Arts & Life

Elle Fanning plays Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (nee Godwin), the author of Frankenstein, in Mary Shelley.

'Mary Shelley' Is Less Than The Sum Of Its Parts

by Mark Jenkins

Elle Fanning stars in this uneven, "perfumed account" of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin's romance with poet Percy Shelley, and the fateful weekend that birthed her novel Frankenstein.
Philip Roth wrote more than two dozen books over six decades. In his later years, he wrote several short novels about the physical indignities of aging. He told Terry Gross in 2006 that he intended to write for as long as he could: "You just drop dead at

Philip Roth: 'You Begin Every Book As An Amateur'

by Terry Gross

The influential novelist won almost every major literary award, but still found the writing process was full of discovery. "Each and every sentence is a revelation," he said. Roth died Tuesday at 85.