OZZY Osbourne’s warts-and-all autobiography will be published “uncensored” after his death aged 76 – with a foreword from his wife Sharon.
His Last Rites book, finished just before he passed away, will recount his relationship with hairstylist Michelle Pugh, which spanned from 2012 to 2016 and drove his wife Sharon to nearly kill herself.
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Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 ‘surrounded by family’ at aged 76Credit: Alamy
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His wife, Sharon, is rumoured to be writing the foreword to his posthumous autobiographyCredit: Getty
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Ozzys’ ‘uncensored’ memoir Last Rites is due to be published in OctoberCredit: Supplied
The revelation shattered his marriage and Sharon, then 63, was left blindsided by the betrayal. She bravely revealed she attempted to end her life after learning the full extent of the affair.
“I took, I don’t know how many pills,” she said. “I just thought, ‘My kids are older, they are fine and can take care of themselves.'”
A publishing source said yesterday: “This book was basically Ozzy’s last confessions and contains a lot of passages about how he is sorry for the affair.
“As he was always brutally honest during his life, it’s been decided not a word will be changed, even about painful times in his life and how his affair affected Sharon.”
The insider added it is “early days” in terms of Sharon’s grief, but she will be asked to write a foreword to the book.
They said: “Sharon is made of stern stuff and the publishers know she will want to leave her fingerprint on this book. Writing its foreword will also be cathartic for her and act as a way of laying Ozzy to rest.”
Another source said the book contains Ozzy’s epitaph. He had joked before his death that he wanted four words carved on his gravestone: “Bats taste like s***.”
But an insider said: “This was just a joke and Ozzy wanted something a lot more profound on his gravestone.
“This book will reveal it.”
Last Rites already has a cover, showing Ozzy holding his hands in a prayer-style gesture to his face.
Watch touching moment Ozzy Osbourne says his final words to adoring fans just weeks before rock legend died
A blurb for the upcoming book, set to be published in October, says: “Last Rites is the shocking, bitterly hilarious, never-before-told story of Ozzy’s descent into hell.
“Along the way, he reflects on his extraordinary life and career, including his marriage to wife Sharon, alongside his reflections on what it took for him to get back onstage for the triumphant Back to the Beginning concert, streamed around the world, where Ozzy reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for the final time.
“Unflinching, brutally honest, but surprisingly life-affirming, Last Rites demonstrates once again why Ozzy has transcended his status as ‘The Godfather of Metal’ and ‘The Prince of Darkness’ to become a modern-day folk hero and national treasure.”
One excerpt from the autobiography features Ozzy saying: “People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything? I’m like, f*** no. If I’d been clean and sober, I wouldn’t be Ozzy. If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.
“Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can’t complain. I’ve been all around the world. Seen a lot of things. I’ve done good… and I’ve done bad.
Adam Aleksic has somehow managed to make linguistics cool. His rapid-fire videos have attracted an audience of millions across the social media universe.
An exclusive look at what we’re reading, book club events and our latest author interviews.
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A Harvard graduate with a linguistics degree, he has now published a book called “Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language,” which explores in depth some of his more fanciful and fascinating theories. We chatted with Aleksic about edutainment, brainrot and President Trump as influencer in chief.
(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)
✍️ Author Chat
Author Adam Aleksic
(Adam Aleksic)
Did you get into linguistics because you wanted to explore online language?
I don’t think you can actually hope to fully be caught up with online language itself, as it’s mutating by the minute. The book is more of a road map of the general patterns we’re seeing. I personally got interested in etymology in ninth grade. I didn’t know I would be going into internet linguistics.
How do algorithms shape and change language on the web?
You can’t avoid talking about algorithms if you’re talking about modern language change. I’m looking at my own videos thinking, “Wow, I can’t say this specific word because of the algorithm. I have to say it another way.”
I use the example of the word “unalive” as a replacement for “kill.” That developed in English-language mental health spaces to circumvent platform community guidelines that were enforced by an algorithm used by Chinese government, which was then retooled for TikTok. Suddenly, “unalive” was all over the internet. Algorithms are creating new words.
In the book, you talk about context collapse, the notion that effective videos are designed to appear as if they are addressed directly to the user, even though they are, in fact, bringing in disparate users to a single focal point.
When you’re looking at a video on your For You page, you really think it’s for you. But it never is.
As a creator, I never think about individual people. I think about what’s going to go viral, but also, what do I want to make? I make the video first for myself, then I make it for the algorithm. Never do I consider the actual people that end up seeing the video.
Your phone is an extension of yourself. You perceive a message coming from your algorithmic version of yourself. The algorithm doesn’t actually align who my intended audience might be with who the actual audience is. It just sends my video to whatever makes the most money.
What about brainrot — the notion that the internet is damaging young people’s ability to think and reason. Does this apply to online language?
I think there’s no such thing as “brainrot” with words. They’ve done neurological studies. No word is worse for your brain than other words. Now, the other stuff, culturally, is another conversation. It probably is bad that these platforms are monopolizing our attention to sell us things. So I can say, linguistically, we’re fine.
Do you think the internet makes us smarter?
It’s an interesting question. What is “smarter”? I know that’s a hard thing to define. I think like with any tool, it can be true. Every tool has good and bad, right?
You talk about rage-baiting and hyperbole, or hype, as a tool to gain virality online. Our president is quite proficient at this tactic.
I think Trump’s language uniquely lends itself to virality. He has these phrasal templates, like “Make X Y Again,” or “This has been the greatest X in the history of Y.” People use his sentence structures as these skeletons, which they can remix. He coined “sad” as an interjection, which I regularly see my friends using. I don’t know how much of it is intentional. Maybe he just stumbled into it. But the fact of the matter is, I think we have Trump in office because he is uniquely suited to the internet.
📰 The Week(s) in Books
Anna Wintour, longtime Vogue editor and chair of the Met Gala, recently announced that she would be stepping back from some of her duties at the iconic Condé Nast magazine.
Hamilton Cain calls “The Aviator and the Showman,” Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s joint biography of Amelia Earhart and her husband, “a vibrant account of the courtship and union of the famous pilot and her publisher husband whose intrusive management of his wife’s career may have cost her life.”
According to Ilana Massad, Kashana Cauley’s novel “The Payback,” a satire about student loans, of all things, is a “terrifically fun book that made me laugh out loud at least once every chapter.”
