The Book Review: The best books of the year so far
The novels and nonfiction we can’t stop thinking about.
Books
April 28, 2026
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The New York Times

Dear readers,

Some Poetry Challenge, huh? I hope your gray matter is still alive and tingling with the words of W.H. Auden. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you have a fun surprise in store — check it out here.)

We are back to our regularly scheduled programming this week. Please don’t miss this essay from our critic Dwight Garner about what A.I. and the decimation of literary coverage across American media might mean for book lovers. It also offers the excuse, not that you need one, to revisit a story by the brilliant writer Donald Barthelme, who was so funny and odd and something of an antecedent to George Saunders.

My colleagues compiled a list of the best books of the year so far — 13 novels and works of nonfiction — and I can all but guarantee you’ll find something to love there. Or something that will at the very least inspire a flood of passionate feeling.

And I thoroughly enjoyed this profile of the thriller writer Jordan Harper, whose noir novels expose the corruption and hypocrisy of Hollywood. Harper is described as a “sweetheart in person, deranged on the page,” which might explain how he came up with a devastating scene involving a drill.

As always, I’d love to hear about what you are reading. Please feel free to send me a note at books@nytimes.com.

See you on Friday.

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT BOOK TO READ?

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Editors’ Choice

6 New Books We Love This Week

Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.

The illustration features portions of eight book covers and one black-and-white author photo on a tan background.

Author photo by Jessica Sample

These Literary Thrillers Explore Hollywood’s Dark Side

The best-selling author Kelly Yang recommends mysteries set in Tinseltown, from the down and dirty to the deliciously dishy.

By Kelly Yang

This illustration shows a framed portrait of two children atop a chest of drawers. There is a toy airplane next to it.

Caroline Gamon

New Historical Fiction, Lush and Lavishly Detailed

Our columnist on the month’s best new books.

By Alida Becker

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS

The image shows a black-and-white photo of the author, Jayne Anne Phillips, playing with a dog.

nonfiction

The ‘Perfect Birthplace for a Writer’? She Says It’s West Virginia.

A new book by Jayne Anne Phillips, a Pulitzer-winning novelist, recalling her childhood is a bittersweet triumph.

By Sigrid Nunez

A photograph of three boys with bicycles in a sun-dappled suburban setting.

Fiction

He’s Written Great Books About Sex in Suburbia. This One’s a ‘Ghost Town.’

A middle-aged novelist sifts through memories of growing up in New Jersey in Tom Perrotta’s frustratingly formulaic book.

By Alexandra Jacobs

The black-and-white photograph portrays a man with dark hair, George Schaller, looking at the camera through branches of bamboo.

nonfiction

Lessons From the Wild, Elusive Life of a Conservation Giant

In her engaging, lyrical “Homesick for a World Unknown,” Miriam Horn tells the story of the famed naturalist George Schaller.

By Gary Rosen

A landscape of destroyed buildings and makeshift tents. Several people walk on a muddy path through the extensive wreckage, viewed through a hole in a wall.

Nonfiction

An Israeli-Born Scholar of the Holocaust Mourns for His Country

In “Israel: What Went Wrong?,” Omer Bartov charts how a nation founded in the wake of trauma abandoned the emancipatory impulse of its origins.

By Jennifer Szalai

The image portrays an illustration of a blonde child in a green shirt, brushing their teeth, surrounded by phones capturing the image.

nonfiction

As the First Influencer Kids Come of Age, What Have We Learned?

In her engaging, sympathetic book “Like, Follow, Subscribe,” the journalist Fortesa Latifi digs into growing up in the spotlight.

By Natasha Singer

A color photograph of five young men with longish hair, all of them original members of the Rolling Stones.

nonfiction

You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Unless It’s a New Rolling Stones Biography

The music journalist Bob Spitz, a keeper of numerous rock ’n’ roll flames, has turned out a colorful and authoritative new take on a much-documented band.

By Leah Greenblatt

Nonfiction

We Used to Compile Our Own Wartime Kill Lists. Now We Let A.I. Do It.

In “Project Maven,” Katrina Manson shows us how close we are to artificial intelligence picking targets and dropping bombs without human input.

By Fred Kaplan

The illustration shows yellow letters on a green background, with the words after “To Be” turning into non-English characters.

Nonfiction

Translating Shakespeare? This Be Madness — or Is It?

The translator Daniel Hahn makes the case that Shakespeare can be appreciated “even if we don’t hear a single one of his words.”

By John McWhorter

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