The New Dork Review of Books

I am mad as hell. And I'm also heartbroken. And so I feel compelled to write -- almost literally the only thing that makes me feel less helpless.
We are losing our bookish institutions at a terrifyingly alarming rate.
Like many of you, I absorbed the news today that Bond Villain Bezos is shuttering the Books section of the Washington Post with a mixture of sadness and rage. What an absolute gut punch! The Washington Post published one of the few remaining robust sections...

Even if you don't know me personally, if you know I'm a Gen-X dude who loves literary fiction, you could probably safely infer that Infinite Jest is a foundational text for me. And you'd be right. Don't worry, I'm not here to rehash my long history with...

The mark of a truly magnificent writer is the ability to take a tried-and-true trope and give it fresh life. In his new novel, Vigil, George Saunders makes the Christmas Carol story of examining a life poorly lived feel fully original. Therefore, George...

A new bookish year is upon us and it promises to be a banger. Anytime you get a new George Saunders in January, that portends a pretty good reading year. Plus, Colson Whitehead, Ann Patchett, Dave Eggers, Richard Russo, and a lot more.
The list of 14 books below is, of course, hardly a complete list -- I tried to make my list a mix of the "big" books of 2026 and the ones with special interest for me, personally. If you want a more complete list, check the Chicago Review of Books, or...