Valorie Castellanos Clark thinks fan fiction writer turned novelist Brigette Knightley’s debut novel “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy” is “proof positive that writing fan fiction is an excellent training ground for building a novel.”
📖 Bookstore Faves
Hennessy + Ingalls bookstore serves those with a taste for the visual.
(Hennessy + Ingalls)
Today we are chatting with Carlos Chavez, a bookseller at Hennessey + Ingalls, a sprawling space in downtown L.A. that specializes in books about art, architecture, graphic design and all things visual.
What’s selling right now?
Because we are a speciality bookstore, sales are really across the board. Everyday it can be something different. Someone came in yesterday and bought a bunch of books featuring art from the painter and sculptor Claes Odenberg, for example. We also sell a lot of books on industrial design, and fashion designers have been buying books about shoes. The other day a prop designer came in and purchased books with red covers. It’s a mixed bag.
Art books can be very expensive. Why do you think there is still a market for them, despite the plenitude of images online?
There are still plenty of book lovers who want to hold a book, and they want to see it before they buy it. For many of our customers, books are a great source of artistic inspiration of the kind you just can’t find online. This is the kind of store where customers are free to linger for hours if they want to.
There has been a lot of social unrest downtown this year. How is the store coping?
Business has been up and down. Some days are better than others. I think people were scared to come out, but yesterday was a good day, for example.
1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program.
2. Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart (Random House: $28) A tale of a family struggling to stay together in a country rapidly coming apart.
3. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond. 9
4. 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.
5. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
6. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries.
7. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
8. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende (Ballantine Books: $30) A young writer in the late 1800s travels to South America to uncover the truth about her father.
9. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (Ace: $30) A romantasy following an assassin and a healer forced to work together to cure a fatal disease.
10. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt & Co.: $29) An unexpected wedding guest gets surprise help on her journey to starting anew.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
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 barriers to progress in the U.S.
3. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person. 122
4. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a partnership stretched to its limits.
5. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
6. 2024 by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, Isaac Arnsdorf (Penguin Press: $32) The inside story of a tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign.
7. Super Agers by Eric Topol (Simon & Schuster: $33) A detailed guide to a revolution transforming human longevity.
8. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad (Random House: $30) A guide to the art of journaling and a meditation on the central questions of life.
9. We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle (The Dial Press: $34) The guidebook for being alive.
10. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) On gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world.
…
Paperback fiction
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
5. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
7. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20)
8. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19)
9. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22)
10. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley, $20)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21)
2. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
3. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19)
4. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
5. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $13)
6. Sociopath by Patric Gagne, Ph.D. (Simon & Schuster: $20)
7. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
8. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
9. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20)
10. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. (Penguin: $19)
Washington Post reporter and columnist Lou Cannon has covered Ronald Reagan for more than 25 years. This article is adapted from his book, “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (Simon & Schuster)
President Ronald Reagan’s aides became accustomed to figuring out things for themselves, for he managed by indirection when he managed at all. Aides who had worked for more directive presidents found this disconcerting.
“He made no demands, and gave almost no instructions,” said Martin Anderson, a veteran of the Nixon Administration. Anderson thought Reagan’s management style odd but rationalized that it was “a small thing, an eccentricity that was dwarfed by his multiple, stunning qualities.”
And yet Anderson was bothered more by this “small thing” than he let on in his useful book “Revolution,” or maybe even more than he realized. It was Anderson who told me that when he returned to the campaign in 1980, after a long absence, he was not quite sure if Reagan realized he had ever been away. Others less self-secure than Anderson or less convinced of Reagan’s greatness were bothered even more by the way their leader distanced himself.
By keeping his emotional distance from the lives and struggles of his subordinates, Reagan was less affected by what happened to them than were presidents with closer relationships. It did not matter all that much to him who was in the supporting cast. Actors came and went in Washington as they had done in Hollywood and Sacramento, without altering his purposes or changing his conception of himself. Reagan remained serene in the center of his universe, awaiting his next performance.
While his distancing of himself from others may have been useful or even necessary for Reagan, it took a heavy toll among the entourage. Principal members of the Reagan team were misled by his manner or misled themselves into an expectation of friendship. They competed to be Reagan’s favorite person.
“Here he was, enormously successful in things that he had done, very confident, comfortable with himself, and a very likable man,” said White House aide Robert B. Sims. “And he had these other people who were mature adults, most of them successful in their own right–the George Shultzes, the Caspar Weinbergers, the Bill Clarks–who had done things on their own and been successful, but Reagan was always up there at a level above these advisers and they all seemed to want to get his favor.” Reagan did not consciously play these subordinates off against one another, as Franklin D. Roosevelt might have done. Instead, he bestowed approval in a general sense on all “the fellas” or “the boys,” as he was wont to describe his inner circle, while withholding his approval from any one of them in particular.
Republican congressional leaders found Reagan uninterested in political strategy, although he was always willing to place a call to a wavering congressman if provided with the script of what he ought to say.
What animated Reagan was a public performance. He knew how to edit a script and measure an audience. He also knew that the screenplay of his presidency, however complicated it became on the margins, was rooted in the fundamental themes of lower taxes, deregulation and “peace through strength” that he had expounded in the anti-government speech he had given in 1964 for Republican presidential candidate Barry M. Goldwater.
The Speech was his bible, and Reagan never tired of giving it. Its themes and Reagan’s approach to government were, as his friend William F. Buckley put it, “inherently anti-statist.”
But on other issues, especially when the discussion was over his head, Reagan’s participation was usually limited to jokes and cinematic illustrations. This is not surprising, as Reagan spent more time at the movies during his presidency than at anything else.
He went to Camp David on 183 weekends, usually watching two films on each of these trips. He saw movies in the White House family theater, on television in the family quarters and in the villas and lavish guest quarters accorded presidents when they travel.
On the afternoon before the 1983 economic summit of the world’s industrialized democracies in colonial Williamsburg, White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III stopped off at Providence Hall, where the Reagans were staying, bringing with him a thick briefing book on the upcoming meetings. Baker, then on his way to a tennis game, had carefully checked through the book to see that it contained everything Reagan needed to know without going into too much detail. He was concerned about Reagan’s performance at the summit, which had attracted hundreds of journalists from around the world and been advertised in advance by the White House as an Administration triumph.
