Season 4, Episode 13: ‘Man of Worth’ “Must you fight the same fight again? Do you not recall how it ends?” In the season premiere of the Frasers’ American adventure, “Outlander” prompted big questions: Why bring Claire and Jamie to this place, at this moment in history? To what purpose did they cross the ocean […]
There’s no mystery surrounding how “I Am the Night,” TNT’s new truthy-crime mini-series, came to be. The director Patty Jenkins met and befriended Fauna Hodel, author of a memoir, “One Day She’ll Darken,” about her difficult youth. Not quite a decade later Jenkins made “Wonder Woman,” which made more than $821 million. Et voilà: “I […]
The book I’m currently readingI just finished Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolaño and Passion Simple by Annie Ernaux, both exceptional writers, and am about to plunge into two proof copies I’ve been sent – The Wisdom of Bones by Kitty Aldridge, and Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl. My […]
In the summer of 1965, the Rolling Stones released “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”. On the US version, its B-side was a makeweight piece titled “The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man”, which directed sneering contempt on some poor unfortunate who worked for the group’s record label: “I promo groups when they come into town […]
The world may be crashing down around our ears but, as we wait out the apocalypse, one thing is clear: we will not be short of good telly. Subscription services are booming, budgets have skyrocketed and, with more original shows on offer than ever, viewers need never leave the house again. While on-demand TV and […]
HELP ME! One Woman’s Quest to Find Out if Self-Help Really Can Change Your LifeBy Marianne Power364 pp. Grove Press. $26. Since I started writing about self-help books, I’ve been forced to out myself — I love them. Not to improve myself, of course, since other than my looks and personality and value system, I’m […]
Syfy’s risqué magic show returns for a fourth season. And the rapper Killer Mike hosts a documentary series on Netflix. What’s on TV THE MAGICIANS 9 p.m. on Syfy. Over three seasons Syfy’s fantasy show about students at a school for magic has differentiated itself from, you know, that other series you probably just thought […]
There’s probably never a bad time to read Good Omens, but it’s hard to imagine a better one than right now. It isn’t easy being a citizen of the world at the beginning of the 21st century, and the past two weeks in the UK have been especially unsettling. Retreating into the warm embrace of […]
High school can be hell and no one knows that better than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who returns to her teenage roots in a new comic book series from Boom! Studios that arrives in stores on Wednesday. “Buffy,” written by Jordie Bellaire, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Raúl Angulo and lettered by Ed Dukeshire, […]
THE HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE Native America From 1890 to the Present By David TreuerIllustrated. 512 pp. Riverhead Books. $28. Over the past 12 months, Native American politicians, artists and academics have made uncommon gains. Indeed, Native American women helped to make 2018 the Year of the Woman. In November, New Mexican and Kansan voters […]
Historical novelist Lucy Foley’s crime fiction debut, The Hunting Party (HarperCollins, £12.99), is a modern take on the “closed world” country house mystery. Nine well-heeled friends travel to an exclusive hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands to celebrate the new year, but it’s clear from the start that things haven’t gone as planned – the […]
The idea of the vampire as perfect lover is pretty old by now, but really, lovers don’t get much more perfect than the vampire aristocrat Matthew Clairmont in “A Discovery of Witches.” He listens so well he can hear your heartbeat rise, he’s so sensitive he can feel your heat and he’s so passionate he […]