Hamilton Cain

In 1970s San Francisco, a Groovy Tale of Sex and Menace

A noir delight, @poingu.bsky.social's "Evil Genius" recounts one young woman's coming-of-age in 1970s San Francisco. Out Tuesday from @eccobooks.bsky.social. Here's my review for @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/b...

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week Our murder’s row of magnificent reviews this week includes Ron Charles on Jonathan Miles’s Eradication, Karan Mahajan on Daniyal Mueenuddin’s This Is Where the Serpent Lives, Alexandra Jacobs on Li…

Cool, thanks @literaryhub.bsky.social ! lithub.com/5-book-revie...

To quote the estimable @maris.bsky.social: Burn it all down.

The Best New Books to Read in February From Tayari Jones' Kin to Gisele Pelicot's memoir, here are the best books to read this month

Oyez, bibliophiles: here's my list of ten February books, compliments of TIME: time.com/7362790/best...

Can anything save the soul of a tycoon? In ‘Vigil,’ George Saunders mines empathy, memory, and heart. - The Boston Globe We meet Jill Blaine first as she plummets toward K.J. Boone's Dallas mansion from “the elevation,” a celestial perch where a few select dead usher their charges into the afterlife.

Frequent contributor @hamiltoncain.bsky.social reviewed the latest George Saunders novel, VIGIL, for us. He writes that the book is "thrilling on the page." Read his review in the print @bostonglobe.com on Sunday, or here now.

www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/20/a...

Can anything save the soul of a tycoon? In ‘Vigil,’ George Saunders mines empathy, memory, and heart. - The Boston Globe We meet Jill Blaine first as she plummets toward K.J. Boone's Dallas mansion from “the elevation,” a celestial perch where a few select dead usher their charges into the afterlife.

The great George Saunders is back with a masterful second novel, "Vigil," out next week from Random House. Here's my review for @bostonglobe.com with thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social for the opportunity. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/20/a...

Review | A groundbreaking writer finds a novel way to air her grievances Jeanette Winterson’s genre-bending “One Aladdin Two Lamps” channels her anger at patriarchy in a reimagining of “One Thousand and One Nights.”

Jeanette Winterson's "One Aladdin Two Lamps" is a rich if problematic meditation on storytelling, out next week from @groveatlantic.bsky.social. Here's my review for @washingtonpost.com: www.washingtonpost.com/books/2026/0...

Do y'allselves a favor and preorder @namwalien.bsky.social's "On Morrison," a magisterial close reading of an American master in an age of lit-lite substacks. Out 2/24 from Hogarth. Here's my review for @ronslate.bsky.social's "On the Seawall": www.ronslate.com/on-on-morris...

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Yes! And fun!

The 36 Most Anticipated Books of 2026 The year ahead promises new books from George Saunders, Colson Whitehead, Ann Patchett, Ruth Ozeki, Jesmyn Ward and more

Before we all float away on a tide of eggnog, here's @time.com's preview of 36 anticipated books coming in 2026. Many thanks to Lucy Feldman for the opportunity. time.com/7341767/most...

The 75 best books of 2025 - The Boston Globe From fiction to nonfiction, discover the best books of 2025 with our curated list of 75 titles.

Wrote up 2025 best fiction for @bostonglobe.com with my esteemed fellow critic @hamiltoncain.bsky.social. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/22/a...

Backatcha--so much fun!

The 75 best books of 2025 - The Boston Globe From fiction to nonfiction, discover the best books of 2025 with our curated list of 75 titles.

I had a blast contributing to @bostonglobe.com's "Best Books of 2025" fiction roundup. Thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social for the opportunity. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/22/a...

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100 Notable Books of 2025

There 'tis. I reviewed 13 of these beauties: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/b...

Is everything you ever learned about capitalism wrong? - The Boston Globe While scholars have illuminated bits and pieces of this immense narrative, Beckert’s massive volume brings it together with impeccable authority and perspicacity.

I had the pleasure and privilege of reviewing @svenbeckert.bsky.social's landmark "Capitalism: A Global History" for @bostonglobe.com. Out tomorrow from @penguinpress.bsky.social. Thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social for the opportunity. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/24/a...

Is everything you ever learned about capitalism wrong? - The Boston Globe While scholars have illuminated bits and pieces of this immense narrative, Beckert’s massive volume brings it together with impeccable authority and perspicacity.

Thank you @hamiltoncain.bsky.social for this beautiful review!
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/24/a...

A movie that takes place where you're from. vimeo.com/259103344

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week Our treasure chest of terrific reviews this week includes Robert Pinsky on The Poems of Seamus Heaney, Hanif Abdurraqib on John Edgar Wideman’s Languages of Home, John Banville on Selected Letters …

Thanks, @literaryhub.bsky.social! lithub.com/5-book-revie...

The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 Discover the novels, memoirs, biographies, and more that entertained and enlightened us

I had the great good fortune to work with Lucy Feldman and her team on TIME's "100 Must-Read Books 2025," the perfect holidays gift list for bibliophiles in your lives: time.com/collections/...

In her new story collection, Joy Williams probes the weirdness of the West - The Boston Globe Joy Williams’s stories are set in a liminal space, untethered, grasslands floating among craggy mountains, biker bars and seedy motels and ghosts baked by harsh sunlight.

An American master returns with a collection of eerie, brilliant stories. Here's my review of Joy Williams's "The Pelican Child" for @bostonglobe.com. Out next week from @aaknopf.bsky.social. Many thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social for the opportunity: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/11/a...

Review: Salman Rushdie still at top of his powers with ‘Eleventh Hour’ Fiction: His elegant short fiction probes the shadows of mortality and loss.

The great Salman Rushdie examines mortality from myriad angles in "The Eleventh Hour," a quintet of stories just out from Random House. Here's my review for @stribgoingout.startribune.com: www.startribune.com/salman-rushd...

And today's print version of @stribgoingout.startribune.com:

Print is sweet! Today's @latimes.com:

Review: A shocking act at sea damns ‘The Zorg’ Nonfiction: Siddharth Kara’s account of a slave ship is one of the year’s finest books.

Siddharth Kara's searing "The Zorg" is easily one of this year's top five nonfiction titles. Out now from @stmartinspress.bsky.social. Here's my review for @stribgoingout.startribune.com: www.startribune.com/the-zorg-kar...

The British-American historian Richard Bell offers an exuberant narrative on the American Revolution's global impact. Out today from @riverheadbooks.bsky.social. Here's my review for "On the Seawall":https://www.ronslate.com/on-the-american-revolution-and-the-fate-of-the-world-by-richard-bell/

Review: If you loved DiCaprio’s new film, have we got a book for you Fiction: Maestro Thomas Pynchon is back with “Shadow Ticket,” a brilliant comic novel set in Al Capone’s America.

Fashionably late to the party? Here's my review of Thomas Pynchon's rollicking "Shadow Ticket" for @startribune.com. Out now from @penguinpress.bsky.social: www.startribune.com/thomas-pynch...

Review: All the Zadies — empathetic and problematic — are on display in her latest essay collection ‘Dead and Alive’ review: Zadie Smith collection revisits controversy

Zadie Smith's collection of essays, "Dead and Alive," is provocative, eloquent, and uneven. Out today from @penguinpress.bsky.social. Here's my review for @latimes.com: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Can the Western Be Reinvented Again? Here’s a 1,200-Page Yes.

@markzdanielewski.bsky.social reimagines the American western in his new epic, "Tom's Crossing," out today from @pantheonbooks.bsky.social. Here's my review for @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/b...