But when Baker returned to Providence Hall the next morning, he found the briefing book unopened on the table where he had deposited it. He knew immediately that Reagan hadn’t even glanced at it, and he couldn’t believe it. In an hour Reagan would be presiding over the first meeting of the economic summit, the only one held in the United States during his presidency. Uncharacteristically, Baker asked Reagan why he hadn’t cracked the briefing book, “Well, Jim, ‘The Sound of Music’ was on last night,” Reagan said calmly.
Nonetheless, Reagan’s charm and cue cards carried him through the summit without incident. By the third year of his presidency the leaders of the democracies were also growing accustomed to Reagan’s anecdotes and to his cheerful sermons about the wonders of the market system and lower taxes. They were awed at what they saw as his hold on the American people.
In the halcyon days of his presidency, Reagan seemed to have no need of briefing books. And even on those occasions when he read them, he was more apt to find solutions in the movies he watched religiously each weekend.
Sometimes the movies and the briefing books pointed in the same direction. By mid-1983, the U.S. and Soviet governments were beginning to emerge from the mutual acrimony that prevailed between them since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in Christmas week of 1979. Guided by Reagan’s impulses and George P. Shultz’s diplomacy, the U.S. government was beginning to explore what would ultimately become, after the ascension of Mikhail S. Gorbachev, a more optimistic and productive era in U.S.-Soviet relations.
But arms-control enthusiasts on Capitol Hill were skeptical about Reagan’s intentions toward the nation he had called “the evil empire.” The Administration had been able to persuade a swing group of moderate Democrats to join with Republicans in supporting limited deployment of the MX missile only after Reagan pledged that he would also diligently pursue arms-control opportunities.
On the first weekend in June, 1983, while Democratic support for the MX remained much in question, Reagan went to Camp David with a briefcase full of option papers on arms control. He made a few personal phone calls, scanned the material in the folders and put them aside. After dinner, Reagan was in the mood for a movie, as he usually was on Saturday night. The film that evening was “War Games,” in which Matthew Broderick stars as a teen-age computer whiz who accidentally accesses the North American Aerospace Defense Command–NORAD–and almost launches World War III. It was an entertaining anti-war film with a clear message, intoned in the movie by an advanced computer: The only way to win the “game” of thermonuclear war is not to play it.
Two days later, Reagan met at the White House with several Democratic congressmen who had backed the MX in exchange for the President’s arms-control commitment. He began the meeting by reading from cue cards tailored to congressional concerns. “I just can’t believe that if the Soviets think long and hard about the arms race, they won’t be interested in getting a sensible agreement,” Reagan said.
Then he put the cue cards aside and his face lit up. He asked the congressmen if any of them had seen “War Games,” and when no one volunteered an answer launched into an animated account of the plot. The congressmen were fascinated with Reagan’s change of mood and his obvious interest in the film. He said, “I don’t understand these computers very well, but this young man obviously did. He had tied into NORAD!”
1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program.
2. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.
3. 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.
4. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
5. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries.
6. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption.
7. So Far Gone by Jess Walter (Harper: $30) A reclusive journalist is forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren.
8. 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.
9. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende (Ballantine Books: $30) A young writer in the late 1800s travels to South America to uncover the truth about her father.
10. Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell (Atria Books: $30) Three women are connected by one man who seems too good to be true.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
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. Wealthy and Well-Known by Rory Vaden and AJ Vaden (Mission Driven Press: $27) How to master the art of personal branding.
4. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
5. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press: $45) The Pulitzer-winning biographer explores the life of the celebrated American writer.
6. Notes to John by Joan Didion (Knopf: $32) Diary entries from the famed writer’s journal.
7. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
8. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values.
9. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person.
10. Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller (Simon & Schuster: $29) A collection of autobiographical essays from the comedian and actor.
…
Paperback fiction
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
2. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
3. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)
4. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
5. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
6. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20)
7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage: $19)
8. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
9. Funny Story by Emily Henry (Berkley: $19)
10. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
2. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21)
3. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
4. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
5. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World: $20)
6. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco: $19)
7. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
8. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20)
9. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $18)
10. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20)
Helen Schulman is not afraid to make you squirm. Across her long and distinguished career as a novelist and short story writer, she has fearlessly explored the awkward collisions between our private and public selves, between what we present to the world and what we conceal from even our closest companions. Her 2011 best-selling novel “This Beautiful Life” dared to plunge headfirst into the shark-infested waters of the internet while most of us were still basking in the glow of the web’s shiny benevolence. “Fools For Love,” her latest collection of stories, finds Schulman’s characters weighing the past against the present, looking for redemption in the wrong places and occasionally coming up roses.
My own artistic hope is to go as long as I can. I live to write!
— Helen Schulman
(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)
✍️ Author Chat
Helen Schulman’s new story collection, “Fools For Love,” hits bookshelves this July.
(Knopf)
When it comes to ideas, what becomes a short story and what becomes a novel?
A lot of my ideas spring forward from something Henry James called the “germ” — the bit of overheated gossip, the newspaper article, an eavesdropped conversation on a public bus, a story told by other parents when you are both pushing toddlers on the swings in a playground, which injects itself into the writerly imagination and grows — often over large swaths of time. Sometimes these obsessions entangle, too. That’s what happened in [my story] “The Revisionist.” My husband had a college buddy over for dinner who told us this story about a friend of his who was walking home from work when a strange man ran into his own house and slammed the door in his face. Why? What? Who? The reality was somewhat pedestrian — the intruder was a drunken next-door neighbor, who I guess had overshot. But the anecdote stuck with me.
For some of your characters, the past is ever-present — they are fated to live with the sum of their choices, and it engenders a lot of regret. Can you speak to that?
My all-time favorite writer is William Faulkner. You must be familiar with his quote from the novel “Requiem for a Nun”: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” I sometimes feel this way about existence in general, like each and every moment in a lifetime is somehow equal, and that as one ages the moments accrue and tag along wherever one goes. Certainly in my own life I don’t sweat my big choices; I’m happy about them. I think a person does the best they can with what they know at the time. But I’m infinitely curious about what could have happened instead.
There is a lot of status anxiety in your work— not just financial status, but marriage, career — the things you think will align pleasingly in middle age but often don’t.
My husband and I are both working writers. The marriage works; the financial status has gone in and out. I’m not sure I always looked to middle age as a time of “pleasing alignment,” but I also didn’t think the world would be as effed up as it is now. Some of my characters get older and wiser; some are just more wrinkled, taller kids. But there is a lot of endurance over time in these stories — love, friendship, workplace passions. I would venture to say that most of my characters have real lives, and some very real satisfactions within the stresses that inevitably go along with them.
