o Review: Canceled, creepy and still funny, Woody Allen shrugs By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 09:00:08 -0400 "Apropos of Nothing" is a mixed bag of rich memories, harsh defenses and tone-deaf reveries. Full Article
o James Patterson donates $500,000 as independent bookstores struggle with coronavirus By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 11:39:33 -0400 Author James Patterson is donating $500,000 to help indie bookstores across the country. For many L.A. booksellers, that could be a life saver. Full Article
o What Rigoberto González is reading, hearing and watching in quarantine By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 13:25:15 -0400 In quarantine, mystery poet Rigoberto González Full Article
o Kathy Valentine's hair-raising memoir 'All I Ever Wanted' recounts the Go-Go's wild ride By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 15:09:22 -0400 Kathy Valentine's hair-raising memoir recounts life before, during and shortly after the Go-Go's ascended to become the darlings of the MTV generation. Full Article
o Julia Alvarez discusses her radically different novel, 'Afterlife' (and defends 'American Dirt') By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 2 Apr 2020 18:24:09 -0400 Julia Alvarez's "Afterlife" is her first novel for adults in 15 years. She talks about loss, fragmentation and "American Dirt." Full Article
o Meet the heartland Evangelicals who feed America By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 11:30:38 -0400 Marie Mutsuki Mockett's 'American Harvest' looks at the divide between the heartland and those who seldom think about where our food comes from. Full Article
o Union calls Powell's Books announcement of staff rehires 'misleading' By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 3 Apr 2020 16:38:26 -0400 A union statement is "disappointed" with how Powell's Books has been informing the public about staffing after laying off most of its employees. Full Article
o Patricia Bosworth, actor turned celebrity biographer, dies of coronavirus By www.latimes.com Published On :: Sat, 4 Apr 2020 15:53:17 -0400 Patricia Bosworth, an actor who went on to chronicle lives including Jane Fonda's, Marlon Brando's and her own, died from coronavirus. She was 86. Full Article
o Patricia Bosworth, 'as big in life' as the stars she wrote about By www.latimes.com Published On :: Sat, 4 Apr 2020 21:21:29 -0400 A tribute to Patricia Bosworth, who died of complications from COVID-19. The actress and biographer of Jane Fonda and Marlon Brando was 86. Full Article
o Chelsea Bieker distills the fire and fury of the parched Central Valley By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 6 Apr 2020 10:30:59 -0400 Chelsea Bieker's 'Godshot,' a surreal debut novel set in the parched Central Valley, depicts a fundamentalist rain cult and sex worker resisters. Full Article
o 21 new and classic books to keep you in touch with the natural world By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 6 Apr 2020 13:16:35 -0400 Books about nature to read while avoiding the coronavirus — from classics by John McPhee and Annie Dillard to the upcoming "Book of Eels." Full Article
o Schizophrenia devastated a family: Robert Kolker did their story justice By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 7 Apr 2020 10:00:19 -0400 How Robert Kolker came to write "Hidden Valley Road," about the Galvin family and the disease that tore through them, with such empathy. Full Article
o Don Winslow drops a new book, 'Broken,' your quarantine read for our fractured times By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 7 Apr 2020 11:00:38 -0400 The bestselling crime novelist plans a virtual book tour for his new title, "Broken," as the coronavirus keeps him home in Southern California. Full Article
o L.A. author Kathryn Scanlan on whether we're still 'The Dominant Animal' By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 7 Apr 2020 12:00:53 -0400 Kathryn Scanlan, taut new story collection, "The Dominant Animal," probes power relationships in uncertain times. She talks about L.A. and COVID-19. Full Article
o Author Fanny Singer and chef Alice Waters talk food and family with L.A. Times Book Club By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 7 Apr 2020 16:33:16 -0400 In a virtual meet-up, "Almost Home" author Fanny Singer and mother and famed chef Alice Waters join book club readers April 21 for a kitchen conversation. Full Article
o Ross Thomas, the criminally neglected spy-caper author behind "Briarpatch" By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 8 Apr 2020 10:00:28 -0400 Ross Thomas delivered 25 novels populated by colorful, chameleonic characters. Among them: "Briarpatch," now a USA Network series. Full Article
o What authors are reading, hearing and watching in quarantine By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 8 Apr 2020 12:05:28 -0400 Authors like Lionel Shriver, Alexander McCall Smith, Laura Lippman and Steph Cha are under coronavirus quarantine too. Here's what they're reading. Full Article
