American cinema at its best
The Brutalist represents a Christopher Nolan-esque swing for the big leagues
Books and Arts
Thursday
Bella Freud’s fashion inquisition
The pool of guests on the podcast is a commendably eclectic one
Monday
The Einstein family atrocity
A shocking read about a World War Two tragedy
Bill Gates’s memoir offers an oddly revealing look into the Microsoft founder’s psyche
Source Code is really a book about perseverance in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds
Romantasy, the hot new literary genre du jour
Why are so many women reading the genre?
Inside Thomas Pynchon’s most underrated novel
The Crying of Lot 49 is often hawked as the gateway drug to the writer’s peculiar universe
David Lodge, the master of Anglo-American campus humor
For sheer entertainment value, it is the ‘campus trilogy’ of Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work that can hardly be bettered
Veteran journalist Edward Wong on his memoir of food and feud
‘Drawing the emotions out of my father was the most challenging part’
Like Bob Dylan in the movies
There is much more to the cinematic treatment of the ‘song and dance man’ than A Complete Unknown
The underground music scene reshaping Dubai’s cultural landscape
There’s growing appetite for original content centered on values and the artists who perform it
The genuine faker John Myatt
He once painted fakes to trick art galleries; now he paints them for wealthy customers
Barcelona rising
Graffiti in the old city is disappearing — in comes a host of new art treasures
This month in culture: March 2025
What to watch this March
Friday
Bill Clinton’s latest memoir sees him at his chirpiest — and most combative
As much as anything else, Citizen is a book of omissions
Will science lead us back to God?
In his new book, Spencer A. Klavan takes his reader through a brief but brilliantly executed history of scientific discovery
Wrestling with Jordan Peterson
The pop psychologist’s new book is not likely to light the fire of faith in any young fan
Cher should stick to what she knows best
Her memoir suggests that the icon doesn’t know what makes her compelling
Why Goethe matters
It is difficult to think of any area of modern life which is not anticipated in Faust
The luck of Barry Lyndon
Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 picture was ridiculed on release. Fifty years later, it is considered a masterpiece
Why we dramatize history — and why we should stop
The melding of truth and fiction is both culturally limiting and the kind of dangerous terrain which breeds conspiracy theories and fake news