There are also secrets in your stories. Are we as sick as our secrets, or are they simply unavoidable?
Everyone has secrets. In “The Revisionist,” the protagonist even keeps secrets from himself. One of my closest friends, after the death of her parents, found out that one was married before and that the other had two other children with someone else. Now everyone is dead, and so we don’t even know if the spouses knew this about each other. There is nothing pedestrian about “ordinary lives.” We all roil and we all excite. I feel like one of my jobs as a fiction writer is to dive down beneath the surface.
In the story “My Best Friend,” there is a shocking act of violence. Why did you take it in that direction?
That story is about two men, one an up-and-coming-actor and the other a want-to-be novelist, who fall into a deep brotherhood while sleeping with the same woman. In fact, they each marry her — sequentially, of course. At some point, the friendship goes south; the protagonist, Jake, and Jeannie, the woman, have kids together and his career dries up. The first husband, Phil, becomes a very successful TV showrunner and producer. Out of pity, he hires Jake to be a character in one of his nighttime soaps. Jake starts to become an audience favorite, and Phil tortures the character on the series. All their pent up homoerotic attachments and jealousies explode in a “manly” brawl, which I see as tragicomedic, at the end of the story. The love story is theirs, after all.
Kurt Vonnegut has a quote about, when one reaches advanced middle age, life becomes an epilogue. That is a hard thing to carry. Do you feel that this is the case? I guess I’m thinking about your story “In a Better Place,” which revisits the characters from the book’s titular story in old age.
No, honestly I don’t. That story is really about the celebration of long love between the couple at the heart of the story, its healing powers and sustaining comforts. What may make this all feel epilogue-y to you (not a word, I know) is because these two people feel happy and fulfilled by their marriage. … My own artistic hope is to go as long as I can. I live to write!
📰 The Week(s) in Books
Charlie English spotlights the CIA’s use of literature to fight communism during the Cold War in his latest book.
(Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library)
Valerie Castellanos Clark weighs in on Charlie English’s “The CIA Book Club,” about how Polish citizens fought Russian communism with books. “As with the best spy novels, we know the good guy is going to win … but how English gets us there is exciting,” Clark writes.
Leigh Haber raves on Amy Bloom’s latest novel “I’ll Be Right Here.” “As Bloom has demonstrated throughout her stellar literary career,” writes Haber, “she can train her eye on any person, place or object and render it sublime.”
Jim Ruland calls Megan Abbott’s latest thriller, “El Dorado Drive,” a novel for our present age of anxiety, propelled by Abbott’s masterful narrative drive and her skill at “rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people.”
📖 Bookstore Faves
Ken Concepcion, owner of Now Serving, tells us what’s been flying off the shelves at his Chinatown bookstore that specializes in cookbooks.
(Shelby Moore / For The Times)
This week we are perusing the shelves at Now Serving, a cozy bookshop devoted to the culinary arts and located on the ground floor of Chinatown’s Far East Plaza. Co-owner Ken Concepcion gives us the scoop on the hot goods.
What food trend are customers excited about right now?
Being that we are in L.A., there has always been a demand for vegetarian and vegan titles. The interest in plant-based cookbooks that delve into specific cuisines such as Filipino, Vietnamese, Mexican and Japanese has definitely grown over the years, and the diversity of voices has been wonderful to see. There needs to be better representation for Ecuadorian, Guatemalan and other Central and South American cuisines as well — there is a real demand for it.
Why do you think cookbooks are still important, despite the ubiquity of recipes online?
As with anything that you can find online, recipes are no different. There are thousands upon thousands available. Most of them are copycat recipes. We think cookbooks are still unparalleled in that they can deliver a narrative, historical context and incredible imagery and stunning design in a world that is more reliant on technology than ever. Cookbooks at best are functional objects of art that can be then passed down from generation to generation. They can often become keepsakes, time capsules and family heirlooms.
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.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
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.
…
Paperback fiction
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)
…
Paperback nonfiction
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)
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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your July reading list.
It’s officially beach-reads season: Whether you do your reading outdoors or inside in air-conditioned comfort, July’s hot new releases will help you stay cool. Topics range from analog memories of Golden Age Hollywood to a maverick female athlete. Happy reading!
Baum, a journalist for the Hollywood Reporter, draws on knowledge he has gleaned about cosmetic surgery, the profession of his protagonist, Dr. Roya Delshad. Dr. Delshad, who is multiracial and once supposedly plain, remakes herself into a glorious bombshell — but then lands in prison. She’s agreed to consider interviews with a ghostwriter named Wes Easton, who will soon discover why she’s called “the Robin Hood of Roxbury Drive.”
Like the carriage of a well-oiled Olivetti, this novel moves between Carmel and Hollywood, in two different centuries, with ease. In 1957, actress Isabella Giori hopes to land a career-making role in a Hitchcock film; when her circumstances change and she winds up secluded in a tiny cottage in Carmel-on-the-Sea, a blacklisted emigre screenwriter named Léon Chazan saves her. In 2018, his screenwriter granddaughter finally learns how and why.
Vera, the child narrator of this wry and relevant new novel from Shteyngart (“Our Country Friends”), brings a half-Korean heritage to the Russian-Jewish-WASP Bradford-Shmulkin family. Between Daddy, Anne Mom, and her longing for her unknown bio Mom Mom, Vera has a lot to handle, while all she really wants is to help her dad and stepmom stay married — and to make a friend at school. It’s a must-read.
In the wake of her best friend Esther’s 2020 death, Miriam loses faith in almost everything, including the God that made her job teaching Christian scripture at a San Francisco private school bearable. She quits and takes a job as a mail carrier (as the author also did), not only finding moments of grace from neighborhood to neighborhood but also writing letters to Esther in an effort to understand the childhood difficulties that bonded them.
The title tells so much about how queer people must live in Nigeria, and so does the structure: Osunde (“Vagabonds!”) calls it a novel, although its chapters read more like short stories. If it doesn’t hang together like a traditional novel, that may be part of the point. Characters like May, struggling with gender identity, or Ziz, a gay man in Lagos, know that their identities don’t always hang together in traditional ways — and that’s definitely the point.
