Lauren Christensen

Senior Staff Editor, Books Desk at The New York Times

editor at the New York Times book review

Articles

For Joan Didion, Mementos of Her Daughter's Childhood Became Material

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

An arrangement of dried flowers pressed between sheets of plastic, the name "Quintana" written in a child's neat lettering at the top.
'Firstborn,' by Lauren Christensen

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

Gong Gong's decline lets us meet the rest of Christensen's family: her mother, who grieves by doing what must be done, her younger brother, her grandmother, her stepfather, her father and more extended family, who come to us not as full portraits but as supporting characters whose meaning and role remain clear even if their faces and personalities are not quite defined.
The Best Audiobooks of 2024

Dec 4, 2024 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

From vertiginous, ensemble-cast excursions through the dark web and French Polynesia to searing inner monologues of the antebellum South, the Brooklyn rave scene and American music royalty: The year's best audiobooks are exceptional not just for their writing, but for the vocal performances that make these narratives particularly absorbing in your ear.
A Dossier of Courtroom Sketches Captures the Faces of Evil

Aug 15, 2024 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

In "Drawn Testimony," the portraitist Jane Rosenberg takes you inside high-profile federal trials across four decades. Ghislaine Maxwell, seated second from right, was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 after a monthlong trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Credit... Jane Rosenberg When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.
A Debut Novel That Skewers Capitalism, One Scalped Birkin at a Time

Jul 10, 2024 | flipboard.com | Lauren Christensen

"You can read it for yourself": EPA Admin. Michael Regan refuses to read Rep. Nancy Mace's signs at Oversight hearing. This first image includes a slogan that is widely recognized as a call to eradicate the state of Israel. Is this the official position of the Biden …
A Love-Addled Apple Farmer, Inseparable Sisters and Other Fictional Heroes of Massachusetts

Mar 7, 2024 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

What to Read Find Your Next Book March Releases Critics' Reviews Editors' Choice 100 Notable Books What to Read Find Your Next Book March Releases Critics' Reviews Editors' Choice 100 Notable Books A vibrant cast narrates "North Woods," Daniel Mason's lyrical saga about the various inhabitants of a single home in Massachusetts, from the founding of this country to the present day. When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.
Book Review: ‘Kerry James Marshall: The Complete Prints: 1976-2022'

Nov 16, 2023 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

“I am not one who goes in much for magical thinking,” the painter Kerry James Marshall wrote in 2018. “Material reality has spirit enough for me.” From the first scrapbook his kindergarten teacher showed him to his career blurring the lines between large-scale painting, lithography, photography and sculpture, KERRY JAMES MARSHALL: The Complete Prints: 1976-2022 (Ludion/D.A.P., $125) traces a lifelong reverence for the materiality of all visual art.
Audiobook of the Week: ‘The Fraud,’ by Zadie Smith

Oct 12, 2023 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen |Zadie Smith

AudiobooksThe author reads her latest novel about literary prestige, empire and a case of false identity that captivated 19th-century England. Lauren Christensen is an editor at the Book Review. THE FRAUD, by Zadie Smith. Read by the author. Who is the titular fraud in Zadie Smith’s sixth novel, about a Scottish housekeeper in the home of an aging novelist in the 19th-century London suburbs?
Book Review: ‘A Man of Two Faces,’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Oct 3, 2023 | drudge-report.net | Lauren Christensen

The author blends polemic and family history in a fragmentary memoir, “A Man of Two Faces.” Read More
In Hilary Leichter’s Multiverse, Your Dream Life Is Always on Deck

Aug 28, 2023 | nytimes.com | Lauren Christensen

Fiction“Terrace Story” is a novel about generations of women confronting the other side of reality. Aug. 29, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ETTERRACE STORY, by Hilary LeichterPriced out of their first home in an unnamed city, a young couple and their infant daughter, Rose, move into a smaller apartment.