'The Good Place' Starts Its Final Approach
The fourth and final season of NBC's audacious comedy about the afterlife starts on Thursday night, and it's got demons, memory loss and a whole lot more.
Arts
6 1/2 Reasons 'Between Two Ferns: The Movie' Defies The Sketch-Into-Movie Curse
The Between Two Ferns movie that dropped last week on Netflix expands on the Web series' proven formula, but its sheer joke density rewards repeat viewings.
In 'The Water Dancer,' Ta-Nehisi Coates Creates Magical Alternate History
Ta-Nehisi Coates' new novel, set during the era of slavery, follows a young black man who discovers that his memories trigger a mysterious power of teleportation that can help escaped slaves flee.
Disney CEO Bob Iger Has Lessons On Fostering Creativity — And Acquiring It
The head of The Walt Disney Co. has a new book, The Ride of a Lifetime. It's a memoir of what he has learned in 15 years there — encompassing the purchases of Pixar, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox.
'Future Of Another Timeline' Edits The Past To Save The Present
Annalee Newitz's new novel pits a group of time-travelers trying to make the future better for women against a dangerous rival organization inspired by vicious Victorian moralist Anthony Comstock.
W.H. Auden's Poem 'September 1, 1939' Still Resonates In Times Of Crisis
Critic Ian Sansom's deeply informed and unapologetically digressive new book dives into Auden's life — as well as the life of his singular poem.
Get Ready To Astro-Blast Off With 'The Last Kids On Earth'
This month, our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles is thinking about how hard it is to race through a series — as her son did with The Last Kids on Earth — and have to wait for the next book.
MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners Attest To 'Power Of Individual Creativity'
As usual, the more than two dozen winners in 2019 span a range of fields, from fiction and cartoons to neuroscience and theoretical geophysics. Now they've got one important accolade in common.
'The Shadow King' Is A Gorgeous Meditation On Memory, War And Violence
Maaza Mengiste's new novel is set just before the second Italo-Ethiopian War, and follows a woman who becomes a guard to a "shadow king," a man impersonating exiled Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie.
In Golden Age Hollywood, Film Stars Slid Into Each Others' Telegrams
The new book Letters from Hollywood offers a peek inside the inner workings of the film industry through 137 communiques from luminaries like Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis and a very young Jane Fonda.