Anjet Daanje, Dorthe Nors and Joby Warrick Lead This Week’s Best-Reviewed Books

The week’s most celebrated books, according to Bookmarks’ latest review tally, range from sprawling literary fiction to deeply reported nonfiction. Among the standouts are Anjet Daanje’s The Song of Stork and Dromedary, Dorthe Nors’ Range and Joby Warrick’s The Jackal, each earning strong praise from critics for very different reasons: one for its scale and imaginative force, another for its defiant oddness, and the third for its clear-eyed reconstruction of a notorious life.

Fiction: large canvases and lively risks

Anjet Daanje’s The Song of Stork and Dromedary, published by FSG, drew four rave reviews and one positive notice. In The Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks described a novel whose variations “never become schematic or predictable,” emphasizing that although its length may look intimidating, the prose moves with speed and energy. Sacks also highlighted the power of the Drayden sisters’ visions within the book, saying they alter how reality is perceived and leave readers with the sense of a transformed world. That combination of ambition and momentum appears to have made the novel one of the week’s most admired works.

Katy Simpson Smith’s The Maltese Version, also from FSG, likewise attracted substantial attention, with three rave reviews and two positive ones. Lucy Ives, reviewing for The New York Times Book Review, praised the novel’s surface pleasures while suggesting there is more beneath them. She called it “philosophical and disarmingly dishy,” noting that what initially reads like a caper involving two women trying to survive the decline of the travel-guide industry may reveal deeper concerns. Ives singled out Smith’s control of form and language, arguing that the book’s playfulness and inventive technique renew fiction’s critical and imaginative potential.

Latoya Watkins’ The Book of Chuck, published by Tiny Reparations Books, also landed among the week’s top-reviewed fiction titles with four rave notices. Charmaine Wilkerson, writing for The New York Times Book Review, described the novel as lyrical and suggested it functions as a poetic allegory for both generational trauma and generational healing. Her review focused on the emotional dimension of the story, particularly the way the troubled family at its center makes room for self-respect and the possibility of acceptance. Watkins’ book appears to have resonated strongly as a novel of inheritance, pain and repair.

Dorthe Nors’ Range, from Graywolf, was another fiction title that stood out with two rave and three positive reviews. Charlotte Wood, also in The New York Times Book Review, framed the novel as an argument for fiction’s strangeness and specificity at a time when language is often flattened by algorithms and easy-market demands. She called it a “rebellious celebration” of human mystery and urged readers toward more fiction like Nors’. The response suggests that Range is being received as both formally distinctive and defiantly resistant to standard literary expectations.

Malavika Kannan’s Unprecedented Times, from Henry Holt, rounded out the fiction list with two rave and one positive review. Mia Arias Tsang, reviewing for Autostraddle, praised the novel’s emotional architecture, especially the evolving relationship between Rishi and her mother. Tsang also highlighted Kannan’s handling of a large cast, noting that the characters feel vivid and distinct rather than crowded. The ending, she said, lingers after the final page, a sign that the book’s contradictions and emotional details have left a durable impression.

Nonfiction: authority, urgency and historical reach

In nonfiction, Rowan Hooper’s Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life’s Greatest Collaborations, published by Knopf, was one of the week’s most favorably received titles, earning three rave reviews, one positive and two mixed. Philip Ball, writing in The Guardian, characterized it as a corrective to simplified ideas about evolution rather than an attempt to make nature seem friendlier than it is. Ball also praised the book’s charm, passion and abundance of striking facts, while emphasizing its larger argument for the beauty of nature and the importance of preserving it.

Joby Warrick’s The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist, from Scribner, also drew strong notice with three rave reviews and one positive. Dwight Garner, in The New York Times, called the book authoritative and sharply readable. He noted that Warrick acknowledges earlier accounts while arguing that fresh information has emerged, suggesting the book adds materially to a well-covered subject. For readers of journalism, history and political violence, that combination of accessibility and new reporting is likely to be a major reason for the book’s appeal.

Other nonfiction titles in the week’s roundup reflect similar concerns with contemporary power, public life and overlooked history. Gil Durán’s The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, from Avid Reader Press, received two rave and two positive reviews, with The Irish Times calling it thought-provoking and urgent. Julie Kliegman’s Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis’s Trans Pioneer, from HarperOne, earned praise for compassionate reporting and for documenting Richards’ importance to transgender rights. Tom Rosenstiel’s The Next Journalism: How the Press Must Change to Serve Democracy, from Crown, received one positive and two mixed notices, with Booklist describing it as thoughtful analysis aimed especially at people concerned with the future of the press.

Taken together, this week’s best-reviewed books show critics responding to range as much as quality: large literary experiments, formally playful novels, books about family and selfhood, and nonfiction that tries to clarify urgent social and political questions. If the reviews are any guide, the week’s most notable books are not merely attracting praise; they are also asking readers to rethink what fiction and nonfiction can do.