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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Gaslighting is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2022
NEW YORK — “Gaslighting” — behavior that’s mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in curiosity, as...
Bob Dylan publisher sorry for $600 book’s replica autographs
NEW YORK — Bob Dylan’s publisher is offering refunds for a $600 special edition of his new book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” acknowledging that the allegedly “hand-signed” copies were not individually inscribed. “To those who purchased THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN SONG limited edition, we want to apologize,” Simon &...
Book award finalists are ‘debut novelists’ in name only
NEW YORK — In the minds and official records of the publishing community, Sarah Thankham Mathews is a first-time author. Her novel “All This Could Be Different” has been widely praised as a promising start for the 31-year-old Indian American, whose narrative about a young immigrant’s personal and professional conflicts...
Review: Movie fans will roar, growl over ’50 MGM Films’ book
“The 50 MGM Films that Transformed Hollywood: Triumphs, Blockbusters, and Fiascos,” by Steven Bingen (Lyons Press) The title of film historian Steven Bingen’s new book is reminiscent of B-movie trailers of the 1950s that breathlessly hype “The Most Important Picture of the Year!” But like many of those overripe flicks,...
Booker Prize winner lets ghosts of Sri Lanka’s past speak
LONDON — Shehan Karunatilaka wrote his Booker Prize-winning novel “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” to give voice to Sri Lanka’s dead. He hoped the ghosts of the country’s bloody past could speak to its troubled present. When the book became a finalist for the 50,000-pound ($58,000) fiction award this...
North Allegheny native creates Thanksgiving e-cookbook tailored to food allergies and special diets
There should be a dish for everyone at the Thanksgiving table, and that includes those with food allergies and special diets, according to “An Octofree Thanksgiving” author Liz Fetchin. “An Octofree Thanksgiving” is a new e-cookbook that proves a palate-pleasing, stress-free holiday feast free of the top eight food allergens...
Julie Powell, food writer of ‘Julie & Julia,’ dies at 49
NEW YORK — Food writer Julie Powell, who became an internet darling after blogging for a year about making every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” leading to a book deal and a film adaptation, has died. She was 49. Powell died of cardiac arrest Oct....
Emily Post’s etiquette tome overhauled for 21st century
NEW YORK — Embracing without permission. Disparaging one parent in front of children struggling with divorce. Flaunting privilege. Being a bad listener or, worse, a terrible loser. The world and all its interactional black holes would likely have Emily Post spewing her tea. The grand dame of all things manners...
Judge blocks Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger
NEW YORK — A federal judge has blocked Penguin Random House’s proposed purchase of Simon & Schuster, agreeing with the Justice Department that the joining of two of the world’s biggest publishers could “lessen competition” for “top-selling books.” The ruling was a victory for the Biden administration’s tougher approach to...
Ex-Trib ‘Fanfare’ columnist Kate Benz pens book about Kansas farming town
Traveling from Pittsburgh to Boulder, Colo., to drop off her son at college, Kate Benz ended up with an honorary hometown and new extended family in Kansas — and a book about it all. Her plan was to take the shortest route west, then fulfill a longtime desire to explore...
Review: How Meacham’s Lincoln defeated ‘Big Lie’ of his day
“And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle” by Jon Meacham (Random House) Fun fact: Feb. 12, 1809, is the birthdate for both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. While we tend to contemplate “The Great Emancipator” as fully formed well before he became the 16th president, his moral...
AC/DC’s Brian Johnson writes about his Cinderella lives
Before he began tearing the roof off arenas as lead singer of hard rock icon AC/DC, Brian Johnson was fixing roofs. In his new memoir, the “Hells Bells” singer recounts how he went from being a vinyl car roof fitter in the northeast of England to leading one of the...
Report: Salman Rushdie lives, but loses use of eye and hand
NEW YORK — Salmon Rushdie’s agent says the author has lost sight in one eye and the use of a hand as he recovers from an attack from a man who rushed the stage at an August literary event in western New York, according to a published report. Literary agent...
