Inside AIR MAIL’s 2024 Over-Under List
On this week’s podcast, Jeanne Malle tells us about the people and things that were over- (and under-) hyped this year
AIR MAIL’s 10 Best Books of 2024
Percival Everett’s twist on Huckleberry Finn; biographies of Reagan and Isherwood, Didion, and Babitz; and more holiday reading for every type
Sebastián Faena’s Guide to Buenos Aires
The filmmaker and photographer shares his favorite spots in his home city
Concrete Jungles
From Marcel Breuer’s early modernist designs to Le Corbusier’s pocket gardens, two new books speak to the enduring allure of brutalism
Daria Kolomiec
The Ukrainian D.J. and activist is using music and storytelling as a war cry
Rare Bird, Bass Division
Peixin Chen’s amazing journey from Inner Mongolia to the great lyric stages of the West
How to Write like Harlan Coben
The best-selling author shares the tricks he uses to craft a page-turner—from conjuring up villains to landing the big ending
A Boy’s Best Friend …
At Andy Warhol’s suggestion—“she’s so-o-o interesting”—a biographer pulls back the curtain on the artist’s mother, an unsung painter in her own right
The Rare Eccentricity of Isabella Rossellini
Daughter of Ingrid Bergman, face of Lancôme, and now a farmer, the Italian actress reflects on the unexpected joys of aging and being nepo-baby royalty
King of the Costume Drama
Amid constant fights, infidelity, and financial woes, James Ivory and his partner, Ismail Merchant, created the most elegant films of the era
Ruthie Rogers Reveals Her Perfect Comfort Food
This week, the owner of London’s River Cafe discusses the wonders of marinara sauce, holiday entertaining, and more
The Push Pin Attitude
How the scrappy, ingenious founders of New York City’s Push Pin Studios revolutionized 20th-century graphic design—and left a lasting mark on the culture
Lifting the Veil
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which dramatizes the ongoing turmoil in Iran, is itself an act of protest
Hamlet in Lockdown
How Sir Ian McKellen spent (part of) his pandemic
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a history of George Frideric Handel’s popular Christmas oratorio, an examination of old age in America, and an artist’s collection of stories and paintings
Nina Johnson’s Guide to Miami
The gallerist shares her favorite spots in her home city
Monochrome Mystique
In Lyon, three paintings of Saint Francis by the 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán are shown together for the first time, alongside historic and contemporary works
Giant Girls Don’t Cry
Edna Ferber’s great-niece pulls back the curtain on the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer’s personal life—and the sacrifices she made for her craft
The Decline and Fall of the Campus Novel
Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, and Tom Sharpe used universities as their preferred vehicle for satire. But are modern colleges too ridiculous to parody?
Payal Kapadia
The first female Indian director to win Cannes’s Grand Prix discusses her childhood in Mumbai and her film All We Imagine as Light
The Diva’s Tragedy
Maria Callas’s life was marked by poverty, drugs, cheating billionaires, and tabloid uproar. Can Angelina Jolie, who plays the opera singer in a new biopic, find the humanity amid the chaos?
