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First Impressions

A new book remembers more than a decade spent in the orbit of Beckett and de Beauvoir. Here, its author describes her early encounters with the literary stars

A Present-Day 1984

First Love

Little-known correspondence from Elizabeth Bishop offers a glimpse into the poet’s romantic life

Sometimes, Bigger Is Better

Never-before-seen Avedon, a Trump-free Palm Beach, Helmut’s nudes: everyone loves a beautiful coffee-table book, and this year options abound

B. J. Novak

So much more than a children’s book: on metafiction for kids

Murder, They Wrote

Home Improvement

Roman Numerals

House Style

Down with the Ship

Deborah Levy

Recommends the books whose authors were as fascinating as their work

Point of No Return

Rock Around the Clock

Wells of the World

The author of a new book on H. G. Wells’s writings on re-discovering his life and work

The Proust of the Nazi-Appeasement Set

Wheel of Fortune

Kane, Eve, and Cleopatra

The author of a new book on the Mankiewicz brothers reckons with an especially timely concern: Were her subjects predatory monsters?

Anthony Doerr

Shares the essential titles on his bookshelf

Man of Letters

A new collection of Ralph Ellison’s correspondence sheds light on the life of the writer, including the
first books that influenced him

Do Not Open Before 2114

The author who shared everything in My Struggle keeps his new book under wraps for 94 years

Beyond the Trenches

The Family Jewels

Jackie’s Russian Collusion

A letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to Nikita Khrushchev was among the last she’d send from the White House

Murder, They Wrote

Three new mysteries