Books
Looking for book recommendations? What to read, what not to read, and the latest news in the world of books.
The latest in Books
![What George Orwell’s 1984 can teach us about 2024](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Vox_GrayArea_Orwell_8-6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![What George Orwell’s 1984 can teach us about 2024](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Vox_GrayArea_Orwell_8-6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
Orwell prized clear communication, so why are people misusing his name?
![Why readers love — and love to hate — Colleen Hoover](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-2165136195.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.603773584906%2C0%2C66.792452830189%2C100&w=2400)
![Why readers love — and love to hate — Colleen Hoover](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/GettyImages-2165136195.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.094161958568733%2C100%2C99.811676082863&w=2400)
It Ends With Us is at the center of Hoover’s very polarizing body of work.
![The short shelf-life of the White House tell-all](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-902923216.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.663532066955%2C0%2C66.67293586609%2C100&w=2400)
![The short shelf-life of the White House tell-all](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-902923216.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.0047014574518087%2C100%2C99.990597085096&w=2400)
White House tell-alls age like milk. Why do journalists keep writing them?
![The art and science of swearing](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-1085109316.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![The art and science of swearing](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-1085109316.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
And why you feel bad swearing around your friends’ kids, according to a philosopher.
![The best books of the year (so far)](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Vox_Books_02.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66875%2C0%2C66.6625%2C100&w=2400)
![The best books of the year (so far)](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Vox_Books_02.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031249999999972%2C0%2C99.99375%2C100&w=2400)
From debut character studies to beloved franchises, here are the best books of the last 6 months.
![Revisiting Hillbilly Elegy, the book that made J.D. Vance](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/gettyimages-2162189013.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.670579948345%2C0%2C66.658840103311%2C100&w=2400)
![Revisiting Hillbilly Elegy, the book that made J.D. Vance](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/gettyimages-2162189013.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0058699225170287%2C0%2C99.988260154966%2C100&w=2400)
The bestseller proves Trump’s VP pick has abiding disdain for absolutely everyone.
![What do we do about Alice Munro now?](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-183933026.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=22.348484848485%2C0%2C55.30303030303%2C100&w=2400)
![What do we do about Alice Munro now?](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/GettyImages-183933026.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=8.5227272727273%2C0%2C82.954545454545%2C100&w=2400)
Reckoning with the late author and Nobel Prize winner’s complicity in her daughter’s abuse.
![The existential struggle of being Black](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/gettyimages-1251264834.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.799073154585%2C0%2C66.401853690831%2C100&w=2400)
![The existential struggle of being Black](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/gettyimages-1251264834.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.19860973187686%2C0%2C99.602780536246%2C100&w=2400)
A conversation with author Nathalie Etoke on Black existentialism and the case for tragic optimism.
![Looking for your next great read? We’re here to help.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Vox_NextPage_Final_1920x1280.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![Looking for your next great read? We’re here to help.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Vox_NextPage_Final_1920x1280.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
Introducing Vox’s Next Page.
![A new book tackles the splendor and squalor of reality TV](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/GettyImages-1206496568.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.5%2C0%2C67%2C100&w=2400)
![A new book tackles the splendor and squalor of reality TV](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/GettyImages-1206496568.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.24875621890547%2C100%2C99.502487562189&w=2400)
Critic Emily Nussbaum makes the case for the guilty pleasure as an art form.
![What this summer’s age-gap escapist fantasies are missing about romance and middle age](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/GettyImages-565886789.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=12.494862309905%2C0%2C75.010275380189%2C100&w=2400)
![What this summer’s age-gap escapist fantasies are missing about romance and middle age](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/GettyImages-565886789.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.5616438356164%2C100%2C88.876712328767&w=2400)
In her new novel All Fours, Miranda July romps where The Idea of You fears to tread.
![The Idea of You — and the idea of age gaps](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25427003/IDEA_2023_FG_01024405_Still367RC_3000.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=25.966666666667%2C0%2C50%2C100&w=2400)
![The Idea of You — and the idea of age gaps](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25427003/IDEA_2023_FG_01024405_Still367RC_3000.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=12.5%2C0%2C75%2C100&w=2400)
From hit movies to viral essays, the discourse is rarely about the people inside the relationships.
![The AI grift that can literally poison you](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25420342/1243691496.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.670107349298%2C0%2C66.659785301404%2C100&w=2400)
![The AI grift that can literally poison you](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25420342/1243691496.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0051610239471529%2C0%2C99.989677952106%2C100&w=2400)
When AI comes for mushroom foragers.
