Books

Eric Jerome Dickey, Best-Selling Novelist, Dies at 59

His fiction often featured strong Black women, and Black women were among his most enthusiastic readers.

‘I Came as a Shadow: An Autobiography,’ by John Thompson with Jesse Washington: An Excerpt

An excerpt from “I Came as a Shadow: An Autobiography,” by John Thompson with Jesse Washington

How to Pretend You’re in Cartagena Today

The Colombian port city, home to the trademark sounds and dances of the region, is so full of magic that it has inspired entire books by Gabriel García Márquez.

GROUP TEXT

This Is Parenthood — and Not Just the Charming, Photogenic Parts

Peter Ho Davies’s novel, “A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself,” tells the story of one family’s beginnings to show what to expect when you’re raising a real human being.

Fiction

Leonora Carrington’s Transformative Surrealist Novel

“The Hearing Trumpet,” first published in 1974, follows a 92-year-old protagonist far past reality’s dull edge.

Nonfiction

Hate Working Out? Blame Evolution

Daniel Lieberman’s “Exercised” looks at evolutionary biology to explain what might be the most appropriate workout regimen for our bodies.

New & Noteworthy, From Russian Satire to the Comet Apocalypse

A selection of recent titles of interest; plus, a peek at what our colleagues around the newsroom are reading.

The Shortlist

Three New Books on the Predigital Technologies That Shaped Our World

A history of early medicine, a medieval astronomer’s adventures and an exploration of wood’s importance in human history all look back to eras long before the internet.

nonfiction

Climbing the Himalaya With Soldiers, Spies, Lamas and Mountaineers

“Himalaya: A Human History,” by Ed Douglas, a journalist and climber, unfolds the story of the world’s highest mountain range and its equally outsize impact on mankind.

Fiction

A Novel of Infidelity and the Art World, on a Crowded Canvas

From the domestic sphere to the gallery scene, lies make the world go around in Danielle McLaughlin’s first novel, “The Art of Falling.”