Believe it or not, 2026 is more than half over. Our books editor chose her favorite reads of the year so far. Plus:

• Fauci’s “surreally mortifying” diary
• Subaru Socialists and the future of the Democratic Party
• Gen Z challenges Modi

Namara Smith Books editor

I was recently asked to share three of my favorite books of the year so far, as part of our ongoing summer video series chronicling the best in culture. You can watch me respond on our YouTube, or read my answers, edited and condensed, below. Though my selections vary widely in subject matter, they have in common a fascination with the power of language to preserve and define the past. Plus, they’re all wonderful to read.

“Transcription,” by Ben Lerner
One of the most highly praised books of the year so far, Lerner’s novel is narrated by a writer who returns to his old college town to interview his former mentor. His iPhone breaks, and he reconstructs the interview after the fact on the basis of his memories, which gets him into trouble with his mentor’s son. One of the questions this book is asking is: Are we shaped by the past? Or do we create our ancestors in our own image, to serve our own needs? It’s a Ben Lerner novel, so the answer is complicated.

“On Morrison,” by Namwali Serpell
It’s always exhilarating to read a great writer who has dedicated her talent to exploring the work of another great writer. This book does that for the work of Toni Morrison. There’s a hypnotic quality to it, like watching one of those videos of someone taking an engine apart and putting it back together. By the end, you feel as though you understand something about the artistry and care Morrison put into crafting her novels.

“The Hill,” by Harriet Clark
This is one of the best new books I’ve read, not only this year but in some time. It’s the story of a young woman whose mother was involved with a radical left-wing organization in the nineteen-sixties, and has been sentenced to life in prison for her role in a robbery gone wrong. The book isn’t really so much about the mother as it is about the daughter whose life revolves around her weekly visits to her mother in prison, which is at the top of a hill.

Her mother and her grandmother both want her to move farther away from them—to move forward with her life. But all she wants to do is just exactly what she’s been doing. It’s as if she feels that the only way she can understand herself is by understanding these two women, her mother and her grandmother. This is a book about what we owe to one another, and what we owe to the past, and how we can find the strength to begin again, and to create new life in a world that is full of madness and violence. I recommend it to everyone.

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The diary Anthony Fauci kept from 2019 until his final days in government service, in 2022, is filled with famous well-wishers. The doctor kept a meticulous record of his celebrity interactions as he himself was becoming a celebrity. As Molly Fischer writes, “He is an immunologist with seemingly no antibodies against the charms of stardom.” Read or listen to the story »

• In Michigan, a closely watched Democratic Senate primary, between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, is underway. We’re tracking it live.

• Who will decide the future of the Democratic Party—the Subaru Socialists or the Great Disappointed?

• A movement of young people frustrated with India’s education system and economy has become a serious challenge to Modi’s increasingly authoritarian government. Isaac Chotiner speaks with a journalist covering the protests.

• The most-clicked item in yesterday’s newsletter was about the slippery meaning of the word “moderate.”

Wildfires across Europe have forced the evacuations of more than 300,000 people. Meanwhile, in the U.S., more than 60,000 people were evacuated owing to fires in Spokane County, Washington.

Why are all these fires happening?

“The experts I’m talking to are saying a similar thing: that some of this is unprecedented—especially in Europe—but none of it is surprising. And the reason for that is partly because, especially in the U.S., we had this incredible snow deficit leading up to this fire season. So everybody in the wildland firefighting community was kind of anticipating a very intense fire season. In Europe, the heat waves they’ve had are creating these perfect conditions for fire weather: hot and dry and windy.

“We also have these incredible accumulations of fuel on the landscape. According to one analysis, last year by the end of September, in Washington, for example, less than forty per cent of the full-year totals for treatments in the previous four years, which include thinning or prescribed burning, had been undertaken. I’m interested in how changes at the federal level, including budget and staff cuts by the Trump Administration, might be connected to the extremity of fires that are now blowing up.”

— M. R. O’Connor, a writer who has trained as a firefighter, and is covering the blazes. Read her story on why Europe is burning.

• A book: “Dooneen,” by Keith Ridgway, is set in a version of Dublin where cars have been banned and people enter the country by teleportation.
• A bite: At Sanwits, the menu is a glorious mashup of American sandwich silhouettes and Filipino ingredients.
• An exhibition: At “Mexican Abstraction: Over a Century of Photography,” an excellent show at Throckmorton, in Manhattan, some of the most memorable images take us into the uncanny. See what else our critics recommend this week.

• Today’s Crossword Puzzle: Participated in a court-accompaniment program, say—eleven letters.
• Catalogues: Can you sort the items into the correct order?
• Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?
• Laugh Lines: Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.

P.S. Also in our summer video series: Kelefa Sanneh picks his favorite songs of the year so far, including Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me.” 🎵