![The “feminist” case against having sex for fun](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25408662/EricLevitz_Reactionary_Vox_4_19.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66875%2C0%2C66.6625%2C100&w=2400)
American conservatives are cozying up to British feminists who argue that the sexual revolution has hurt women.
![Amazon is filled with garbage ebooks. Here’s how they get made.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25391110/Vox_Trashbook_Final.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
It’s partly AI, partly a get-rich-quick scheme, and entirely bad for confused consumers.
![The Talented Mr. Ripley is a perfect striver gothic. The Netflix adaptation is lifeless.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25374384/Ripley_u_S1_E1_00_04_40_02_R.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
![The Talented Mr. Ripley is a perfect striver gothic. The Netflix adaptation is lifeless.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25374384/Ripley_u_S1_E1_00_04_40_02_R.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=7.8125%2C0%2C84.375%2C100&w=2400)
Ripley fails to capture what makes Highsmith’s book so compelling.
![Why half the people you know are obsessed with this book series](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25308014/Constance_SarahJMaas.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.66875%2C0%2C66.6625%2C100&w=2400)
![Why half the people you know are obsessed with this book series](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25308014/Constance_SarahJMaas.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0.0031249999999972%2C0%2C99.99375%2C100&w=2400)
With A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas has established herself as the reigning queen of romantasy.
![Why you probably shouldn’t blow up a pipeline](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25288509/Tarini_Sharma_Vox_Final_021224.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
The revolutionary left’s theory of the climate crisis puts ideology above inconvenient truths.
![In The Book of Love, Kelly Link shows that the best romances are ghost stories too](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25285810/9780812996586.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.1945244956772%2C100%2C66.534582132565&w=2400)
![In The Book of Love, Kelly Link shows that the best romances are ghost stories too](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25285810/9780812996586.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.1945244956772%2C100%2C44.356388088377&w=2400)
The first novel by the acclaimed short-story writer is magical, strange, and just a tad too slow.
![What the 5 love languages get right, and what they get very wrong](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25276609/GettyImages_1394759452.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![What the 5 love languages get right, and what they get very wrong](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25276609/GettyImages_1394759452.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
Don’t think of love as a language. Experts say to think of love as a balanced diet instead.
![Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It is a witty, overstuffed campus satire](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25254544/9780593328200.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C16.882882882883%2C100%2C66.234234234234&w=2400)
![Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It is a witty, overstuffed campus satire](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25254544/9780593328200.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C27.921921921922%2C100%2C44.156156156156&w=2400)
The author of Such a Fun Age returns with a hit-and-miss sophomore effort, tracing lines of power with money.
![How the internet built a conspiracy theory around a new spy flick, a debut novel, and Taylor Swift](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25242094/Argylle_Photo_0102.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![How the internet built a conspiracy theory around a new spy flick, a debut novel, and Taylor Swift](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25242094/Argylle_Photo_0102.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
The Argylle authorship controversy, explained.
![Want to understand American views on Israel? Take a look at this 1958 novel.](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25211613/Exodus_Lede_Vox.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
Leon Uris’s bestselling epic Exodus — and its hit movie adaptation starring Paul Newman — influenced generations of Americans, from the suburbs to the State Department.
![The lasting impact of The Color Purple](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25179371/the_color_purple_zz_231018_01_14d998.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=23.1%2C0%2C53.8%2C100&w=2400)
![The lasting impact of The Color Purple](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25179371/the_color_purple_zz_231018_01_14d998.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=9.65%2C0%2C80.7%2C100&w=2400)
The Color Purple is a melodrama — and the new movie musical keeps its traditions alive.
![The very best books of 2023](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174394/Vox_BooksoftheYear_ConstanceGrady.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
From buzzy novels to literary biographies, Vox’s book critic breaks down the year in reading.
![The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes might be the best Hunger Games movie yet](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25092243/boss_unit_220920_01273_r.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.666666666667%2C0%2C66.666666666667%2C100&w=2400)
![The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes might be the best Hunger Games movie yet](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25092243/boss_unit_220920_01273_r.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&w=2400)
The Hunger Games prequel finds a new wrinkle in a story we thought we knew.
![All of this year’s National Book Award finalists, reviewed by Vox](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25087367/Vox_NBA_Lede_11_15.png?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
We read all of the 2023 nominees. Here’s what we thought.
