A columnist for The Nation, Eric Alterman is most recently the author of It Ain’t No Sin to Be Glad You’re Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen (Back Bay Books, $14).
Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac (Viking Press, $14). The best book ever about the contemporary mores of elite American journalism was written in the mid-19th century by a Frenchman. The more things change…
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Modern Library, $10). War and Peace without the preachy metaphysics. Seriously, to read this book is to fall in love, though not happily. But if you need me to recommend Leo Tolstoy, well, I’m afraid I can’t help you.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Counterlife by Phillip Roth (Vintage Books, $14). Roth hit his stride as never before with a book—presented as a kind of postmodern afterthought to the famed Zuckerman trilogy—that looks deep into the hearts and minds of men and finds just more penises. Brilliant, funny, deep, and dirty. A perfect book, really.
Rabbit, Run by John Updike (Ballantine Books, $14). Is it possible to write the great American novel anymore? No, the country is too diverse and its culture too self-contradictory. But John Updike gets an A for effort for spending nearly 40 years trying—as well as for leaving in the dirty (racist, sexist, imperialist) parts.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (Riverhead Books, $13). Not everything in life that’s great has to be high-minded. I almost picked Flaubert’s Sentimental Education here, which is undoubtedly a “better” book, but nowhere near as much fun. Maybe it’s a guy thing, but I laughed, I cried, I wished it would never end.
The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume I by Robert Caro (Knopf, $35). This is volume one of a proposed history that will likely run up to more than 4,000 pages. Yet each page is meticulously researched, beautifully written, and frequently both astounding and moving at the same time. A perfect marriage of writer to subject and an archetypal work of historical reconstruction, and written by a nonhistorian. It edges out Caro’s other masterpiece, The Power Broker, only because of its wayyy larger-than-life subject.
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
Crossword: October 19, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
