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Richard Bausch, who edited the most recent edition of The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, is the award-winning author of 10 short-story collections and 13 novels, including Hello to the Cannibals and Peace. His new story collection, out May 20, is The Fate of Others.
'War and Peace by' Leo Tolstoy (1869)
I first read Tolstoy's towering novel at 18 because I heard that John F. Kennedy admired it. I had no idea that I'd end up a writer, too. I'm currently reading it again, for the sixth time. I love Mark Twain's remark about it—and it is so like Twain: "Tolstoy carelessly neglects to include a boat race." Buy it here.
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'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
I've read The Great Gatsby nearly every year since 1971. It just never ages. There's always something I see that I hadn't, every time. This last time I noticed the economy of the physical characterizations: "She was shrill, languid, handsome, and horrible." Buy it here.
'Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life' by Ann Beattie (2011)
I said when this book was published, "You know you're in the presence of great writing when you cannot think of anything at all like it anywhere else in your experience as a reader." Here is Richard Nixon's wife, in her dignity, without the glib matters that plagued her. It's a stunning achievement. Buy it here.
'Have Mercy on Us' by Lisa Cupolo (2023)
Winner of the W.S. Porter Prize for short fiction, this story collection ranges widely. The settings include Africa, Greece, Canada, and the U.S. And the subject is love: filial love, married love, friendship love—the human connections that have always mattered most. Buy it here.
'The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway' (1938)
I picked up this collection at a library when I was in the Air Force, 21 years old, writing songs and singing but also curious about story writing. The best stories here will stand with the best stories of all time. They are that good. They still shimmer. The prose is still miraculously rich with nuance. So much is being expressed with such economy. Buy it here.
'Blonde' by Joyce Carol Oates (2000)
A masterwork, about how the essential sickness of our times ruined the life of a talented woman: Norma Jean Baker, or Marilyn Monroe. Page by page, Blonde is propulsive, brimming with Oates' powerful eye and ear for the textures of things, how they feel and sound and smell. Buy it here.
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Taps could run dry in drought-stricken TehranUnder the Radar President warns that unless rationing eases water crisis, citizens may have to evacuate the capital
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Alaska faces earth-shaking loss as seismic monitoring stations shutterIN THE SPOTLIGHT NOAA cuts have left the western seaboard without a crucial resource to measure, understand and predict tsunamis
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10 great advent calendars for everyone (including the dog)The Week Recommends Countdown with cocktails, jams and Legos
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6 homes with fall foliagefeature An autumnal orange Craftsman, a renovated Greek Revival church and an estate with an orchard
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Bugonia: ‘deranged, extreme and explosively enjoyable’Talking Point Yorgos Lanthimos’ film stars Emma Stone as a CEO who is kidnapped and accused of being an alien
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The Revolutionists: a ‘superb and monumental’ bookThe Week Recommends Jason Burke ‘epic’ account of the plane hijackings and kidnappings carried out by extremists in the 1970s
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Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
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Book reviews: ‘Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity’ and ‘Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’feature An examination of humanity in the face of “the Machine” and a posthumous memoir from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who recently died by suicide
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The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago
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Salted caramel and chocolate tart recipeThe Week Recommends Delicious dessert can be made with any biscuits you fancy
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6 trailside homes for hikersFeature Featuring a roof deck with skyline views in California and a home with access to private trails in Montana
