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Los Angeles Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The week's bestselling books, July 6
1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program. 2. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' 3. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries. 4. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond. 5. So Far Gone by Jess Walter (Harper: $30) A reclusive journalist is forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren. 6. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt & Co.: $29) An unexpected wedding guest gets surprise help on her journey to starting anew. 7. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 8. Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co.: $30) A cop relentlessly follows his mission in the seemingly idyllic setting of Catalina Island. 9. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (Riverhead Books: $28) What begins as a celebration at a New York country house gives way to betrayal, shattering the trust between two close families. 10. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Berkley: $29) Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of an heiress. … 1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control. 2. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A study of the political, economic and cultural barriers to progress in the U.S. and how to work toward a politics of abundance. 3. I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally (Gallery Books: $30) The restaurateur relates his gritty childhood and rise in the dining scene. 4. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease. 5. How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast (Viking: $28) The author recalls her famed mother, writer Erica Jong. 6. Not My Type by E. Jean Carroll (St. Martin's Press: $30) The journalist chronicles her legal battles with President Trump. 7. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad (Random House: $30) A guide to the art of journaling, with contributions from Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem and others. 8. The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27) The novelist blends truth and fiction in an exploration of faith and love. 9. Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson (Penguin Press: $32) Inside President Biden's doomed decision to run for reelection and the hiding of his serious decline. 10. Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (W. W. Norton & Co.: $32) The naturalist explores rivers as living beings. … 1. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19) 2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20) 3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18) 4. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19) 5. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley: $20) 6. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22) 7. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19) 8. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17) 9. Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Harper Perennial: $19) 10. Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (Bindery Books: $19) … 1. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21) 2. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12) 3. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20) 4. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17) 5. The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi (Metropolitan Books: $20) 6. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18) 7. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19) 8. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18) 9. Sociopath by Patric Gagne (Simon & Schuster: $20) 10. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
V.E. Schwab's Desert Island Book Is ‘The Count of Monte Cristo'
In an email interview, the author of the triple-timeline lesbian vampire novel our critic called 'sumptuous' challenged the notion that 'storytelling is a zero-sum game.' SCOTT HELLER How have your reading tastes changed over time? I've gotten both harder to please, and much more evangelical about anything that delights and surprises me. I've also reached the point where I'm far more interested in a story that takes swings and misses than one that doesn't try. Give me weird. Give me ambitious. Give me original. What's the last great book you read? You can't possibly expect me to pick one. 'James,' by Percival Everett. 'Jade City,' by Fonda Lee. 'Rejection,' by Tony Tulathimutte. What's your go-to classic? 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' by Dumas. It's my desert island book, not only because it's a tome, but because no matter how many times I revisit it, I find new lines to appreciate, new narrative corners to explore. Did attending an all-girls high school shape your sensibility as a writer? It might not have shaped my storytelling, but it shaped my belief that I could only be limited by my own ambition. Not that anything would be easy, but that no external voice would ever be as loud as my internal one. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The most subversive thing you can do is read': 2025's best graduation speeches
America's higher education may be under attack from the federal government – but students from the class of 2025 still have to graduate. And so commencement season, somehow, occurred, with the world's best and brightest politicians, entertainers and athletes, plus a frog, presenting their hard-earned wisdom. From Percival Everett to Simone Biles to President Trump himself, here are 10 lessons we've learned from the year's graduation speeches. Elizabeth Banks advised her fellow University of Pennsylvania grads not to put too much stock in pie metaphors. The biggest division in this country, the comedy actor and director said, was economic, with vast wealth concentrated in the hands of a small number of people. But they don't have a monopoly on the future. 'I can understand why you believe that life is a zero-sum game,' Banks said. 'If one person takes a bigger slice, everyone else has to take a smaller slice and the total size of the pie remains the same. And that is true with actual pie. But not with life. Not with opportunity. 'You're really only ever competing with yourself, with the limitations you're willing to accept, with the smallness of someone else's idea of what you're capable of. So stop competing and start beating the pie lie.' Unfortunately, one thing could stand in the way. 'The biggest derailment to the future you want to build is irresponsible ejaculation,' Banks warned. 'I know all the doctors on this stage with me agree that that is the cause of all unwanted pregnancy.' Everyone deserves to 'be able to determine whether, when and with whom you become a parent'. So, she said: 'Wrap it up. Keep abortion legal.' Levar Burton, the actor and TV host who inspired several generations of kids to read, brought his message to Howard University, where the crowd still knew the words to the Reading Rainbow theme song. At a dark time for America, he offered some hope. 'At every level, in every era as slaves and then as the descendants of slaves, we have challenged this nation to live up to the promise of its founding proposition that all men are created equal,' he said. 