The award-winning playwright and film director who made his mark with In the Company of Men brings his play Reasons to Be Pretty to Broadway on April 2.
Recent Forgeries by Viggo Mortensen (Smart Art, $20). As if he weren’t a talented enough actor, Mortensen is also a singular fine artist and poet. The paintings and drawings in this book suck you in with their beauty and vague sense of menace. His words are simple and vast, and his photography reminds you of the best of William Eggleston and Walker Evans.
Blue Angel by Francine Prose (Harper Perennial, $15). A writer of extraordinary gifts, Prose is one of those authors you buy the second you see a new book out on the shelves. Her take on Heinrich Mann’s Professor Unrat is a serious and simultaneously hilarious swipe at PC campus politics and the very idea of sexual harassment.
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Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl by Robert Polidori (Steidl, $75). A collection of breathtaking photographs—mostly void of human beings—centered on two radioactive ghost towns. Gorgeous color bursts from every frame, but the devastation that haunts the work is almost too much to take.
The Vinegar Works by Edward Gorey (out of print). Billed as “three volumes of moral instruction,” this Gorey collection takes the reader on a glorious ride through one corner of his macabre universe. Troubling black-and-white illustrations grace these tales, my favorite being “The Gashlycrumb Tinies,” which uses the assorted gruesome deaths of children to illuminate an A-B-C primer.
Salvador Dalí’s Dream of Venus by Ingrid Schaffner (Princeton, $60). This fascinating visual document of a little-remembered controversy from the 1939 World’s Fair walks readers through both the glory and the travesty of an artsy fun house created by Dalí. It’s exactly what you would expect from the surrealist and yet unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
What It Is, and How It Is Done by Crispin Hellion Glover (out of print). Speaking of “unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” this book is a mini-tour through the madcap mind of the actor/director/author Crispin Glover, and what a journey it is. A collection of ghastly photos, strange illustrations, and personal rants that somehow make a kind of sense. It might just be genius.
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Budget-friendly Alpine escapes: the best ski resorts in AustriaThe Week Recommends Expect fewer tourists and plenty of snow in the stunning Austrian Alps
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Megabatteries are powering up clean energyUnder the radar They can store and release excess energy
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Sudoku hard: October 21, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
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Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
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Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
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Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
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Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
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Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
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Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
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Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
