Beth Kephart

In ‘Music of the Ghosts,’ Ratner returns to Cambodia, still haunted

May 9, 2019 at 11:30 p.m.

On the pages of "In the Shadow of the Banyan," Vaddey Ratner's gorgeous debut novel, a fragrant landscape coexists with the horrors of the Cambodian genocide, redemptive acts of kindness...

Who does Amy ask?

May 9, 2019 at 11:29 p.m.

Sometimes when we tell each other stories, we're really asking questions: Has what happened to me happened to you? If you found yourself where I find myself, would you buck...

Chicago author Kathleen Rooney takes a pleasant stroll in ‘Lillian Boxfish’ novel

May 9, 2019 at 11:26 p.m.

As Chicago author Kathleen Rooney tells it in the final pages of her spirited new novel, "Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk," it all began with a phone call. The papers...

Review: ‘Riverine’ by Angela Palm

May 9, 2019 at 11:17 p.m.

"Riverine" has done its thing to me. It has seeped into my blood and left me messy inside — alerted, diverted, and scrambling to get a hold on time. I...

As the heroes of middle-grade novels find their paths, a supporting cast helps guide the way.

Middle-school reading: Adults matter, too

May 9, 2019 at 11:16 p.m.

The human heroes and heroines of middle-grade novels are learning life, untangling their options, looking out for themselves as others peer in on them. The world in all its loveliness,...

Stepping into the maelstrom: ‘The Pier Falls’ by Mark Haddon

May 9, 2019 at 11:08 p.m.

I read the nine stories in Mark Haddon's new collection, "The Pier Falls," over nine consecutive days — one bracing plunge every 24 hours. Anything more would have amounted to...

Memoir ‘Lab Girl’ shows what a geobiologist knows about love

May 9, 2019 at 11:06 p.m.

Roots and leaves. Wood and knots. Flowers and fruit. These six nouns eloquently divide the magnificent parts of Hope Jahren's memoir, "Lab Girl." They are science words. They are life...

‘When Breath Becomes Air’: Surgeon Paul Kalanithi leaves life lessons

May 9, 2019 at 11:00 p.m.

We are all, in the end, searching for meaning. Rising to and through our schedules, embracing the scenic detours, wondering, in the dark of night, what more we would be...

A.O. Scott presents an argument for professional arts criticism in an era of comments in "Better Living Through Criticism."

Review: ‘Better Living Through Criticism’ by A.O. Scott

May 9, 2019 at 10:59 p.m.

In a June 1, 2012, installment of "The Sweet Spot," a regular New York Times video snatch, David Carr, who covered culture for The Times until his death in 2015,...

Review: ‘The Dogs of Littlefield’ by Suzanne Berne

May 9, 2019 at 10:56 p.m.

I confess. I'm one of those. The type who wears her anxiety like a moth-chomped sweater and finds the worrisome beyond the trees, inside the shadows. The type who takes...

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