CATEGORIES
A Punk Drummer's Life Upendended In 'Sound of Metal'
The film “Sound of Metal” starts with the uncomfortably loud noises of guitar feedback and ends two hours later with absolute silence. The trip through those extremes is a worthy one, if sometimes exasperating.
Living Her Life Like It's Golden
The luminous Tichina Arnold brings laughter and love to The Neighborhood.
Hannibal Who?
Superstar showrunner and producer Jenny Lumet is creating a whole new Clarice.
Hello, Kitty
Grudge, the Maine Coon cat on Star Trek: Discovery, is ready for her close-up.
The Existential Despair of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Revisiting the most disturbing Christmas special
Baja Fresh
How a monied gearhead rebel beat Ford—and will sell you the buggy that did it.
Nerding Out With David Fincher
The director talks about the decades-long journey behind Mank, his dense, bitter look at Hollywood history, political power, and the creative act.
The Primary Substance
Stuck in traffic during a downpour, a driver faces a peculiar dilemma.
Translating Toshiko Hirata's Ars Poetica
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
When I Left “Karl Liebknecht” (an excerpt)
In the Karl Liebknecht House in Leipzig, Germany, thirty people of various nationalities are seated around an improvised table on the stage in the Events Hall, interpreters behind them, some with texts in front of them, some without, and while it looks as if they’re at an ordinary meeting, they are, in fact, at an exceptional one, one that could be called a performance.
Sofa
A sofa, the site of a family’s history, receives and gives a second life.
Pittsburgh's August Wilson African American Cultural Center
LOCATED IN THE HEART of downtown Pittsburgh, on Liberty Avenue close to Union Station and the David Lawrence Convention Center, the sleek and elegant but unpretentious August Wilson African American Cultural Center (awaacc) cannot fail to capture the eye and the imagination of anybody who is visiting Pittsburgh or, for that matter, of anybody who lives in the city.
Liquid History
Scuba-diving in the Black Sea, a writer contemplates Lenin in the Crimean seabed, the watery landfall from which historical figures are never meant to rise again.
Diversifying Bookshelves From Trend to Norm
IN THE WAKE of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, America woke up to find itself in the midst of a national reckoning over race. Calls for justice and dismantling white supremacy began to touch every aspect of American life—including the literary world.
Catania, Sicily
LAST OCTOBER, I chose to use Catania as a base for exploring the towns of southeastern Sicily I had yet to discover.
Why British Police Shows Are Better
When you take away guns and shootings, you have more time to explore grief, guilt, and the psychological complexity of crime.
Love Thy Neighbor
Nextdoor the social network for local communities, has bet on kindness to power it to an IPO. If only the locals don't ruin it.
Reality TV Glows Up
Docuseries are television’s latest prestige offering, but they’re not so different from their trashier predecessors.
Meanwhile, in Another World
How a Nicole Kidman–Hugh Grant drama series wound up becoming an inadvertent time capsule.
A Guide To Streaming Services
Competition is growing. That’s giving you more choices—and a chance to save money.
WHEN BLOOD RUNS COLD
Why is spying often referred to as a game? There is nothing remotely diverting about it.
Sounds of Suspense
Audiobooks Reviewed
Very Original Paperback Originals
While Bailey Cates’s Witches and Wedding Cake(Berkley, $7.99) is the ninth in her Magical Bakery series, it was the first for me, and I appreciated that I could slide into the narrative effortlessly.
What About Murder?
Reference Books Reviewed
RAYMOND CHANDLER & THE BRASHER DOUBLOON
Sometime in 1960, a friend’s enthusiasm for coin collecting proved contagious, and I began sorting through pocket change and noting dates and mint marks.
Small Press
Reviewing the Independents
LOVE ON THE RUN
LOVE, BULLETS, AND THE OPEN ROAD. CRIMINAL COUPLES ON THE RUN ARE A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STAPLE—AND IT’S ALL DUE TO A PAIR OF DEPRESSION-ERA HELLRAISERS.
JENNY MILCHMAN
It’s that enticing-yet-elusive hook that often draws readers back to a writer’s work. Sometimes it’s characters that compel.
CAMILLA LÄCKBERG
Before Camilla Läckberg’s debut novel was published, the Swedish author devised an ambitious, yet workable marketing plan. Among other things, she would visit, if possible, every bookstore in the country to do book events, sign stock and meet and greet as many booksellers and readers as she could.
A MARY HIGGINS CLARK ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
It’s easiest to say she had magic. Anyone who has ever been in the room with Mary Higgins Clark understood there was some sort of aura around her, a force field of joy and delight, an authentic pleasure in being wherever she was. (If that wasn’t true, all the more brilliant. You would never have known it.)