Books

Just what exactly is the legacy of Harry Houdini, this remarkable magician, escape artist, movie star, aviator, author, and investigator of the paranormal?

Signs of the times . . .

A deep dive into the classicism, Christianity, myths, and European heraldry behind Old Glory.

The poet and professor Kimiko Hahn wonders in her new volume what sort of error it is to depend on stuff, as hoarder or as collector. Is it a societal problem of overconsumption? Or is it simply a behavior observable by a scientist?

And this week in part two of the mother of all Trump book reviews? The reality TV star gets political.

What exactly is the acceptable racial alchemy for fiction?

Donald Trump's unlikely, but far from accidental, path to the presidency, as told by those who were there.

Cristina Alger’s latest crime novel imagines an East End answer to Jeffrey Epstein and two underage Latina murder victims as it explores class inequities in the realms of law enforcement and justice.

Surprisingly often it is life that imitates art in “Home Work,” Julie Andrews’s revealing memoir of her Hollywood years.

“User Friendly” is an insider’s history of design, highlighting triumphs and catastrophes, foibles and advancements, a new benchmark in the study of user experience.

In “The Indispensable Composers,” Anthony Tommasini of The Times brings to bear wide personal experience, extensive knowledge, an approachable teaching style, and deep fondness for the material in taking us on a delightful journey.

A little beat up, a little worn down, getting long in the tooth, Sam Acquillo’s back for another seat-of-the-pants investigation into depravity.

The new Pushcart Prize table of contents lets us know that authors are thinking about drug overdoses, racism, cultural appropriation, caring for elderly family members, and the complicated political divide.

“Mag Men” by Walter Bernard and Milton Glaser, the formidable graphic designers whose work with New York magazine left a huge imprint on American journalism, adds to the bleak realization that an era has ended, but what a wonderful retrospective of a 50-year legacy of art direction this is.

The incredible journey of a refugee Iraqi cat is out in a $7.99 paperback edition, and a Star “Guestwords” and book review contributor makes good with a collection of his own.

From Mary Gaitskill’s novelistic reconsideration of the #MeToo movement to Elton John’s hilarious self-mockery, our man in letters picks ’em . . .

This heroic story, an uplifting portrait and an engaging account of a glamorous age, also shows what happens when a unique individual who finds acceptance overseas runs headlong into American racism.

The big story Paul Tough tells in “The Years That Matter Most” is about the failure of higher education in the 21st century to provide equal opportunity to all segments of American society. But it will lead you to reflect on your own academic experience, too.

Michael Bloomberg, the larger-than-life former mayor of New York, ubiquitous and initiative-heavy, has no greater fan than Eleanor Randolph, journalist and now biographer.

What’s different about Alan Furst’s latest World War II tale of espionage is its hero — a rank amateur, a naive neophyte, and, like his creator, a writer of spy novels.

From Guild Hall’s new poet-in-residence, who will read a selection of her work Friday night at Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor.

Generous, encouraging, and nothing if not thorough, “Pity the Reader” is a kind of fiction writer’s chapbook, using the great satirist’s comments as a jumping-off point to address the budding writer’s most basic concerns.

“Selected Shorts,” the radio and stage show from Symphony Space, is coming to the Avram Theater at Stony Brook Southampton on Saturday to honor one of the college’s own, the late comic essayist David Rakoff.

Louis Begley wraps up his Jack Dana crime novel series in the most gruesome way imaginable.

In “Guestbook” Leanne Shapton tells stories composed solely of visual art or photographic images or prose, or an interplay of all three, inviting the reader to participate in rendering the unseen.

James Zirin prosecutes the case against Trump by picking apart a pattern of behavior — contentious real estate dealings, legendary unpaid debts, the unsuccessful casino gamble in Atlantic City, the Trump University fraud, and boorish misogyny.

When they became the new owners of Canio’s Books in 1999, Kathryn Szoka and Maryann Calendrille didn’t just buy a business; they bought into a community.

“Chicken Soup for the Soul” meets “The Twilight Zone” is the vibe in John McCaffrey’s new short volume of 11 brief stories.

Gary McAvoy’s ironically titled new book accuses Truman Capote of guilt by omission in the writing of “In Cold Blood,” and says the recently discovered notebooks of Harold Nye of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation contain smoking-gun evidence.

A master of audiobooks voice work will do what he does best — speak — about his craft and career at the library in Amagansett. Colson Whitehead, meanwhile, makes it onto another long-list for a top award.