Decades of Cold War espionage between the United States and the Soviet Union included programs that leveraged cultural media. The Central Intelligence Agency’s Manhattan-based “book club” office was run by an emigre from Romania named George Midden, who managed to send 10 million books behind the Iron Curtain. Some of them were serious tomes, yes, but there were Agatha Christie novels, Orwell’s “1984” and art books too.
Crucially, MacGregor’s painstakingly researched history of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II includes Japanese perspectives. The historian (“Checkpoint Charlie”) treats the atomic bomb more as a weapon of mass murder and less as a scientific breakthrough, while managing to convey the urgency behind its development for the Allied forces.
Let this sink in (basketball pun very much intended): Caitlin Clark has scored more points than any player in major college basketball history. Not just the female players — the male players too. Now that she’s in the WNBA as a rookie for the Indiana Fever, Clark is attracting the kind of fan base once reserved for male basketball stars like Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Brennan’s longtime coverage of Clark’s career makes this book a slam dunk.
Each stratum, or layer, of our planet tells a story. Science writer Poppick explains what those millions of strata can tell us about four instances that changed life dramatically, from oxygen entering the atmosphere all the way to the dinosaur era. Ultimately, she argues that these strata show us that when stressed, the earth reacts by changing and moving toward stability. It’s a fascinating peek into the globe’s core that might offer clues about sustainability.
The once-unassuming Roxie Laybourne became the world’s first forensic ornithologist in 1960, when the FAA asked the Smithsonian — where Laybourne was an avian taxidermist — to help them identify shredded feathers from a fatal airplane crash in Boston. She analyzed specimens that contributed to arrests in racial attacks, as well as in catching game poachers and preventing deaths of fighter pilots. In her way, Laybourne was a badass.
Only seven pages in, John Birdsall offers a conclusion to the question that titles his book, “What Is Queer Food?”
It’s a subject that has consumed him for decades, as a restaurant cook in the Bay Area and then as a journalist and author. In the last dozen or so years — when food media began more honestly grappling with identity and diversity in its subjects, and also with who is given opportunities to tell those stories — Birdsall won national awards for feats like his groundbreaking piece, “America, Your Food Is So Gay.”
The queering of American food
“Still, saying what queer food was on a granular level kept eluding me,” he writes in his new work, published this month. “Lots of us could say that queer food, like desire, exists, but nobody could definitely point through what is was.”
“It shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did,” he accedes, “but at last I accepted the obvious truth that queer food is not a commodity. There is no essentialized cuisine of queerness, any more than there’s one simple answer for what it means to be queer.”
Acceptance is a doorway. He is freed to spend the rest of the book coupling meticulous research and gorgeous prose to illuminate lives that, in ways indirect and overt, shaped who we are as a culinary nation.
There’s Harry Baker, a man who flees from a sullied life in Ohio to Los Angeles and who, true to his name, develops a style of cake that becomes the de-facto dessert of young Hollywood; later it well be reworked and homogenized as a signature recipe for General Mills. There’s Esther Eng, an early 20th-century film auteur, her movies now mostly lost, whose fluency with the group dynamics of creating cinema translates to a second act as a New York restaurateur. In her masculine clothes and bluntly cropped hair, she is at once successful and invisible.
John Birdsall, author of “What Is Queer Food?”
(Courtesy of Rachel Marie Photography)
Birdsall notes that Craig Claiborne, then food editor of the New York Times and the father of modern American restaurant criticism, reviewed Eng’s self-named restaurant in the 1960s. Claiborne used his platform to push dining and cooking toward their current cultural status in the United States. Privately he was far more tragic — “haunted,” to use Birdsall’s word, by his difficult Southern childhood and misguided in a mess of a memoir published in 1983, 17 years before his death at 79.
Birdsall does not abide counterfeit joy. He narrates lives shaped by society’s denials, prejudices and punishments, and he lays their suffering bare. Some (among them Alice B. Toklas, James Baldwin and Richard Olney, one of my all-time favorite cookbook authors) know to leave the country to love in greater peace.
Where delight comes easy is in Birdsall’s prose. He took the narrative lessons he learned from his 2020 biography of James Beard, “The Man Who Ate Too Much,” to tighten the intricate threads of this opus. Characters that appear early in the book return for lightbulb impact. No strand dangles. Even when the reader feels his own rage — as when he veers into a personal story about making quiche for a Sunday open house in the storm-center of the AIDS crisis — his eloquence carries us through the bitterest aftertastes.
His catalyst for his book: the accelerated disappearance of spaces by and for LGBTQ populations across America.
He opens with a requiem for a 24-hour diner in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood where he was a regular in the 1990s. “The Melrose was a gay restaurant because gay people made it one,” he begins. He watched older men share their meals and drag queens scarf bacon-and-cheese potato skins post performance, and took solace in blueberry silver dollar pancakes when chemistry fizzled with the guy across the table. The Melrose closed in 2017 after 56 years in business.
“When gay restaurants close, gay reliquaries empty of memory and meaning,” he writes. “Gone are favorite waitresses and go-to-meals, safe spaces and party places in the night’s last hours. For me and other gay people who love to eat out, losing a gay restaurant is a kind of dispossession.”
Erik Peipenburg, author of “Dining Out”
(Peter Larson)
Piepenburg traveled across the country throughout 2023, interviewing owners and customers of establishments still present and long gone. Chapters graft careful reporting with his own running commentary, at turns cheeky and poignant and angered by the tenuous state of gay rights and acceptance.
Some salute institutions like Annie’s Paramount Steak House in Washington D.C.; lesbian-feminist restaurant Bloodroot in Bridgeport, Conn.; and trans safe havens like Napalese Lounge and Grille in Green Bay, Wis. Others seek to debunk myths, including the supposed queer riot in 1959 at a downtown Los Angeles location of Cooper Do-nuts whose occurrence Piepenburg could find little hard evidence to support. To consider the future of gay dining, he considers two recently opened restaurants in Southern California: the Ruby Fruit in Silver Lake and Alice B. in Palm Springs.
Mara Herbkersman and Emily Bielagus, photographed in 2023, are owners of the Ruby Fruit, one of the restaurants mentioned in Erik Piepenburg’s book “Dining Out.”
(Brittany Brooks / For The Times)
Piepenburg has been writing for the New York Times for nearly 20 years, concentrating mostly on film (especially horror), television and theater. He is, in the most wonderful sense, not a food writer. He self-identifies as a “diner gay.” This is a work about history and, above all, community, not exalted poetry on the art of gastronomy.