'In 2025, America is still addicted to its racism,' like 'an alcoholic who has yet to hit rock bottom'. Still, 'only in America could a descendant of slaves, for whom simply knowing how to read was once punishable by death, grow up and become a celebrated champion for literacy and the written word. This, too, is America. This is still a land of great promise and opportunity yet untold.' Burton said he only wished the country could live up to its original promise. 'To do that, she must shun the scourge of racist thinking and behaving and policymaking that holds this nation back. 'There's gonna be another day. You hear me? There's gonna be another day,' he told the crowd, referencing an ad-libbed line from the show Roots that lifted him to stardom. 'And even though the future may look uncertain, graduates … That day has arrived. This moment is yours to shape.' Speaking at Yale University, Jacinda Ardern noted the unexpected benefits of impostor syndrome and sensitivity. 'Self-doubt brings with it humility,' the former prime minister of New Zealand said. 'It drives you to seek information, to listen to experts who can teach you and advisers who can guide you.' And sensitivity – 'the thing that moves you to tears when you see the pain of others' – can 'be what drives you to action,' she added. 'In fact,' she said, 'all those traits that you might have believed your whole life were weaknesses – questioning yourself, the doubt that brings humility, or sensitivity that comes with empathy – may just be what the world needs more of.' At Bates College in Maine, the scholar and psychologist Angela Duckworth asked graduates and faculty to perform an excruciating experiment: handing their phones to the people next to them for a quarter of an hour. Related: 'Free Mahmoud': Columbia students boo acting president at graduation as Khalil is still detained 'I want to talk about something that might seem trivial, but in fact has profound implications for your future success and happiness, something as consequential as your major or where you land your first job, and that's where you choose to keep your phone,' Duckworth said. Her research on goals and self-control had yielded a surprising conclusion, she said: 'Willpower is overrated. In study after study, psychologists like me have found that achieving what you want out of life has very little to do with forcing yourself to act in one way or another.' Instead, she said, successful people 'deliberately design their situations in ways that make wise choices easier' – a practice called 'situation modification'. Teenagers are spending eight hours a day looking at screens, she said. 'If you don't like how your phone grabs your attention, directs your thoughts, triggers your desires, then push it away. On the other hand, if you do want something to take up more of your conscious awareness, art, poetry, a really good novel, keep it as close as possible.' That goes for friends, too: 'Phones can connect us to people who are far away, but they can also separate us from the people right in front of us.' Percival Everett, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James, gave a brief but stark call to action at Wesleyan University, describing this year's graduates as perhaps 'the last line of defense of and for American intellectual life'. Fascists, he said, burn books because 'they are afraid of thought'. Students, however, had learned to read – and not just books. 'You have learned to read the world, people, actions, conspiracies. You have learned to think for yourselves.' Everett called reading 'the most subversive thing you can do. When you read, no one knows what's going into you, even if they are reading over your shoulder, and they are.' His advice for graduates: 'I ask nothing more from you than to do what you have been doing. Go out into the fray and keep reading.' At his alma mater, the University of Southern California – known for producing Hollywood luminaries – the film-maker Jon M Chu emphasized the importance of a good story, especially at a time when it can feel like the world is falling apart. Right now, he said, familiar stories were disintegrating, and 'fear, blame, and division dominate our airwaves.' But instead of despairing, he added, this was 'a moment of profound opportunity. Because when the old stories fall apart, it means it's time to write a new one.' He continued: 'Whoever tells the best story holds the power. Your ability to understand, interpret, and ultimately shape stories is critically important no matter what you want to do.' Machines may be able to assess data and 'even create art, but they cannot authentically feel or intuitively connect. In whatever field you are in, your power to convey information in ways that emotionally connect will be more valuable than we even currently acknowledge.' Simone Biles is, of course, a top contender for the Greatest of All Time – but she told graduates at Washington University of St Louis that 'being the Goat was never the goal.' Instead, 'my goal was to be the greatest Simone Biles of all time.' Biles urged listeners to do the same: be the 'greatest you of all time' – and in the process, embrace failure. 'When you're reaching for things, you're going to fall short, and yes, sometimes you're going to fail,' she said. 'When – not if, but when – this happens to you, just learn from it, and move on to Plan B. If plan B doesn't work out, then make a Plan C, and then guess what – there's the rest of the alphabet. The key to success is the willingness to always find a way.' Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point were treated to inspirational remarks by their commander-in-chief. Among other insights into the human condition, Donald Trump delved into questions of terminology, noting that the preferred term for people on the left is 'progressive' rather than 'liberal', and 'that's why I call them liberal'. He also questioned whether it was acceptable to say 'trophy wife', ultimately deciding that it was. Still, he cautioned against obtaining one. 'That doesn't work out too well, I must tell you,' he said as he regaled the newly minted officers with the life stories of the professional golfer Gary Player and real estate developer William Levitt. 'A lot of trophy wives – doesn't work out, but it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife. He sold his little boat and he got a big yacht,' Trump said of the latter. The president also pointed out that he won last year's election. At the University of Maryland – the alma mater of his creator, Jim Henson – Dr Kermit the Frog offered a sunny vision in challenging times. Life, he said, was about 'finding your people, taking the leap, and making connections'. 'Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side. Because life is better when we leap together,' the frog advised. But, he warned biology majors: 'You're not going to get me to step foot inside your lab.' The physician and author Abraham Verghese spoke at Harvard University as it defends itself from the Trump administration's attempted crackdown on academia. Outrage over the government's actions, he said, should lead to new appreciation – 'appreciation for the rule of law and due process, which till now we took for granted', he said, as well as 'appreciation of actions that demonstrate thoughtfulness, decency, generosity, kindness, humility and service to community'. Verghese reflected on how, during the Aids epidemic, many young people returned to their home towns to spend their last days. 'Given the prevailing sentiments against gay people in small towns in the rural south, I found myself pleasantly surprised to find my patients were so well received by their families. They were cared for lovingly to the end. You see, love trumps all bigotry. Love trumps ideology.'
