Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and John Candy
A new biography pulls back the curtain on the Canadian comedian who died at just 43—and the role he turned down in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss the adventures of the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, a memoir from the restaurateur behind Nobu, and a crime novel set in a gritty Rust Belt town
If Gertrude Stein’s Art Could Talk
A new biography pulls back the curtain on the famed Paris patron of everyone from Picasso to Matisse, Hemingway to Fitzgerald
Announcing the Winners of the Tom Wolfe Literary Prizes
The recipients of the inaugural awards are Vincenzo Latronico, for fiction, and Meghan Daum, for reportage
All Eyes on Yves
Richard Avedon, Paolo Roversi, Irving Penn … A new coffee-table book traces Yves Saint Laurent’s life and work through the lenses of the 20th century’s greatest photographers
Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeeze Me
Ruthie Rogers, of London’s storied River Cafe, has teamed up with Pop artist Ed Ruscha for a book of simple recipes devoted entirely to the yellow citrus
Cutting Through the Noise
From Homer’s singing Sirens to Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver, sound as a deadly weapon has long captivated our imagination. But have we overlooked its true dangers?
Gore Vidal at 100
“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are”
Don’t Call Richard Osman Cozy
The author discusses the Helen Mirren–led adaptation of his best-selling book The Thursday Murder Club, his podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment, and why he considers “cozy crime” a reductive label
Anatomy of an It Girl
How a British woman named Jane became the French bag named Birkin
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss Geoff Dyer’s memoir of growing up in postwar England, a Pulitzer-winning nature writer’s account of summers in Newfoundland, and a story of a Taoist priest visiting the Mayans
Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch
Two mystery books unfolding on either side of the Atlantic, and a new Maigret TV show set in present-day Paris
Agitrons,Waftaroms, and Neoflects, Oh My!
Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s Lexicon of Comicana—a lovingly ironic send-up of comic-strip conventions—remains the gold standard, 50 years on
Passion on the Potomac
A new book hints at an affair between Jackie Kennedy and Robert McNamara spanning J.F.K.’s death, the Vietnam War, and several marriages
Matisse vs. the Nazis
Despite a teaching post in San Francisco and a visa to Rio de Janeiro, the artist chose to stay in France and pursue his “degenerate” art during W.W. II
On the Basis of Sexuality
The little-known story of the gay Black Korean War veteran who sued the state of Florida in 1961 for firing him due to his sexuality—and won
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a look into the year that defined World War II, a children’s book about Indian cuisine, and a biography of an American nature writer
Mrs. Dalloway at 100
A century on, Virginia Woolf’s breakthrough novel remains modern
