New & Noteworthy, From Horse Girls to an E.R. Doctor’s View of Covid

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

1h

Sunday in the Trenches With George

James Lapine’s book shows how he and Stephen Sondheim invested two years of work to burnish their musical from an avant-garde near-disaster to a mainstream classic.

4h

11 New Books Coming in August

Buzzy new novels from Alexandra Kleeman, Leila Slimani and Stephen King, Billie Jean King’s memoir and plenty more.

4h

Book Review: ‘Afterparties,’ by Anthony Veasna So

In “Afterparties,” Anthony Veasna So, who died at 28 last year, reimagines California’s Central Valley through the lives of its Cambodian immigrants.

20h

Finding the ‘Believers’ Who Will Remake a Damaged Earth

In a travelogue, Lisa Wells searches for communities and individuals committed to healing the damage of climate change.

22h

What We Learned From Mena Suvari’s Book on the ‘Dark Part’ of Her Life

In her new memoir, the “American Beauty” and “American Pie” actor opens up about years of sexual abuse and drug addiction, as well as an “eerie” moment with Kevin Spacey.

1d

The Mystery of My Obsession With Agatha Christie

People were dying all around me. So why was I escaping into tales of murder?

1d

Ha Jin Considers the Cost of Freedom in ‘A Song Everlasting’

Jin’s new novel follows a Beijing opera singer who flees to the United States after he gets in trouble with the Chinese state.

1d

A New John Oliver Killens Novel Arrives, Three Decades After His Death

Killens’s posthumously released novel, “The Minister Primarily,” is a searing and satirical look at race in America.

1d

Booker Prize Longlist Is Unveiled

Rachel Cusk’s “Second Place,” Richard Powers’s “Bewilderment” and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun” are among the 13 novels nominated for one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards.

1d