![Professional raconteur Fran Lebowitz thinks art should be useless](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25000906/Fran_Lebowitz_2MB_vers__CREDIT_and_Copyright_Brigitte_Lacombe_.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.25906735751295%2C100%2C99.481865284974&w=2400)
![Professional raconteur Fran Lebowitz thinks art should be useless](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25000906/Fran_Lebowitz_2MB_vers__CREDIT_and_Copyright_Brigitte_Lacombe_.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C14.417098445596%2C100%2C66.321243523316&w=2400)
And that you should probably wear shoes.
![The big Elon Musk biography asks all the wrong questions](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24919434/1678536159.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=12.595923261391%2C0%2C67.466027178257%2C100&w=2400)
![The big Elon Musk biography asks all the wrong questions](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24919434/1678536159.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.59241706161137%2C100%2C98.815165876777&w=2400)
In Walter Isaacson’s buzzy new biography, Elon Musk emerges as a callous, chaos-loving man without empathy.
![How cars ruin wild animals’ lives](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24913339/AP17172603241117.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=18%2C0%2C64%2C100&w=2400)
If you love nature, consider not driving in it.
![The book of the year so far is Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24863592/9780593418390.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C16.882882882883%2C100%2C66.234234234234&w=2400)
![The book of the year so far is Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24863592/9780593418390.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C27.921921921922%2C100%2C44.156156156156&w=2400)
Groff’s latest is an un-put-down-able story of survival.
![Zadie Smith on the problem of the good white woman](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24851752/9780525558965.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.3070175438596%2C100%2C65.789473684211&w=2400)
![Zadie Smith on the problem of the good white woman](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24851752/9780525558965.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C5.3070175438596%2C100%2C43.859649122807&w=2400)
The Fraud, a Victorian novel for the post-Trump era, is elegant, flawed, and sharp as a knife.
![Dealing With Dragons is the kind of book a kid builds their personality around](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884820/GettyImages_471286911.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=14.882226980728%2C0%2C70.235546038544%2C100&w=2400)
![Dealing With Dragons is the kind of book a kid builds their personality around](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884820/GettyImages_471286911.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C2.5406504065041%2C100%2C94.918699186992&w=2400)
Patricia C. Wrede just published her first book in a decade. Here’s how she enchanted a generation.
![How does Elon Musk get away with it all?](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24854409/AlexFine_Vox_ElonMusk.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=13.75%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
The billionaire’s heroic image is built on media praise, breathless fans, and … romance novel tropes.
![Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24842358/GettyImages_1466243153.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=20.639254738195%2C0%2C58.721490523611%2C100&w=2400)
![Publishing scammers are using AI to scale their grifts](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24842358/GettyImages_1466243153.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=5.958882107292%2C0%2C88.082235785416%2C100&w=2400)
Large language models are disrupting the publishing industry, from spam submissions to garbage books.
![A reading guide for grownups who don’t read](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24829998/GettyImages_1288437092.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=23.4375%2C0%2C53.125%2C100&w=2400)
![A reading guide for grownups who don’t read](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24829998/GettyImages_1288437092.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=10.15625%2C0%2C79.6875%2C100&w=2400)
Librarian secrets to getting into books for the very first time.
![Colson Whitehead on the heists, fire, and movie magic of his new novel Crook Manifesto](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24789099/9780385545150.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C17.105263157895%2C100%2C65.789473684211&w=2400)
![Colson Whitehead on the heists, fire, and movie magic of his new novel Crook Manifesto](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24789099/9780385545150.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C28.070175438596%2C100%2C43.859649122807&w=2400)
The two-time Pulitzer winner is using his Harlem Shuffle trilogy to tell the history of New York.
![2023’s best books (so far)](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24761706/Vox_BestBooksSoFar_PaigeVickers.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
![2023’s best books (so far)](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24761706/Vox_BestBooksSoFar_PaigeVickers.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=7.8125%2C0%2C84.375%2C100&w=2400)
From shipwrecks to hijackings to sex comedies, these are the best books of the first half of 2023.
![How Frog and Toad became queer anti-capitalist cottagecore icons](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24755812/Frog_And_Toad_Photo_010203.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=21.875%2C0%2C56.25%2C100&w=2400)
![How Frog and Toad became queer anti-capitalist cottagecore icons](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24755812/Frog_And_Toad_Photo_010203.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=7.8125%2C0%2C84.375%2C100&w=2400)
Arnold Lobel’s quietly radical creations speak to those who don’t want to live a predetermined life.
![When you can’t separate art from artist](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24741156/1241896618.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=16.660094637224%2C0%2C66.679810725552%2C100&w=2400)
![When you can’t separate art from artist](https://platform.vox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24741156/1241896618.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C0.009856100926477%2C100%2C99.980287798147&w=2400)
Talking Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma with Claire Dederer.