ARCHIVES

It wasn’t just E. L. Doctorow who looked into the past this year�though some didn’t look too far, with one 9/11 novel outshining the rest. Brooklyn writers kept themselves busy (when not feuding), graphic books continued to pop, Joan Didion redeemed the memoir, Mary Gaitskill made us happy-sad, and Donald Trump defended his authorial honor.

Paris Hilton and Salman Rushdie turn up in recent novels.

A Nigerian plutocrat straight out of Harvard talks about the murderous school-age narrator of his first novel.

Publishing’s Oscars have traded last year’s obscurantism for a new affinity�historical novels about real people�and Norman Mailer is getting the lifetime-achievement award. The lineup, the backstory, and the likely outcome.

Frank McCourt talks about his years as a city public-school teacher�and crafting the perfect pickup line.

The first soldier memoirs and a sweeping history describe a war unlike any we’ve ever known.

In 'Ex Machina,' a crime fighter is elected to City Hall. Sure, he can fly. But could he beat Bloomberg?

A spate of real people turn up in recent novels.

What five New Yorkers read for a week, from personal ads to Georges Bataille’s The Unfinished System of Non-Knowledge.

The rebranding of Ruth Rendell.