Books by Janet Malcolm
“The late, great Janet Malcolm’s final book, Still Pictures, was released posthumously at the start of this year. It’s a memoir in essays, inspired by a collection of black and white photographs of her Czech refugee family found in a box (labelled ‘old not good photos’) in her attic.” Read more...
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
“A longtime journalist for the New Yorker, Malcolm’s investigations tend to take apparently ordinary institutions or scenes and, through her unrivaled powers of curiosity, observation and description, reveal their extraordinary inner workings.” Read more...
“Malcolm’s style is so different from the other writers I’ve chosen. It’s so distilled; there isn’t one extra word.” Read more...
Cara Robertson, Lawyer
“It is a hugely fine biography and I’m a great admirer of Janet Malcolm … She has done something very original here.” Read more...
Lyndall Gordon, Biographer
The Journalist and the Murderer
by Janet Malcolm
There is a bias in our culture towards the non-fiction dramatic narrative; we think it is closer to the truth than fiction because it makes those claims. But we know, of course, to make non-fiction ‘read like a novel’ that certain realities have to be massaged. Malcolm picks apart the choices that McGinniss made to do this in his book about an accused murderer.
Interviews where books by Janet Malcolm were recommended
The best books on The Truth Behind the Headlines, recommended by Lorraine Adams
Why do huge stories sometimes go unreported? Our news media are good at promulgating conventional wisdom but find it much more difficult to deal with evidence that contradicts it, says the former Washington Post reporter
The Best Literary Biographies, recommended by Lyndall Gordon
The inner life is a mystery but the best biographies expose the hidden kernel of a person, says literary biographer and academic, Lyndall Gordon. She picks five books that push the boundaries of the genre.
The best books on True Crime, recommended by Cara Robertson
Why do women kill? What does violence tell us about human nature? How do the methods of the criminal justice system speak to an era? Cara Robertson—a lawyer, author and expert on the famous Lizzie Borden case—picks five true crime books that deal in murder, individual psychology, public trials and justice.
Editors’ Picks: Favorite Books of 2019, recommended by Stephanie Kelley
Looking for captivating, eccentric novels, essays and letters to read at the turn of the new year? Five Books literary editor Stephanie Kelley shares favorites from her year in reading—new and old.
Notable Memoirs of 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects the best recent autobiographical writing in this round-up of notable memoirs of 2023—taking in new work from such literary giants as Janet Malcolm and Annie Ernaux, the writer other writers are raving about, and a humorous debut depicting life in a haunted antiquarian bookshop.
