Books of the Times

Book reviews by The Times’s critics.

In His 80s, and Recalling All the Men He’s Loved Before
Edmund White seems to hold nothing back in his raunchy, stylish, intimate new memoir, “The Loves of My Life.”
By Alexandra Jacobs
This Book on World War I Changed How I Think of Nonfiction
Paul Fussell’s 50-year-old survey of trench warfare deserves a new generation of readers, our book critic writes.
By Dwight Garner
What a President’s Pardon Says About His Soul
A new book by the legal journalist Jeffrey Toobin plumbs the dubious history of the presidential pardon.
By Jennifer Szalai
An Esteemed Biographer Puts Her Own Life in the Spotlight
The standout essays in Megan Marshall’s “After Lives” recall her troubled father and the fate of a high school classmate.
By Alexandra Jacobs
Can Her Daughter’s Wedding, and a Cat, Revive Her Own Marriage?
In Anne Tyler’s new novel, a socially inept mother faces hurdles in her personal, professional and family lives.
By Dwight Garner
Grieving the End of a Literary Couple’s Globetrotting Life
In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband.
By Alexandra Jacobs
As a Kid, Bill Gates Sneaked Out His Window at Night — to Write Code
A new memoir by the tech mogul recounts a boyhood steeped in old-fashioned, analog pastimes as well as precocious feats of coding.
By Jennifer Szalai
How Big Tech Mined Our Attention and Broke Our Politics
“Superbloom,” by Nicholas Carr, and “The Sirens’ Call,” by the MSNBC host Chris Hayes, argue that we are ill equipped to handle the infinite scroll of the information age.
By Jennifer Szalai
Paralyzed by a Fall, a Writer Learns Resilience (and Kindness)
In a new memoir, Hanif Kureishi reflects on a life transformed since he lost the use of his arms and legs.
By Dwight Garner
A Black History of the Color Blue
Imani Perry’s impressionistic “Black in Blues” finds shades of meaning — beautiful and ugly — in art, artifacts, music, fashion and more.
By Alexandra Jacobs