LONDON — British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday with “Orbital,” a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station that ponders the beauty and fragility of Earth. Harvey was awarded the 50,000-pound ($64,000) prize for what she has called a “space pastoral” about six orbiting astronauts, which she…
Is there a better writer of urban American stories than Richard Price? His resume is hart to beat: To episodes of HBO’s “The Wire,” and “The Night Of,” and novels like “Clockers,” “Lush Life,” and “Freedomland,” fans can now add “Lazarus Man.” The story opens with a boom, literally. A five-story tenement in East Harlem…
MADRID — It’s the eyes peering from the canvases that get him, their gaze piercing the boundary between art and life. That’s why acclaimed Irish novelist John Banville prefers to visit Spain’s Prado Museum during its opening hours — even though he’s been invited to browse anytime as part of a month-long literary fellowship. Still,…
LONDON — LONDON (AP) — George Smileythe subtle fictional spymaster navigating treacherous Cold War currents, is back. And so, somewhat surprisingly, is his creator, John le Carré. Four years after the spy writer’s death at the age of 89comes a new thriller, “Karla’s Choice.” Billed as “a John le Carré novel,” it was written by…
NEW YORK — Percival Everett’s novel “James,” his acclaimed reworking of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” has won a $50,000 prize that continues Everett’s recent wave of literary honors. On Wednesday night, “James” was awarded the Kirkus Prize for fiction. Everett’s novel, which imagines Mark Twain’s classic from the perspective of the escaped enslaved man…
“The Book of George” is a novel of many finely crafted, often funny moments that arrive episodically as the title character grows older. At first he’s a millennial kid, then a college guy as the Twin Towers fall on 9/11. In time George — he’s given no surname — graduates and struggles over what to…
NEW YORK — Reese Witherspoon’s latest literary news marks a new direction for the Oscar-winning actor, producer and founder of her own book club. Grand Central Publishing announced Wednesday that the “Legally Blonde” and “Big Little Lies” star is teaming with the bestselling thriller writer and Netflix producer-creator. Harlan Coben on a suspense novel, her…
New York magazine says that its highly regarded Washington correspondent, Olivia Nuzzi, is on leave after disclosing that she violated the publication’s standards by having a personal relationship with a former reporting subject. Newsletter Status, which broke the storyand The New York Times both cite unnamed sources in identifying Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the…
If you’re a Francophile with an interest in psychoanalysis, Lauren Elkin’s smart and steamy debut novel, “Scaffolding,” may be for you. Even if you’re just a reader looking for an intriguing story of desire and love among a bright corps of professionals in France, Elkin’s book can be a beguiling puzzle — and a deep…
Percival Everett’s “James,” a reworking of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the enslaved Jim’s perspective, is among the fiction finalists for the 11th annual Kirkus Prize. NEW YORK– Percival Everett’s “James,” a reworking of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the enslaved Jim’s perspective, is among the fiction finalists for…
