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October 14, 2025

Pauline Mauruschat

Dear readers,

What nor’easter? True, I am a meterology skeptic, but I was bracing for a deluge this past weekend and saw only a trickle here in Brooklyn. It could have been because I was absorbed in Arundhati Roy’s recent memoir, “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” and a few other books that had been glowering at me from the stacks near the couch. Needless to say, I prepared for a waterlogged stretch of days — see the illustration for Adam Johnson’s new seafaring novel above! — and stayed as dry as a house cat.

Also this week: The actor Tim Curry has a new memoir, “Vagabond,” which recounts his thrilling career as well as the stroke that changed his life over a decade ago. Time to fire up “Clue,” no matter what the weather is doing outside, and say hello to Curry as one of the world’s most devilish butlers.

See you on Friday.

Editors’ choice 6 New Books We Love This Week Reading recommendations from critics and editors at The New York Times.

The New York Times 27 Books Coming in October New novels by Thomas Pynchon and Brandon Taylor; memoirs by Susan Orlean, Malala Yousafzai and Tim Curry; the conclusion of an epic fantasy series by Philip Pullman; and more.

Let Us Help You Find Your Next Book Reading picks from Book Review editors, guaranteed to suit any mood. By The New York Times Books Staff

RECENT BOOK REVIEWS

Nonfiction A Novelist, Naturalist (and C.I.A. Agent) Always on the Move “True Nature,” a new biography, chronicles the many lives and pursuits of the writer Peter Matthiessen. By Dwight Garner

nonfiction An Oddly Bloodless Memoir From a Masterly Chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s new memoir, “Next of Kin,” lacks the visceral shock and searing vision of her prior work. By Joumana Khatib

Fiction The Tale of a Guardian, a Thief and the Fine Line Between Megha Majumdar’s new novel follows two disastrously entangled lives in a famine-ridden future. By Lily Meyer

fiction The Last Gasp of Magazine Glamour, as Seen From the Bottom Rung The devil, Prada-clad or not, stays on the periphery of Caroline Palmer’s “Workhorse,” a novel about an ambitious assistant at a Vogue-like publication. By Alex Beggs

Nonfiction When America First Swung Its Big Stick In “Splendid Liberators,” Joe Jackson presents the U.S. wars in Cuba and the Philippines as part of a misguided project to spread freedom across the world. By Clay Risen

Nonfiction How World War II Transformed America and the Globe, for Better and Worse In “The Wounded Generation” and “1942,” the historians David Nasaw and Peter Fritzsche show how civilians struggled with the long tail of the war. By Elizabeth D. Samet

Nonfiction Is American Foreign Policy Really for Sale? In “Devils’ Advocates,” the New York Times journalist Kenneth P. Vogel wades into the murky world of Washington lobbyists working for foreign interests. By David Greenberg

Nonfiction The Great Crash Retold as Thrilling True Crime — and as a Warning “1929,” by the New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, is a tale of greed, corruption and incompetence to shock the conscience. By Zachary D. Carter

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