For the mom who likes dishy family sagas Vantage Point, by Sara Sligar An unthinkably rich brother and sister — heirs to a steel fortune — are haunted by a family curse and by compromising videotapes (possibly faked) that upend the brother’s Senate campaign. Also consider: “A Reason to See You Again,” by Jami Attenberg; … Read more
In an unusual but not unprecedented move, the prize board chose a fourth option after it couldn’t agree on the three less-heralded finalists.
“Today, he opened to the world,” she added. “To me, he opened 50 years ago.” Ms. von Furstenberg said “we never had to talk about our relationship, we lived our relationship,” including the last five years during which Mr. Diller was writing his memoir. “He’s been private all his life, but not with me,” she … Read more
The Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller is, by any measure, enormously successful. He’s produced (always in collaboration with others) about 10 shows that have, collectively, grossed $4.74 billion, approximately one-third of which was profit for producers, investors and others. You’ve probably heard of several of those shows. His first big hit was “Rent.” His most recent: … Read more
ETERNAL SUMMER, by Franziska Gänsler; translated by Imogen Taylor When Ivan Turgenev left Paris for Baden-Baden, the German spa town famed for its casinos, vineyards and salubrious air, he urged his friend Gustave Flaubert to come visit. “There are trees there such as I’ve seen nowhere else,” he wrote in an 1863 letter. “The atmosphere … Read more
A group of senior officials at the National Endowment for the Arts announced their resignations on Monday, days after the Trump administration began withdrawing grants from arts groups across the nation. Their departures, which come as the endowment has been withdrawing current grant offers and President Trump has proposed eliminating the agency altogether next year, … Read more
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 narrated by the enslaved man … Read more
Jimmy Donaldson — better known to his hundreds of millions of online followers as MrBeast — has leveraged his vast social media audience to sell everything from Beast-branded burgers, snack packs and chocolate bars to water bottles, toys, basketballs and $65 hoodies. Now, he’s aiming to sell his followers an unlikely new product: a novel. … Read more
LITTLE BOSSES EVERYWHERE: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America, by Bridget Read So enduring is the image of America’s door-to-door salesman — beguiling, relentless — that it can be easy to forget that the junk he is selling is often less pernicious than the junk he’s being sold. Neighbors might resent his hawking microwaves and … Read more
THE DAZZLING PAGET SISTERS: The English Twins Who Captivated Literary Europe, by Ariane Bankes Move over, Véra. See ya, Zelda. Make way for Celia and Mamaine. The dazzling Paget sisters, as they’ve been rebranded by the U.S. edition of a book published in the United Kingdom as “The Quality of Love,” were identical twins, that … Read more
