a masterpiece of outsider cinema. By Matthew Specktor A Poet of Found Language Who Finds Her Language in Archives Susan Howe’s new book, “Concordance,” pastes together collages of word and thought from old letters, manuscripts and (yes) concordances. By Tess Taylor fiction The Moral of These Stories? ‘You Are Not as Special as You Think’ In “Cool for America,” Andrew Martin’s characters are caught in a lingering post-adolescence, stretching for a certainty that eludes them. By Matthew Schneier fiction What’s Wrong With Men in America? Two new story collections reveal the toxicities of (mostly white) masculinity, from the frat house to the Midwestern farm. By Bobby Finger Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NONFICTION nonfiction The Chinese Town That Became the Self-Immolation Capital of the World In “Eat the Buddha,” Barbara Demick tells the story of Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule through the stories of the people who have seen it up close. By Anne Fadiman nonfiction Why Intellectuals Support Dictators Anne Applebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy” examines the role of thinkers and writers who back modern authoritarians. By Bill Keller nonfiction The Fight Over the Future of the Democratic Party Thomas Frank’s “The People, No” and Gene Sperling’s “Economic Dignity” offer differing prescriptions for America’s liberals. By James Traub nonfiction The Biases We Hold Against the Way People Speak In “How You Say It,” Katherine Kinzler focuses on linguistic discrimination, how your accent can determine the way you are perceived. By John McWhorter nonfiction What Decades of Reading Scandinavian Crime Fiction Can Teach You Wendy Lesser’s “Scandinavian Noir” is an inquiry into a region and its people through four decades of reading its hottest fictional export. By Kate Tuttle nonfiction The Consolations of Jane Austen Through the trials of new motherhood and the loss of a parent, Rachel Cohen read the English novelist exclusively. “Austen Years” is her memoir of the experience. By Sophie Gee shortlist New Books Take You Through the Microscope to the World of Pathogens Authors explore the way the invisible world impacts our lives, from bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics to the beneficial biodiversity on our skin. By Rob Dunn Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT CHILDREN’S BOOKS children’s books Monsters vs. Aliens In “Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything,” a Mexican-American girl lights candles in the desert for her deported mother. Then a spacecraft arrives. By Abby Sher children’s books A Native American Coming-of-Age and the Uses of Enchantment In James Bird’s “The Brave,” a boy bullied for his numeric mind undergoes a metamorphosis when he’s sent to live on a reservation with his Native American mother. By David Treuer FEATURES by the book Isabel Wilkerson Loves Books. That Doesn’t Mean She Treats Them Gently. “Many of them are not only dog-eared, but often double-cornered-dog-eared, the margins marked up with my own commentary.” the long view Jackie Robinson’s Inner Struggle Books by an American icon tell the story of his battle against bigotry from the inside. By Jon Meacham essay Leo Tolstoy vs. the Police Why the great Russian novelist’s critique of state-sponsored violence bears thinking about now. By Jennifer Wilson sketchbook What If You Could Just Program a Robot To Write a Novel? Imagining all the reasons an automaton might not be writing the next Great American Novel. By Tom Gauld New & Noteworthy Poetry, From a Hungry God to a Fake Shepherd A selection of recent poetry books of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading. On Hamlet’s Origins and Other Letters to the Editor Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review. editors’ choice 12 New Books We Recommend This Week Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times. inside the list Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman Wrote a Big Best Seller In “Big Friendship,” the best friends and podcast co-hosts rediscover their bond across a different kind of social distance. By Lauren Christensen New in Paperback: ‘This Land Is Our Land’ and ‘Your House Will Pay’ Six new paperbacks to check out this week. By Jennifer Krauss Best Sellers Combined Print & E-Book Fiction Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction Hardcover Fiction Hardcover Nonfiction Paperback Trade Fiction Paperback Nonfiction All Lists New International Books Illustration by Thoka Maer Your sneak preview of books coming out in 2020 from around the world. Get globetrotting. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. 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