o Q&A: Author Cynthia Ozick will spend her 92nd birthday 'contemplating mayhem' By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 8 Apr 2020 13:27:46 -0400 Cynthia Ozick, essayist and acclaimed novelist, shelters from coronavirus and discusses anti-Semitism, the Spanish flu and longevity. Full Article
o Alexander McCall Smith reads up on solitude — and shares a new song — from Scotland quarantine By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 9 Apr 2020 11:00:27 -0400 In his quarantine diary, "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" author Alexander McCall Smith writes lyrics, reads Auden and watches "Brideshead Revisited." Full Article
o The L.A. Times Book Prizes ceremony will be virtual, and free, this year By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 9 Apr 2020 13:53:22 -0400 Winners of the L.A. Times Book Prizes will be announced in a special, virtual Twitter ceremony this year because of the global health crisis. Full Article
o Roast chicken recipe perfect for scaled-down virtual feast By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 9 Apr 2020 17:29:05 -0400 Recipe: Writer turns to Fanny Singer's "Always Home" for comfort chicken during family's Seder. Full Article
o The Silent Book Club, a global meet-up for introverts, now connects them remotely By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:00:07 -0400 A book club for people who don't like book clubs, founded in 2012 in San Francisco and now boasting six chapters in L.A. County, has moved online. Full Article
o Tiger Woods makes golf history at the 2019 Masters: A look back By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:00:40 -0400 Sunday is when Tiger Woods made golf history, but Saturday is when he won the 2019 Masters and reestablished himself as golf's king. Full Article
o Review: Queer authors reinvent the artist biography as revisionist memoir By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 13:04:35 -0400 Jenn Shapland's "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" and Mark Doty's "What Is the Grass," about Walt Whitman, are hybrid memoir-biographies. Full Article
o Q&A: What do people ask a librarian in a pandemic? L.A. Library's InfoNow has the answer By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 15:52:47 -0400 With libraries closed, L.A. librarians now work from home to help people find free ebooks, music and movies during the coronavirus crisis. Full Article
o Home wrestling, masked dinners and lots of books: Kevin Wilson's Tennessee quarantine diary By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 10:00:12 -0400 The author of "Nothing to See Here" enjoys BennY RevivaL, furniture-breaking wrestling moves and lots of books in his quarantine diary. Full Article
o Review: How L.A.'s '60s movements fought for justice — and sometimes even achieved it By www.latimes.com Published On :: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 11:00:44 -0400 In "Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties," Mike Davis and Jon Wiener track the uprisings, outrages and elections that shaped the city. Full Article
o 16 meaty book series to get you through coronavirus stay-at-home orders By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 12:00:13 -0400 The best series of books in four categories — including highbrow ('Wolf Hall'), L.A. favorites (Easy Rollins) and epic histories (Taylor Branch). Full Article
o Apocalypse, you say? Writer Mark O'Connell has been there, done that By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 13:00:23 -0400 Author Mark O'Connell visited preppers, paranoiacs and prophets worldwide for "Notes From an Apocalypse." Now he says "the world will go on." Full Article
o Cooking in quarantine: 'Always Home' author Fanny Singer retreats to Alice Waters' kitchen By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 13:13:23 -0400 Fanny Singer's stories and recipes, 'Always Home,' show life growing up in the orbit of her mother, farm-to-table chef Alice Waters. Full Article
o Column: Bears thriving at Yosemite. Clear skies. Does coronavirus reveal a 'World Without Us'? By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 14:42:45 -0400 In "The World Without Us," Alan Weisman imagined how the Earth would look if humans vanished. Is the COVID-19 lockdown making that a reality? Full Article
o Alex Trebek set to publish a memoir while fighting pancreatic cancer By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 15:35:53 -0400 On Tuesday, Simon & Schuster announced it will publish Alex Trebek's memoir, "The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life," on July 21. Full Article
o New manga subscription service launches with a quarantine-friendly 2-month free trial By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 15 Apr 2020 09:00:12 -0400 Read "Attack on Titan," "Somali & the Forest Spirit," "Fire Force," "Arte" and more with Mangamo, a new mobile manga subscription service. Full Article
