Buy Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women at Amazon
The Dogs Bark by Truman Capote (out of print). Back when he still had his chops, before his prayers (for cocaine and alcohol?) were answered, Capote sketched Marilyn Monroe, Cecil Beaton, Mae West, Humphrey Bogart—and skewered Marlon Brando. “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor,” he wrote. This may have been his tastiest dish.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Rich and Other Atrocities by Charlotte Curtis (out of print). When I got a job at The New York Times, my wife gave me this book and said, “This is what you can do.” Though I tried, I never felt I lived up to the example set by Curtis, of whom it was said, “She cuts them so fine, they don’t know they’re bleeding.”
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, $14). Back in the day, before she got political, gimlet-eyed Didion took apart the famed hippie district Haight-Ashbury “in the cold spring of 1967” and showed just how mighty a pen and a pad can be.
Princes, Playboys & High-Class Tarts by Taki (out of print). A poor little rich Greek boy, Taki Theodoracopulos loves to tell tales of the naked ambition, rudeness, vulgarity, stupidity, and occasional charm and style of the aristocrats and pretenders he’s spent his life studying. He turns their waste into a premium product.
Fame and Obscurity by Gay Talese (Ivy, $19). Whether dissecting the building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, extolling the expats who staffed The Paris Review, or dissecting a crooner in the best celebrity profile ever written—“Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”—Talese set the bar high for magazine writers.
Within the Context of No Context
-
How Putin misunderstood his past victoriesIn Depth Though Vladimir Putin has led Russia to a number of grisly military triumphs, they may have misled him when planning the invasion of Ukraine
-
Codeword: August 18, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Sudoku medium: August 18, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
-
Beatriz Williams' 6 timeless books about history and human relationshipsFeature The best-selling author recommends works by Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, and more
-
Aysegul Savas' 6 favorite books for readers who love immersive settingsFeature The Paris-based Turkish author recommends works by Hiromi Kawakami, Virginia Woolf, and more
-
Geoff Dyer's 6 favorite books about the realities of warFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr, and more
-
Laura Lippman's 6 favorite books for those who crave a high-stakes adventureFeature The Grand Master recommends works by E.L. Konigsburg, Charles Portis, and more
-
Thomas Mallon's 6 favorite books from the 80's and early 90'sFeature The author recommends works by James Merrill, Calvin Trillin, and more
-
Anne Hillerman's 6 favorite books with Native charactersFeature The author recommends works by Ramona Emerson, Craig Johnson, and more
-
John Kenney's 6 favorite books that will break your heart softlyFeature The novelist recommends works by John le Carré, John Kennedy Toole, and more