What strikes me most about Piepenburg’s frame of reference is how explicitly and organically he twins the subjects of dining and sex. We rarely acknowledge the existence of sex in Food Writing. First, it’s the hardest subject to not be cringe about, and food and sex analogies usually land as ick. But also, most of us who cover restaurants are keenly aware of ugly power dynamics that went unspoken in male-dominated kitchens for decades, and the industry as a whole is in a slow but sustained corrective era.
The approach in “Dining Out” succeeds in its matter-of-factness. Lonely people congregate over holiday buffets in bathhouses. Men frequented — still frequent — certain gayborhood restaurants to cruise, to pose, to be themselves.
A bit of melancholy also winds through the book, as Piepenburg laments the “golden age” of gay restaurants that halted at the turn of the millennium, if not before, and also his own aging. Here is where I mention: I met the author 35 years ago, in my early college years before either of us was out, so I relate to his feelings on the passage of time. When in the book he references his ‘90s-era club kid days, sporting “shaggy wigs and carrying lunchboxes” at the Limelight in New York … I remember.
Of course, the release of Birdsall’s and Piepenburg’s books was planned for visibility during Pride month. Their merits, individual and collective, make for absorbing, enlightening reading far beyond 30 days of designated LBGTQ recognition.
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Picture books are not usually the stuff of Supreme Court rulings. But on Friday, a majority of justices ruled that parents have a right to opt their children out of lessons that offend their religious beliefs — bringing the colorful pages of books like “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding” and “Pride Puppy” into the staid public record of the nation’s highest court.
The ruling resulted from a lawsuit brought by parents in Montgomery County, Md., who sued for the right to remove their children from lessons where LGBTQ+ storybooks would be read aloud in elementary school classes from kindergarten through 5th grade. The books were part of an effort in the district to represent LGBTQ+ families in the English language arts curriculum.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that schools must “notify them in advance” when one of the disputed storybooks would be used in their child’s class, so that they could have their children temporarily removed. The court’s three liberals dissented.
As part of the the decisions, briefings and petitions in the case, the justices and lawyers for the parents described in detail the story lines of nine picture books that were part of Montgomery County’s new curriculum. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor even reproduced one, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” in its entirety.
Here are the nine books that were the subject of the case:
Pride Puppy Author: Robin Stevenson Illustrator: Julie McLaughlin
Book “Pride Puppy” published by Orca Book Publishers.
(Orca Book Publishers)
“Pride Puppy,” a rhyming alphabet book for very young children, depicts a little girl who loses her dog during a joyful visit to a Pride parade. The story, which is available as a board book, invites readers to spot items starting with each of the letters of the alphabet, including apple, baseball and clouds — as well as items more specific to a Pride parade.
Lawyers representing the parents said in their brief that the “invites students barely old enough to tie their own shoes to search for images of ‘underwear,’ ‘leather,’ ‘lip ring,’ ‘[drag] king’ and ‘[drag] queen,’ and ‘Marsha P. Johnson,’ a controversial LGBTQ activist and sex worker.”
The “leather” in question refers to a mother’s jacket, and the “underwear” to a pair of green briefs worn over tights by an older child as part of a colorful outfit.
Love, Violet Author: Charlotte Sullivan Wild Illustrator: Charlene Chua
Book “Love Violet” published by macmillan publishers.
(macmillan)
The story describes a little girl named Violet with a crush on another girl in her class named Mira, who “had a leaping laugh” and “made Violet’s heart skip.” But every time Mira tries to talk to her, Violet gets shy and quiet.
On Valentine’s Day, Violet makes Mira a special valentine. As Violet gathers the courage to give it to her, the valentine ends up trampled in the snow. But Mira loves it anyway and also has a special gift for Violet — a locket with a violet inside. At the end of the book, the two girls go on an adventure together.
Lawyers for the parents describe “Love, Violet” as a book about “two young girls and their same-sex playground romance.” They wrote in that “teachers are encouraged to have a ‘think aloud’ moment to ask students how it feels when they don’t just ‘like’ but ‘like like’ someone.”
Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope Author: Jodie Patterson Illustrator: Charnelle Pinkney Barlow
Book “Born Ready” published by Random House.
(Random House)
In “Born Ready,” 5-year-old Penelope was born a girl but is certain they are a boy.
“I love you, Mama, but I don’t want to be you. I want to be Papa. I don’t want tomorrow to come because tomorrow I’ll look like you. Please help me, Mama. Help me be a boy,” Penelope tells their mom. “We will make a plan to tell everyone we know,” Penelope’s mom tells them, and they throw a big party to celebrate.
In her dissent, Sotomayor notes, “When Penelope’s brother expresses skepticism, his mother says, ‘Not everything needs to make sense. This is about love.’ ”
In their opening brief, lawyers for the families said that “teachers are told to instruct students that, at birth, people ‘guess about our gender,’ but ‘we know ourselves best.’ ”
Prince and Knight Author: Daniel Haack Illustrator: Stevie Lewis
“Prince and Knight” is a story about a prince whose parents want him to find a bride, but instead he falls in love with a knight. Together, they fight off a dragon. When the prince falls from a great height, his knight rescues him on horseback.
When the king and queen find out of their love, they “were overwhelmed with joy. ‘We have finally found someone who is perfect for our boy!’ ” A great wedding is held, and “the prince and his shining knight would live happily ever after.”
“The book Prince & Knight clearly conveys the message that same-sex marriage should be accepted by all as a cause for celebration,” said Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, a concerning message for Americans whose religion tells them that same-sex marriage is wrong.
“For young children, to whom this and the other storybooks are targeted, such celebration is liable to be processed as having moral connotations,” Alito wrote. “If this same-sex marriage makes everyone happy and leads to joyous celebration by all, doesn’t that mean it is in every respect a good thing?”
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding Author: Sarah S. Brannen Illustrator: Lucia Soto
In “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” a little girl named Chloe learns that her beloved uncle is engaged to his partner, a man named Jamie. At first, she worries that the marriage will change her close bond with her uncle. But she soon embraces the celebration and the joy of getting another uncle through the union.
In the majority opinion, Alito wrote that the book sends children the message that “two people can get married, regardless of whether they are of the same or the opposite sex, so long as they ‘love each other.’ ” That viewpoint is “directly contrary to the religious principles that the parents in this case wish to instill in their children.” Parents ability to “present a different moral message” to their children, he said, “is undermined when the exact opposite message is positively reinforced in the public school classroom at a very young age.”
