Jonas Kaufmann will no longer sing at London’s Royal Opera House — because, of all things, the pay is too low. “I don’t know how you do it,” the tenor recently told BBC Radio 3. In the same interview, he revealed that he won’t bother singing at the Metropolitan Opera anymore, either, though that’s about … Read more
David Bowie’s had a vigorous afterlife since dying in New York 10 years ago. He conquered Billboard’s album chart for the first time in his career with the dark jazzy masterpiece “Blackstar,” released Jan. 8, 2016 — just two days before his death. His best-known singles surged back into the top 100 on both sides … Read more
Nine-year-old Stefan Merrill Block hated his new school in Plano, Texas. It was boring, stifling. His homeroom teacher shook him by the shoulders in front of all his classmates when he asked too many questions one day. He even started a novel about a boy who escapes from school. He would come home and sulk … Read more
From gripping thrillers, witty satires and poignant epics to captivating histories and juicy memoirs, 2025 was full of great books. Read on for 30 of our favorites. FICTION Karen Russell (Knopf)The latest from the Pulitzer finalist and MacArthur fellow is set in Nebraska during the Great Depression — a very real backdrop for a very surreal … Read more
Since the first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published in 1926, the tales of a honey-loving bear and his animal friends have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. But, as Gyles Brandreth writes in “Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: A. A. Milne and the Creation of ‘Winnie- the-Pooh’ ” (St. Martin’s Press), behind the children’s … Read more
Barbie is not who we think she is. For nearly seven decades, Mattel has sold Barbie as a true original: a revolutionary and empowering alternative to the baby dolls before her. In her new book, “Barbieland: The Unauthorized History” (Atria/One Signal Publishers), Tarpley Hitt provides a surprising counternarrative. Barbie, per Hitt’s lens, was not a groundbreaking novelty. … Read more
On a chilly January night in 1924, fledgling publisher Richard Simon was having dinner with his Aunt Wixie when she asked if he knew where she could buy a book of crossword puzzles. None existed. At the time, the crossword was little more than a decade old and it had only appeared in newspapers, namely … Read more
Non Fiction Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking), $35With his bestseller “Too Big to Fail,” Andrew Ross Sorkin dramatically portrayed the 2008 financial crisis. Now, across nearly 600 pages, he thrillingly brings the big crash to life, using newly recovered historical documents to give readers an inside account. Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (Knopf), $80For history … Read more
Having practiced medicine for four decades, Dr. Marc Siegel knows the healing power of faith. Indeed, the Fox News senior medical analyst has always had miracles on his mind. They’ve been everywhere — from his fateful on-the-job meeting of his neurologist wife, Luda Bronfin, to the birth of his miracle son, Samuel, who overcame health … Read more
“The United States came out of violence,” the historian Maya Jasanoff reminds us in our series “The American Revolution” (premiering tonight on PBS). And in 1776, the awful violence of war was centered in and around New York City. Between late August and mid-November, five significant battles were fought within New York City’s present-day borders … Read more
“From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!” NASA astronaut Mike Massimino typed those words on May 12, 2009, the first tweet ever sent from space. He’d even asked his pal and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, who knew something about … Read more
It was the question that started it all — “Excuse me, are you two a couple?” In 2023, three friends — Aaron Feinberg, Jeremy Bernstein and Victor Lee, all 31 — started approaching unsuspecting couples on the street, asking about how they met and what made their relationships work. Bernstein did the interviewing, while Feinberg … Read more
Giddyup. “Lonesome Dove” — the nearly 1,000-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning Western novel first published in 1985 — is experiencing a resurgence thanks to Stephen King, TikTok and cowboys being in fashion. Larry McMurtry’s tale of retired Texas Rangers driving cattle into Montana has sold some 1.5 million copies in the 40 years since its publication. This … Read more
In the words of Cole Porter, “Is it the good turtle soup or merely the mock?” “Art Fraud: 50 Fakes That Fooled the Art World,” the new book by Susie Hodge, will leave you wondering whether any work of art is the real McCoy. “Art fraud is rife,” Hodge begins. “Many experts believe that as … Read more
In 1974, photographer Edie Baskin met Lorne Michaels at a poker game at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The two became fast friends, and, not long after, they started talking about working together on a project Michaels had cooking. “He had seen my photography work, so he knew what I was capable of, and, … Read more
At 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to the sound of her husband of 26 years whispering on the phone to another woman. “I just can’t quit you,” she heard him murmur before he drifted off to sleep, smelling of booze. It was, as she chronicles in her new memoir “Awake” … Read more
Goodbye, beach reads! From juicy memoirs to enthralling epics, it’s time to turn the page to autumn. Have a look at some of the most anticipated titles set to be released in the coming months. Nonfiction John Malone (Simon & Schuster)The 84-year-old billionaire and CEO of Liberty Media, who launched a number of early cable … Read more
The dawn of the 20th century brought exciting advancements, including the automobile, mechanical flight and wireless messaging that could cross oceans. That led to an optimism about the future best summed up by Thomas Edison, who believed in the next 100 years, “Everything, anything is possible.” Balloonist Leo Stevens and astronomer David Todd thought so, … Read more
The infamous sax solo Clarence Clemons plays on Bruce Springsteen’s rock classic “Born To Run” is so vibrant and exhilarating that it seems like a moment of pure inspiration on Clemons’ part. In truth, as Peter Ames Carlin lays out in his new book, “Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born To Run,” (Doubleday, August … Read more
Louis Sachar really intended to be a lawyer. But, in between starting law school at the Hastings College of Law in 1977 and graduating in 1980, he published his first book, “Sideways Stories from Wayside School.” The zany, often surreal compendium of classroom antics went on to become a young adult classic, spawning a four-book … Read more