New York Times Book Review

Essay

Among the Disrupted

By LEON WIESELTIER

Leon Wieseltier on the state of culture in the digital age.

Also in the Book Review

Alan Gilbert: By the Book

The conductor and music director of The New York Philharmonic says that after his cameo appearance on "30 Rock," he read Tina Fey's "Bossypants": "It is brilliant, insightful and spot on in its crazy observations about life."

·         By the Book: Archive

'The Secret Wisdom of the Earth'

By CHRISTOPHER SCOTTON
Reviewed by DANIEL WOODRELL

A Kentucky town is roiled by conflict over aggressive mining in this first novel.

'Leaving Before the Rains Come'

By ALEXANDRA FULLER
Reviewed by RACHEL CUSK

After a divorce, Alexandra Fuller looks to her Zambian past for guidance in leading an independent life.

'See You in Paradise'

By J. ROBERT LENNON
Reviewed by JULIA ELLIOTT

In these stories, common domestic dysfunction segues into fantasy.

'Skylight'

By JOSÉ SARAMAGO. Translated by MARGARET JULL COSTA.
Reviewed by MIKE BROIDA

An early novel by José Saramago looks in on the humble residents of a Lisbon apartment building.

'The First Bad Man'

By MIRANDA JULY
Reviewed by LAUREN GROFF

A perverse houseguest shakes the world of the initially passive protagonist of Miranda July's first novel.

·         Miranda July: By the Book

'A Voice Still Heard'

Edited by NINA HOWE
Reviewed by FRANKLIN FOER

Irving Howe was one of the greatest critics of his generation, a perspicacious reader of difficult texts.

'When The Facts Change'

By TONY JUDT
Reviewed by SAMUEL MOYN

Written in the last 15 years of Tony Judt's life, these essays confront the history, politics and ethical dilemmas that consumed him.

Crime

Catch Her if You Can

By MARILYN STASIO

In Rebecca Scherm's first novel, "Unbecoming," an art student reinvents herself.