o Marisa Meltzer still doesn't love her fat body — and that's OK By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:00:32 -0400 The journalist and author of "This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World (And Me)" discusses the limits of "fat acceptance." Full Article
o Quarantined film critic David Thomson loves 'Ozark,' sours on 'Paris, Texas' By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:00:13 -0400 Thomson, the author of dozens of books including "The Biographical Dictionary of Film," binges on "Ozark" and Godard but finds "L'Avventura" a drag. Full Article
o Review: A western romance novel about a brawling Texas fiddler pulls its punches By www.latimes.com Published On :: Thu, 16 Apr 2020 12:44:19 -0400 Paulette Jiles delighted with her convention-breaking western romance, 'News of the World.' Her follow-up, 'Simon the Fiddler,' is just old-fashioned. Full Article
o How a rough Apartheid-era school spawned an award-winning YA novel By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:25:14 -0400 Malla Nunn's "When The Ground is Hard," winner of the 2019 Times Book Prize for young-adult literature, revisits South Africa's toughest years. Full Article
o Helpless women? Not these slave owners By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:26:32 -0400 Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, winner of the Times Book Prize in history, spent a decade on "They Were Her Property," about women slave owners. Full Article
o Dystopian fiction has always been real for Ray Bradbury prize winner Marlon James By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:30:15 -0400 Marlon James, whose novel "Black Leopard, Red Wolf" pioneered queer fantasy, thanks Mary Shelley and "Moby Dick" for predicting our current crisis. Full Article
o How language can destroy or rebuild, per Times Book Prize fiction winner Ben Lerner By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:30:20 -0400 The author of "The Topeka School," winner of the 2019 Times Book Prize for fiction, speaks on poetry, debate, citizenship and crisis homeschooling. Full Article
o Coronavirus is topic one among newly announced L.A. Times Book Prize winners By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 11:53:24 -0400 The 14 Times book prize winners, including Steph Cha, Namwali Serpell, Marlon James and George Packer, were honored in a virtual ceremony on Twitter. Full Article
o Journal the pandemic and those weird grocery store trips — with help from Michelle Obama By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 15:40:16 -0400 Writer turns to guided journal for Michelle Obama's "Becoming" to grapple with anxiety and cabin fever during coronavirus crisis. Full Article
o Michelle Obama will read your kids a story by video on Mondays By www.latimes.com Published On :: Fri, 17 Apr 2020 16:08:16 -0400 Former First Lady Michelle Obama will be reading children's books in a weekly series of videos for Penguin Random House and PBS Kids through May 11. Full Article
o Mom, 13 cats, Bogart, a restless dog and no WiFi: Rick Bragg self-isolates in Alabama By www.latimes.com Published On :: Sat, 18 Apr 2020 10:00:38 -0400 The journalist has plenty of space in Alabama, but it still gets lonesome. Luckily there's Larry McMurtry, Humphrey Bogart and Jerry Lee Lewis. Full Article
o Laura Lippman comforts herself with old YA, actor Venn diagrams and costume selfies By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 10:00:35 -0400 What crime novelist Laura Lippman is reading and watching in quarantine Full Article
o Review: The rich are still different in the South Bay novel 'The Knockout Queen' By www.latimes.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 11:00:51 -0400 In Rufi Thorpe's novel, a poor, closeted teenager befriends a wealthy girl, until an act of violence lays their class distinctions bare. Full Article
o Review: Was Andy Warhol a saint or scourge, genius or dolt? A new biography befits a great life By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:00:13 -0400 Blake Gopnik's definitive 'Warhol' gathers up all the receipts on the blank icon who stormed the barricades of art, only to serve it up to commerce. Full Article
o Just in time for global distress, astrology hits the bookshelves By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 11:00:01 -0400 We tend to look to the stars in troubled times. "Astro Poets," "You Were Born for This" and "Madame Clairevoyant's Guide to the Stars" teach us how. Full Article
o Want to know more about the real 'Mrs. America'? Here's your reading list By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 14:57:34 -0400 "Mrs. America" creator Dahvi Waller on the books to read if you want to know more about the ERA Full Article
o Watch the L.A. Times Book Club's virtual meet-up with author Fanny Singer and chef Alice Waters By www.latimes.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 18:32:48 -0400 'Always Home' author Fanny Singer worries more about running out of garlic than toilet paper. Full Article