Books
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Like Shakespeare’s Sonnets, ‘Practice’ Finds Beauty in Digression
Starring an undergraduate student at Oxford, Rosalind Brown’s debut novel is exquisitely attuned to the thrill and boredom of academic…
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An Ode to Gardens That’s Also a Bouquet of Ideas
In her latest book, Olivia Laing makes an impassioned case for the garden — as repository of natural beauty, as…
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A Love Letter to Cricket, the Bookish Child’s Bible
I first encountered Cricket, the literary magazine for children, at the home of my best friend, Elaine. Elaine was the…
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In New York City’s Subway System, There’s Beauty in the Mundane
“Contemporary Art Underground” showcases hundreds of artworks commissioned by the M.T.A., by artists like Alex Katz, Kiki Smith and Vik…
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This Veterinarian Makes House — and Penthouse — Calls
In her memoir, “Pets and the City,” Amy Attas reflects on three decades of caring for animals (and, by extension,…
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Was Global Trade a Mistake?
ONE WEEK TO CHANGE THE WORLD: An Oral History of the 1999 WTO Protests, by DW Gibson HOW THE WORLD…
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The Eternal Pull of the Fascinating, Deadly Volcano
In “Adventures in Volcanoland,” the geologist Tamsin Mather takes us on a global and historical investigation of her life’s passion.
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Writers, the Wretched of the Earth
In Munir Hachemi’s novel “Living Things,” four young men seek adventure for “literary capital” and find exploitation.
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How Did We Learn to Talk? We Can’t Say for Sure.
In “The Language Puzzle,” the archaeologist Steven Mithen asks exactly how our species started speaking.
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A Hot, Fraught Cape Cod Family Drama
In her new novel, “Sandwich,” Catherine Newman explores the aches and joys of midlife via one family’s summer week at…