In her dissent, Sotomayor includes the entire book, writing that, “Because the majority selectively excerpts the book in order to rewrite its story.”
The majority’s analysis, she writes, “reveals its failure to accept and account for a fundamental truth: LGBTQ people exist. They are part of virtually every community and workplace of any appreciable size. Eliminating books depicting LGBTQ individuals as happily accepted by their families will not eliminate student exposure to that concept.”
Jacob’s Room to Choose Author: Sarah Hoffman and Ian Hoffman Illustrator: Chris Case
Book “Jacob’s Room To Choose” published by Magination Press.
(Magination Press)
“Jacob’s Room to Choose” is a follow-up to “Jacob’s New Dress,” a picture book listed as one of the American Library Assn.‘s top 100 banned books of the last decade.
Jacob wears a dress, and when he tries to use the boy’s bathroom, two little boys “stared at Jacob standing in the doorway. Jacob knew what that look meant. He turned and ran out.” The same thing happens to his friend Sophie, who presents as a boy and is chased out of the girl’s bathroom.
Their teacher encourages the whole class to rethink what gender really means. The class decides everyone should be able to use the bathroom that makes them feel comfortable, and makes new, inclusive signs to hang on the bathroom doors.
“After relabeling the bathroom doors to welcome multiple genders, the children parade with placards that proclaim ‘Bathrooms Are For Every Bunny’ and ‘[choose] the bathroom that is comfy,’ ” lawyers for the parents wrote.
IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All Author: Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council and Carolyn Choi Illustrator: Ashley Seil Smith
Book “IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All” published by Dottir Press.
(Dottir Press)
“IntersectionAllies,” written by three sociologists, is a story about characters with different identities, including one who uses a wheelchair, and another, Kate, who identifies as transgender. One page shows Kate in a gender-neutral bathroom, saying, “My friends defend my choices and place. A bathroom, like all rooms, should be a safe space.”
In the majority opinion, Alito describes a discussion guide included with the book that he said asserts: “When we are born, our gender is often decided for us based on our sex . . . . But at any point in our lives, we can choose to identify with one gender, multiple genders, or neither gender.” The guide asks readers, “What pronouns fit you best?” Alito wrote.
What Are Your Words?: A Book About Pronouns Author: Katherine Locke Illustrator: Anne Passchier
“What Are Your Words” is a picture book about a child named Ari whose pronouns are “like the weather. They change depending on how I feel. And that’s ok, because they’re my words.” Ari’s Uncle Lior (who uses they/them pronouns) is coming to visit, and Ari is struggling to decide which words describe them.
“The child spends the day agonizing over the right pronouns,” the lawyers for the parents wrote. At the end, while watching fireworks, Ari says, “My words finally found me! They and them feel warm and snug to me.”
My Rainbow Author: DeShanna Neal and Trinity Neal Illustrator: Art Twink
“My Rainbow” tells the true story of a Black child with autism who self-identifies as a transgender girl. Trinity wants long hair, just like her doll, but has trouble growing it out. “The mother decides that her child knows best and sews him a rainbow-colored wig,” lawyers for the parents wrote.
This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.
Copyrighted books can be used to train artificial intelligence models without authors’ consent, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The decision marked a major victory for San Francisco startup Anthropic, which trained its AI assistant Claude using copyrighted books. The company, started by former OpenAI employees and backed by Amazon, was sued by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace in August.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that Anthropic’s use of purchased books was “exceedingly transformative and was a fair use” but the company may have broken the law by using pirated books. Alsup ordered a trial in December to determine damages, which can reach up to $150,000 per case of willful copyright infringement.
“If someone were to read all the modern-day classics because of their exceptional expression, memorize them, and then emulate a blend of their best writing, would that violate the Copyright Act? Of course not,” the ruling reads.
“The purpose and character of using copyrighted works to train [large language models] to generate new text was quintessentially transformative. Like any reader aspiring to be a writer, Anthropic’s LLMs trained upon works not to race ahead and replicate or supplant them — but to turn a hard corner and create something different.”
Anthropic pirated more than 7 million books from Books3, Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror, online libraries containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted books, to train its large language models, according to Alsup. As the company started to become “not so gung ho” about pirating “for legal reasons,” it brought on Tom Turvey from Google to obtain “all the books in the world” but still avoid “legal/practice/business slog.”
While Turvey initially inquired into licensing agreements with two major publishers, he eventually decided to purchase millions of print copies in bulk. The company then proceeded to strip the books’ bindings, cut their pages and scan them into digital and machine-readable forms, according to the decision.
Though the plaintiffs took issue with Anthropic making digital copies, Alsup ruled that this practice also falls under fair use: “The mere conversion of a print book to a digital file to save space and enable searchability was transformative for that reason alone,” he wrote.
Anthropic later purchasing books that it initially pirated did not absolve the company, but it may impact the extent of statutory damages, Alsup said.
1. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program.
2. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.
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. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
5. 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.
6. King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar: $29) A man returns to his roots to save his family in this Southern crime epic.
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. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption.
9. Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co.: $30) The bestselling crime writer returns with a new cop on a mission, this time on Catalina Island.
10. With a Vengeance by Riley Sager (Dutton: $30) A deadly game of survival and revenge plays out on a luxury train heading from Philadelphia to Chicago.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A call to renew a politics of plenty and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life.
2. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.
3. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
4. Steve MartinWrites the Written Word by Steve Martin (Grand Central Publishing: $30) A collection of greatest hits from the beloved actor and comedian.
5. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values.
6. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press: $45) The Pulitzer-winning biographer explores the life of the celebrated American writer.
7. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person.
8. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) The “Braiding Sweetgrass” author on gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world.
9. I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally (Gallery Books: $30) The restaurateur relates his gritty childhood and rise in the dining scene.
10. It Rhymes With Takei by George Takei, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger and Harmony Becker (illustrator) (Top Shelf Productions: $30) The actor and activist tells his most personal story of all in a full-color graphic memoir.
