The frustrating rise of celebrities ‘writing’ children’s books
When you give a child a book by a celebrity, you are feeding their minds with advertising
Books and Arts
Thursday
The wit and wisdom of Margaret Cavendish
As a portrait of the thrilling, rackety milieu of the seventeenth-century literary world, Francesca Peacock’s Pure Wit is truly delightful
Edward Zwick on his hits — and his misses
Hits, Flops and Other Illusions is a fascinating book, both for what it includes and what it either omits or deals with in parentheses
The loss of Joss Whedon
Even post-cancellation, we still live in the pop culture universe the screenwriter created
Dita Von Teese, the once and forever burlesque star
‘I feel I’ve been rewarded for following my own path,’ she reflects, ‘and for taking the road less traveled’
Spring’s hottest theatrical openings on Broadway
For theater aficionados, there is hope
The divine Dalí and his ‘Christ’
In his imperfect, weird way, the artist was trying to understand something so deeply beautiful in itself, mere created beings cannot fully grasp it
Tuesday
The notorious feud between John Ruskin and James Whistler
The trial at Falling Rocket ’s center stands for something larger than a critic’s dislike of a painting
Relive Lou Reed’s wild, contradictory life
In Lou Reed: The King of New York , Will Hermes seems unusually well attuned to his subject, while resisting any temptation to soft-pedal
In praise of George Gissing, the born exile
The writer was one of the great underrated chroniclers of ’the valley of the shadow of books’
Cahokia Jazz is enormous fun
Francis Spufford’s latest is a gorgeously rich and multilayered story, packed with gunfire, music and superstition
The peculiar American attitude toward death
Taking our mortality too seriously has been an increasing problem in our country. Thank heavens for the satirists who refuse to do so
John Densmore on protecting the Doors’ legacy
The drummer seems to have settled for the role of a wise elder statesman of rock ’n’ roll
Does Joan Crawford deserve her bad reputation?
It’s unlikely a Crawford could happen in today’s Hollywood
Beauty, terror and banality are uneasily juxtaposed in Harmony
During a time of monstrous persecution, there was a band dedicated to joy that consisted of Jews and Gentiles
The frustrating promise of infinite freedom in video games
For a game to work, it has to reach a complex balance of systems and narratives
How does the global art market move?
Since its launch in 2017, Convelio has become the leading technology-led art shipment company in the world
Wednesday
The marvelous Montalbano
The translation of the Montalbano novels from page to screen ranks as an artistic triumph
The heart of Maria Callas’s genius
Daisy Goodwin’s Diva is unequivocal in presenting Callas as a heroine struggling to choose between art and love
A vigorous and persuasive defense of capitalism
Johan Norberg’s A Capitalist Manifesto has much to commend it