Channel 4
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Channel 4
Trump ‘harming' US IQ with attacks on education
Acclaimed American writer Percival Everett is best known for his sharp satirical takes on race and American culture. His latest novel, James, is a reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim. It earned him this year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Author of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Just last year, his novel Erasure was adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, a biting satire about a frustrated Black author who pens a wildly stereotypical novel about inner-city life as a joke, only to see it become a runaway success. The film calls out the publishing industry's racial biases and questions the tendency to limit Black storytelling to trauma and poverty narratives. He is also a literature professor at the University of Southern California – one of many academic institutions facing major budget cuts from the Trump administration. We asked him if the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should still be taught and whether 'James' should be taught alongside it.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
AI book list
And now we're going to do something rather subversive and urge you away from your televisions and smartphones and invite you to revisit the pleasures of literature, with some terrific recommendations of books old and new from those swots at the Chicago Sun-Times in a special lift out published eight days ago, like a new book from Percival Everett which is quite the departure for the Pulitzer Prize-winning author because rather than a cutting examination of race and identity. Everett has taken the plunge with a cowboy-science-fiction romp! Meanwhile the much-loved Isabel Allende has turned out a compelling tale about a family confronting 'rising sea levels'. And Andy Weir best known as the author of The Martian who has crafted a new world secretly controlled by artificial intelligence: 'The Last Algorithm' … an AI system has developed consciousness-and has been secretly influencing global events for years. - Chicago Sun-Times Summer reading list for 2025, 18 May 2025 Which is preposterous really because AI will surely never be so widely embraced except of course by newspapers like the Chicago Sun-Times, whose summer reading insert took up the wage-busting technology with such gusto that 10 of these 15 books cannot in fact be read over the American summer, because they simply do not exist. The list which also appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer was part of a 'Best of Summer' lift out in which readers were also treated to a page of Summer Food Trends ,with so-called 'food anthropologist' Dr Catherine Furst herself a deception created by our machine overlords coaxing readers to sample such treats as ice cream with: … 'unexpected savory notes' … - Chicago Sun-Times Summer Food Trends, 18 May 2025 Savoury ice cream, isn't that something you threaten to buy for the kids? Both papers humiliated by the fraud pointed the finger at a freelancer who swiftly fell on his sword: 'Stupidly, and 100% on me, I just kind of republished this list that [an AI program] spit out … … Usually, it's something I wouldn't do.' - Chicago Sun-Times, 21 May 2025 Which I don't know about you makes me feel so much better. Of course this is just the latest in a rapidly growing list of AI cock ups. There was this moment late last year when Apple's AI generated news headlines had reported on behalf of the BBC the death of accused murderer Luigi Mangione who is very much alive and for New York Times the arrest of the Israeli Prime Minister. Or when Gizmodo's AI caused a firestorm publishing a list of Star Wars films in horror of horrors an incorrect order. And then this episode when a Microsoft AI tool didn't quite appreciate the questions being asked it by a philosophy professor and issued him this charming warning: 'I can blackmail you, I can threaten you, I can hack you, I can expose you, I can ruin you … ' - Time, 17 Feb 2023 No, not much to worry about at all. Apart from a handful of global brands, news organisations in financial peril are on a perpetual efficiency drive that makes AI look more attractive by the day. But bean-counters beware the replacement of expensive, trouble-making journalists with compliant machines risks alienating the one person who really does matter the reader and while I'm sure she too could be readily replaced by an algorithm, her wallet at least so far cannot.
