By Matthew Kassel 5/07 5:00pm

nyoculture

Ava Gardner's posthumous tell-all.

Mind Vacations

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY to start thinking about summer—and how you might spend your leisure time in that season of possibility. There are getaways to plan, gardens to plot, lighter clothes to purchase. But for whiling away the summer hours, whether on the beach, at poolside or on a park bench, nothing beats the pleasure of a good book. The one downside—sifting through the new releases to find something you like—can be a chore, which is why we’ve gone ahead and done that work for you.

Here’s a carefully selected smattering of forthcoming titles we think you’ll enjoy. There are the juicy confessions of Ava Gardner, a literary werewolf novel and a long-awaited family epic from Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini. And for those who want to get a jump on their summer reading, some of these are just out in stores or downloadable to an iPad or Kindle near you. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 4/05/11 11:24pm

The Eight-Day Week

The Eight-Day Week: April 6-13

Wednesday, April 6

Youth and Beauty 

Ah, Karen Russell. Or, as the Swamplandia! author might render it, Karen Russell! Never has a young author provoked such envy since that little minx Freudenberger. (Is it a girl thing?) But back to Ms. Russell: The 29-year-old phenom was pegged as an under-40 author to watch on that Read More

By Gillian Reagan 7/25/08 4:54pm

John Waters Writing Hairspray Sequel

Are musical movies the new It thing to franchise? Hairspray might kick off the trend (along with High School Musical) now that John Waters has signed on to write a treatment for a sequel to the 2007 movie version of the Broadway hit.

"I never thought of musicals as franchises, but it certainly worked with Read More

By Gillian Reagan 5/07/08 8:13pm

John Waters to Perform in One-Man Show

It’s a filthy world out there and John Waters has never been afraid to show it to us on film (see: sex scene involving chickens in Pink Flamingos). But Mr. Waters will be bringing us all the crime, fashion lunacy and extremes of the contemporary art world live, on stage, at his one-night-only, one-man show Read More

By Mario Naves 11/08/04 12:00am

Aggrieved Agitprop Lefties Offer Narcissism as Activism

By the time this column sees print, the Presidential election will have been decided-or not, if we undergo a replay of the 2000 rigmarole. One thing is certain: If George W. Bush is re-elected for a second term, the art world will only have itself to blame. Really, how could any thinking lefty not run Read More

By Jake Brooks, Lauren Collins, Lizzy Ratner and Shazia Ahmad 6/14/04 12:00am

Cries of Le Dernier Cri

After walking up the oyster-hued carpet leading to the Council of Fashion Designers Awards at the New York Public Library on June 7, style mavens discussed the sartorial sins of summer.

“Flip-flops on Fifth Avenue!” groaned double nominee Michael Kors, his arm around aspiring starlet Molly Sims, whose fringed frock swept the floor. “I’m Read More

By Gabriel Sherman 9/08/03 12:00am

At 28, Mini-Mogul Dreams of Geffen

“I knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else,” said Adam Epstein as he bit into a forkful of a 10-ounce butterflied filet mignon at the Palm on a recent afternoon. With rounded cheeks and flashes of prematurely gray hair, Mr. Epstein spoke in fast, truncated sentences as he described why he became a Read More