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Actress Ione Skye was a teenager when her appearances in River's Edge and Say Anything... made her a star. In her best-selling new memoir, Say Everything, she details her rocky romantic history and long estrangement from her father, the folk-rock legend Donovan.
'West of Eden' by Jean Stein (2016)
After writing Edie—a portrait of Andy Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick that was also one of the greatest oral-history books of all time—Stein explored the history of Los Angeles through intriguing and dark stories, both well-known and obscure, that took place in and around the movie industry. Buy it here.
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'The Magic World' by E. Nesbit (1912)
Nesbit was a fantastic and witty writer. This is one of those brilliant children's books that grown-ups will love as well. Its stories mostly follow English kids, raised with too many rules, as they get into trouble and fabulous, magical, fairy-tale-like things happen to them. Buy it here.
'Music for Chameleons' by Truman Capote (1980)
I can reread these short stories and non-fiction pieces forever. The story "Hand-Carved Coffins" is an account of a crime, much like In Cold Blood—though some say Capote made this one up. I love his Southern, almost surreal sensibility in his early short stories, as well as the portraits, such as "A Beautiful Child," about a day spent with his friend Marilyn Monroe. Buy it here.
'Giovanni's Room' by James Baldwin (1956)
This is a marvelous novel, set in Paris, about a tempestuous gay love affair between the American narrator and an Italian bartender who is about to be executed for murder. Baldwin's emotional intelligence and insight into human behavior are absolutely stunning. Buy it here.
'Heartburn' by Nora Ephron (1983)
Ephron's novel is a brilliant and funny comfort read about the end of a marriage, inspired by the author's own split with Washington Post journalist Carl Bernstein. Ephron's stand-in is a food writer, and because I love food, I enjoy when food plays a role in books. Buy it here.
'The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham' (1951)
Maugham was famous for his novels and plays, but I love his short stories best. He often uses a narrator drinking a nightcap at a men's club, recounting a recent scandalous tale of adultery or murder set in the morally questionable British Far Eastern colonies. Many of his stories and books became films, including The Letter, starring Bette Davis. Buy it here.
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Pipe bombs: The end of a conspiracy theory?Feature Despite Bongino and Bondi’s attempt at truth-telling, the MAGAverse is still convinced the Deep State is responsible
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The robot revolutionFeature Advances in tech and AI are producing android machine workers. What will that mean for humans?
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Health: Will Kennedy dismantle U.S. immunization policy?Feature ‘America’s vaccine playbook is being rewritten by people who don’t believe in them’
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6 lovely barn homesFeature Featuring a New Jersey homestead on 63 acres and California property with a silo watchtower
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Film reviews: ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Is This Thing On?’Feature A born grifter chases his table tennis dreams and a dad turns to stand-up to fight off heartbreak
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Heavenly spectacle in the wilds of CanadaThe Week Recommends ‘Mind-bending’ outpost for spotting animals – and the northern lights
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It Was Just an Accident: a ‘striking’ attack on the Iranian regimeThe Week Recommends Jafar Panahi’s furious Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller was made in secret
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Singin’ in the Rain: fun Christmas show is ‘pure bottled sunshine’The Week Recommends Raz Shaw’s take on the classic musical is ‘gloriously cheering’
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Holbein: ‘a superb and groundbreaking biography’The Week Recommends Elizabeth Goldring’s ‘definitive account’ brings the German artist ‘vividly to life’
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The Sound of Music: a ‘richly entertaining’ festive treatThe Week Recommends Nikolai Foster’s captivating and beautifully designed revival ‘ripples with feeling’
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‘Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right’ by Laura K. Field and ‘The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare’ by Daniel SwiftFeature An insider’s POV on the GOP and the untold story of Shakespeare’s first theater
