Books like How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken by Daniel Mendelsohn

During World War II, a foster girl in Nazi Germany steals books to share with neighbors and a hidden Jewish man, proving literature’s power to nourish the soul amid darkness.

A Little Life follows four college friends in New York as they confront trauma, love and the enduring scars of their pasts, weaving themes of friendship, family, and identity into a profound coming‑of‑age story.

Never Let Me Go is a contemplative study of friendship, identity, and the ethical limits of science as it follows the lives of a group of students growing up in a quiet English boarding school.

The Goldfinch chronicles the life of thirteen‑year‑old Theo Decker, who survives a museum attack that kills his mother and carries an art piece that becomes a lifelong obsession, exploring loss, identity, and art in contemporary America.

A spirited comedy set in sixteenth‑century Venice, where Bassanio seeks Portia’s favor, turns to Antonio, and Antonio’s debt to the Jewish moneylender Shylock sparks a dramatic courtroom clash.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken in 1951 without her consent and later became the first immortal human cell line, HeLa, driving major scientific breakthroughs while raising questions of ethics, race, and medical exploitation.

Alma Singer, a fourteen‑year‑old New Yorker, searches for a book that might cure her mother’s loneliness, while Leo Gursky, an immigrant in the city, hunts the hidden author of a novel that once inspired his love in Polish exile.

A philosophical novel set in a Parisian apartment building where an autodidact concierge and a teenage resident secretly discover each other's intellect, exploring class, friendship, and hidden genius.

A comprehensive collection of Oscar Wilde’s plays, from early tragedies to his celebrated comedies, including lesser‑known fragments, offering a rare chance to view his full dramatic output.

A compelling collection of essays where Zadie Smith blends personal reflection, literary criticism, and cultural commentary, exploring topics from film and American politics to identity and creative process.

A former teacher reflects on a life shaped by childhood friendships, nostalgia, and the fragile nature of memory, when an unexpected lawyer’s letter forces him to confront the past.

Anthony Lane on Con Air--"Advance word on Con Air said that it was all about an airplane with an unusually dangerous and potentially lethal load. Big deal. You should try the lunches they serve out of Newark. Compared with the chicken napalm I ate on my last flight, the men in Con Air are about as dangerous as balloons."Anthony Lane on The Bridges of Madison County--"I got my copy at the airport, behind a guy who was buying Playboy's Book of Lingerie, and I think he had the better deal. He certainly looked happy with his purchase, whereas I had to ask for a paper bag." Anthony Lane on Martha Stewart--"Super-skilled, free of fear, the last word in human efficiency, Martha Stewart is the woman who convinced a million Americans that they have the time, the means, the right, and--damn it--the duty to pipe a little squirt of soft cheese into the middle of a snow pea, and to continue piping until there are 'fifty to sixty' stuffed peas raring to go."For ten years, Anthony Lane has delighted New Yorker readers with his film reviews, book reviews, and profiles that range from Buster Keaton to Vladimir Nabokov to Ernest Shackleton. Nobody's Perfect is an unforgettable collection of Lane's trademark wit, satire, and insight that will satisfy both the long addicted and the not so familiar.From the Trade Paperback edition.