Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, Whose Record Label Foretold Audiobooks, Dies at 95

Barbara Holdridge, who co-founded the first commercially successful spoken-word record label, one that began with the poet Dylan Thomas reciting his story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and that led to today’s multibillion-dollar audiobook industry, died on Monday at home in Baltimore, Md. She was 95. Her daughter, Eleanor Holdridge, …

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The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)

The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)

Fiction | Nonfiction We’re more than a third of the way through 2025 and we at The Book Review have already written about hundreds of books. Some of those titles are good. Some are very good. And then there are the following. We suspect that some (though certainly not all) …

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Pulitzer Prizes 2025: A Guide to the Winning Books and Finalists

Pulitzer Prizes 2025: A Guide to the Winning Books and Finalists

Nineteen books were recognized as winners or finalists for the Pulitzer Prize on Monday, in the categories of memoir, poetry, general nonfiction, fiction, biography and history, which had two winners. Fiction WinnerJames, by Percival Everett Everett’s reimagining of “Huckleberry Finn” is a subversive homage to Mark Twain’s classic novel, as …

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Jane Gardam Dead: ‘Old Filth’ Author Was 96

Jane Gardam Dead: ‘Old Filth’ Author Was 96

Jane Gardam, a novelist whose works captured with wit and concision the last rays of the sun setting on the British Empire and the lifestyles that were extinguished with it, died on Monday in Chipping Norton, England. She was 96. The death, at a care facility, was confirmed by her …

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Peter Lovesey Dead: Detective Novelist Was 88

Peter Lovesey Dead: Detective Novelist Was 88

Peter Lovesey was working as a college lecturer in 1968 when he answered an ad in The Times of London offering a thousand pounds for the best crime novel written by a novice. The prize was more than his annual salary. He had already written a book about the history …

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