Review: Paul Newman memoir stuns with brutal honesty
“The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir” by Paul Newman (Knopf): Paul Newman may have been a better actor than many moviegoers realized. Self-assured in his talents the Oscar winner was not. A sexual ace with the ladies? Hardly. Nor was he the devoted husband and family man...
2 podcasters set out to read every Agatha Christie book. It became much more than that
LOS ANGELES — At first glance, Kemper Donovan’s backyard bungalow appears perfectly normal for this Santa Monica neighborhood, but a few clues suggest otherwise. A map of the English county of Devon. A copy of “The Poisoner’s Handbook.” A professional-looking microphone perched on a wooden desk. And then there’s the...
John Steinbeck’s tender letter to son sells for more than $32,000
BOSTON — A heartfelt letter written by author John Steinbeck offering paternal advice to his teenage son who was experiencing love for the first time has sold at auction for more than $32,000. The two-page, handwritten letter, dated Nov. 10, 1958, went for $32,426 to a collector who wishes to...
In Celeste Ng’s dark new novel ‘Our Missing Hearts,’ libraries shine a light
Celeste Ng wishes she could call it a dystopia. That’s how she used to think about the dark world she was crafting in her new novel, “Our Missing Hearts.” Then the real world darkened. And the setting in Ng’s book — an alternate version of the United States, where Asian...
Review: WWII novel ‘Cradles of the Reich’ sets high bar for historical fiction
“Cradles of the Reich” by Jennifer Coburn (Sourcebooks Landmark) Gundi, Irma and Hilde all find themselves at a Lebensborn Society house for future mothers who are deemed to be racially fit. Each woman is there for the same reason: to usher life into the world. But the three main characters...
Review: History of movie academy favors facts over melodrama
“The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences” by Bruce Davis (Brandeis University Press) Film historians and others digging for a deeper vein of Oscar knowledge than mere trivia will turn up many nuggets in “The Academy and...
What’s so controversial about the new Anthony Bourdain book? Plenty, it turns out
A new biography about the late chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, who took his own life while filming CNN’s “Parts Unknown” in 2018, has been raising hackles well in advance of its Oct. 11 publication date — especially among those who knew Bourdain best. The Times dipped into “Down...
French writer Annie Ernaux awarded Nobel Prize in literature
STOCKHOLM — French author Annie Ernaux, who has fearlessly mined her own biography to explore life in France since the 1940s, won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for work that illuminates murky corners of memory, family and society. Ernaux’s books probe deeply personal experiences and feelings — love,...
Terrifying true ghost stories inspired by complicated real women
“A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts” by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes; Kensington (368 pages, $16.95) —— Seeing isn’t always believing. A figure in an old gown is glimpsed at the top of the stairs, a face looms briefly from the shadows. But everyone...
Illustrator Alex Ross has new ‘Fantastic Four’ book out just as Marvel universe takes a next big step. Coincidence?
EVANSTON, Ill. — Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. But what happened to good pop culture conspiracies? Like, Paul McCartney is dead. Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. Walt Disney was frozen. Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper. Katy Perry is JonBenét Ramsey. Political conspiracy has overtaken pop culture conspiracy,...
Bargain hunter scores 700-year-old medieval times document
PORTLAND, Maine — A bargain hunter who went to an estate sale in Maine to find a KitchenAid mixer, a bookshelf or vintage clothing walked away with a 700-year-old treasure. Instead of a kitchen appliance, Will Sideri stumbled upon a framed document hanging on a wall. It had elaborate script...
Hilary Mantel, author of ‘Wolf Hall’ Tudor saga, dies at 70
LONDON — Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author who turned Tudor power politics into page-turning fiction in the acclaimed “Wolf Hall” trilogy of historical novels, has died, her publisher said Friday. She was 70. Mantel died “suddenly yet peacefully” on Thursday while surrounded by close family and friends, publisher HarperCollins...


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