Malcolm Jones

The novelist will be praised. But Updike's nonfiction deserves remembrance.

Though it's been eclipsed by new technologies, there is nothing as valuable or revelatory as a good letter. So how will future generations remember this moment in history?

William Eggleston's retrospective may be on display in New York, but it will make you feel like you're down South.

Roberto Bolaño's final novel tackles the evil of the 20th century.

A biography—oral, of course—of George Plimpton.

The latest 'Godfather' sequel—this one on Blu-ray—is going to make a killing.

A writer discovers the master potter in his past.

John le Carre's 'A Most Wanted Man' seethes with anger at the West, but where it most needs energy, in its characters, it falls short.

After her Pulitzer, Marilynne Robinson heads toward 'Home.'

How's this for a coincidence? Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same day: Feb. 12, 1809. As historical facts go, it amounts to little more than a footnote.

Glenn Gould and the mysterious search for the perfect concert piano.

Salman Rushdie's latest novel has many incidental delights, but it's hard to say what it all adds up to.

Ornery, funny and utterly original, Bo Diddley, a giant of 20th-century music, departs the stage.

The new American way of death? Keep those tombstones out of sight.

A new book explores how the AK47 became the gun that's second to none.

Robert Frank's landmark photography book, 'The Americans,' turns 50 this year. It doesn't look it.

Two years after Oprah humiliated him for faking his memoir, James Frey wants to make it all up.

Has this vibrant culture come back from Katrina? Signs point to Yes—but.

In the trenches restoring Gettysburg's cyclorama

The late photographer discovered some of her most famous images in Hubert's Museum, a Times Square freak show. Now a new book shows how Arbus, her subjects and the collectors who came after all tie together in a tall but true American tale.

Classics Illustrated once introduced millions of children to the pleasures of a great story. A new generation of publishers is betting they can do the same.

Tony Earley catches up with 'Jim the Boy' in a beguiling sequel that's never too good to be true.

Why do publishers keep getting fooled by memoirists who make it all up?

Richard Price's novel may look like a murder story, but it's really a tough guy's love letter to the old neighborhood.

'Beautiful Children' is as colorful and crazy as the Strip itself. They both might make you a little dizzy.

Bernard Schlink publishes a successor to 'The Reader'—a novel whose protagonist can't get 'The Odyssey' off of his mind.

The Civil War wasn't just our bloodiest conflict. It also changed the way Americans look at death.

Westerns, comedies, dramas and silent films—a new box set proves John Ford mastered all at Fox.

Westerns, comedies, historical dramas and silent films—a new DVD collection proves that John Ford was a master of them all.

Our critic chooses 15 of his favorite books from 2007.