The Weekly Reader

It’s fun to imagine the real lives of “coming-of-age" book authors – how much do they draw from their own experiences? Today on The Weekly Reader, book critic Marion Winik shares two new novels about family, faith, and growing up. We review Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything and Elin Hilderbrand's Summer of '69.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels about men with complicated lives. Book critic Marion Winik shares her thoughts on Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Fleishman is in Trouble and James Lasdun's The Afternoon of a Faun.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we travel to "exotic" locales, and commune with the locals, with two new novels. Marion Winik reviews Garth Ginder's Honestly, We Meant Well, and Chip Cheek's Cape May.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature two new books that explore the some of the hidden trauma of everyday life in the Middle East in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Marion Winik reviews Correspondents by Tim Murphy and The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye. 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we kick off the summer reading season with two new, fun books: Sloane Tanen's There's A Word for That and Marcy Dermansky's Very Nice. Bring on the sun!

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews Angie Kim's fiction debut, Miracle Creek. The new novel is our selection for the July meeting of the Weekly Reader Book Club.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, book critic Marion Winik reviews two novels by the young Irish novelist Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends and Normal People.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews a pair of novels that explore aspects of the American past that you may have missed: Lisa Gornick's The Peacock Feast and Roxana Robinson's Dawson's Fall. 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader we preview two great new memoirs. Our book critic Marion Winik shares her thoughts on Megan Stack's Women's Work and Sunita Puri's That Good Night. 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik offers her take on Sarah Blake's The Guest Book, a gripping tale of family values, mores, and traditions, and the way they evolve over the course of multiple generations.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we preview two new novels that are set in high school. Marion Winik shares her thoughts on Susan Choi's Trust Exercise and Ann Beattie's A Wonderful Stroke of Luck.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, book critic Marion Winik shares two novels about coming of age in the multicultural milieu of the United States. We preview Laila Lalami's "The Other Americans" and Maria Kuznetsova's "Oksana, Behave!" 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature two novels that examine the complexities of women's relationships. Our book critic Marion Winik reviews "Feast Your Eyes" by Myla Goldberg, and "Lost and Wanted" by Nell Freundenberger.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we preview our selection for the May meeting of the Weekly Reader Book Club, Sigrid Nunez's "The Friend." book club meets on May 9th at 7 pm at Bird in Hand!

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature three winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards. "Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous," by Christopher Bonanos, "Feel Free," by Zadie Smith, and "The Crossing," by Ada Limon.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we do a little time traveling through history to meet a trio of extraordinary women for the ages. Book critic Marion Winik gives us her take on Carrie Callaghan's "A Light of Her Own," Ariel Lawhon's "I Was Anastasia," and Marie Benedict's "The Only Woman in the Room."

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature two new novels from the UK. Our book critic Marion Winik reviews "Milkman" by Anna Burns, which is about a quirky teenage girl surviving "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, and Candice Carty-Williams' "Queenie," which is about a hip Jamaican Brit navigating life in oh-so-modern London.

There's something about Australia...its ancient culture, its vast expanses, its rough terrain. The fact that it was a penal colony! On this edition of The Weekly Reader, book critic Marion Winik reviews Jane Harper's "The Lost Man" and Josephine Wilson's "Extinctions."

On this edition of The Weekly Reader podcast, our book critic Marion Winik reviews "The Falconer" by Dana Czapnik. Not only is this debut novel a stunner, it is also the first pick for the new Weekly Reader Book Club!

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature two new novels that are short reads but pack a big punch. Book critic Marion Winik reviews "Binstead's Safari" by Rachell Ingalls and"Ghost Wall" by Sarah Moss.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review Elizabeth McCracken's new novel "Bowlaway." Yes, it's about bowling, but, according to our book critic Marion Winik, it's got a lot more going for it than spares and strikes. 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels for those whose taste in Bildungsroman runs more toward Jim Carroll than Jane Eyre. Marion Winik shares her thoughts on Ray Strom's "Northern Lights" and John Fried's "The Martin Chronicles."

Looking for the perfect book to curl up with this winter? On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews two new thrillers: "The Boy" by Tami Hoag, and "An Anonymous Girl" by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to work - and, in some cases, that means back to school. On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we head back to campus with our book critic Marion Winik and her take on "Still in Love" by Michael Downing and "My Education" by Susan Choi.

What happens when you find out that the story of your life, which you've been telling for years, is not exactly what it seemed? On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we learn about the wild evolution of memoirist Dani Shapiro.

There's nothing like a whiff of scandal to bring out the hypocrisy surrounding sex, politics, and social class in our everyday lives. On this edition of The Weekly Reader, reviews of Idra Novey's "Those Who Knew" and Alan Hollingshurst's "The Sparsholt Affair."

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we feature two very different stories that take place in Manhattan. Our book critic Marion Winik reviews "The Museum of Modern Love" by Heather Rose, and "Severance" by Ling Ma.

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new books about brotherly love. Featured are "The Day That Went Missing" by Richard Beard and "What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth" by RigobertoGonzalez.

If you've never read a graphic, now may be the time to give one a try. On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews "Sabrina" by Nick Drnaso and "Belonging" by Nora Krug.

On this episode of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews Michelle Obama's highly anticipated and wildly popular new memoir, "Becoming."