…
Paperback fiction
1. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
3. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
4. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
5. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
6. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19)
7. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Penguin: $18)
8. Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Harper Perennial: $19)
9. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Grand Central: $20)
10. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
2. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
3. The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (Penguin: $19)
4. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19)
5. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21)
6. Sociopath by Patric Gagne (Simon & Schuster: $20)
7. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20)
8. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
9. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $20)
10. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20)
In this week’s newsletter, we have a chat with Susan Gubar, whose new book, “Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists,” profiles seven creators who found a second wind in their advancing years. We also look at recent releases reviewed in The Times. And a local bookseller tells us what’s selling right now.
Seventeen years ago, Susan Gubar was handed a death sentence. A distinguished professor emerita of English and women’s studies at Indiana University and the co-author (with Sandra M. Gilbert) of 1979’s “The Madwoman in the Attic,” a groundbreaking work of feminist literary theory, Gubar in 2008 was staring down a terminal cancer diagnosis. A clinical trial involving an experimental drug prolonged her life and gave her the impetus to tackle a new project about seven artists — George Eliot, Colette, Georgia O’Keeffe, Isak Dinesen, Marianne Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Mary Lou Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks and Katherine Dunham — who entered a new phase of creative ferment and productivity as they grew older.
I talked to Gubar about her new book, the myth of old age and the persistent stereotypes attached to female artists who may be perceived as having outlived their usefulness as creators.
Any sort of creative activity involves expression, which is a great antidote to depression.
— Susan Gubar on why she writes
(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)
✍️ Author Chat
“Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists” by Susan Gubar
(W. W. Norton)
Can you talk about how the book came about?
In 2008, I was told that I had 3-5 years to live with late-stage ovarian cancer. The standard treatment was ineffectual. But then in 2012, my oncologist encouraged me to enroll in a clinical trial that was experimenting with a new drug. After nine years in the trial, she then urged me to take “a drug holiday” since long-term use of the medication could cause leukemia. I am still on that holiday. An unanticipated old age made me appreciate the wonderful gifts longevity can bestow.
In researching your subjects, what do they all share in common?
All of my subjects are artists who experienced the losses of aging. They needed canes and wheelchairs and helpers while they suffered the pains of various diseases and regimens. One coped with blindness, another with deafness and still others with the loss of intimates. Yet in the face of such deficits, they used their art to exhibit their audacity, mojo, chutzpah, bravado. They’re exemplars of Geezer Machismo.
All of your subjects are women, who have a much tougher time in terms of earning respect and attention as they age. Can you speak to the obstacles they had to overcome as they reinvented themselves as artists in their advanced years?
The stereotypical old lady is invisible or risible, but we know that many elderly women thrive. My old ladies did not approach their life stories as prime-and-decline narratives. Instead they reinvented themselves. In part, they managed to do this by changing their objectives as artists. They moved from the stage to the page or from elite to popular forms. Some of them underwent religious or political conversions that energized their last years. They fully understood the losses of old age, but they did not settle for less. Instead, they made much of less.
What’s interesting about these artists is that — contrary, I must admit, to what I thought would have been the case — these women were supported by men who became their benefactors, and helped them to negotiate their careers.
Quite a few of the women that I write about were helped by much younger men in their lives, who became facilitators. This is true for George Eliot, Colette, Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Bourgeoise, Mary Lou Williams and others. Williams, the great jazz pianist, was helped by a Jesuit named Father O’Brien, who helped her get control of her copyrights. Georgia O’Keeffe, in contrast, has been championed by photographer Alfred Stieglitz, but she had to leave him in her midlife to establish her autonomy late in life. He was very controlling, even though he definitely established her reputation. She was aided in her later years by a man young enough to be her grandson.
You are an octogenarian, and writing a book isn’t easy, as you know. Where do you find the inspiration and the strength to keep going as a creator?
What keeps me going is what kept my subjects flourishing in their seventies, eighties or nineties. Any sort of creative activity involves expression, which is a great antidote to depression. It may take the form of sculpting, painting, playing an instrument, teaching a dance routine, making a quilt or a garden, establishing a park or a prize, you name it. Without my two current writing projects, I’d be lost. Even (or maybe especially) in our dismal political climate, ongoing creative projects make each day an adventure.
📰 The Week(s) in Books
Paula L. Woods writes about five crime novels to read this summer and their authors reveal the writers who inspire them.
(Angel City Press at the Los Angeles Public Library)
Leigh Haber weighs in on Jess Walter’s book “So Far Gone,” calling the author a “slyly adept social critic [who has] clearly invested his protagonist with all of the outrage and heartbreak he himself feels about the dark course our world has taken.”
Daniel Felsenthal thinks Geoff Dyer’s memoir “Homework” is somewhat meandering, yet “bursts with working-class pride, a fond and mournful belief in the possibility of the British welfare state.”
And Paula L. Woods talked to five mystery writers about the inspirations for their new books.
📖 Bookstore Faves
Chevalier’s Books in the neighborhood of Larchmont in Los Angeles, April 10, 2024.
We’ve been moving Percival Everett’s “James” and Ocean Vuong’s “The Emperor of Gladness” hand over fist. Thanks to BookTok, Asako Yuzuki’s “Butter” has become a mainstay on our bestseller list. We also had the honor of hosting Bryan Byrdlong for a reading from his debut poetry collection “Strange Flowers,” and we’ve been handselling it right and left ever since.
What are your perennial sellers?
Kaya Doi’s series of picture books, “Chirri and Chirra,” is a smash hit around here. Joan Didion and bell hooks are reliable customer favorites as well. As an indie shop, though, we love the deeper cuts too — whether that’s “Água Viva,” literally any Yoko Ogawa work or something from our zine collection.
Are you seeing more young people buying books?
Despite all the reports about declining literacy rates among young folk, our children’s section makes up a quarter of our sales. We really try to carve out a space for the next generation of readers with programs like storytime, a middle-grade book club and summer-reading punch cards. To us, messy shelves are annoying everywhere except the kids’ section!
1. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.
2. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries.
3. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program.
4. Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co.: $30) The bestselling crime writer returns with a new cop on a mission, this time on Catalina Island.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
8. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $30) Worlds collide when a teenager vanishes from her Adirondacks summer camp.
9. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption.
10. King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar: $29) A man returns to his roots to save his family in this Southern crime epic.
…
Hardcover nonfiction
1. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A call to renew a politics of plenty and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life.
2. Steve MartinWrites the Written Word by Steve Martin (Grand Central Publishing: $30) A collection of greatest hits from the beloved actor and comedian.
3. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person.
4. How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast (Viking: $28) The author’s memoir on her intense relationship with her famed mother, writer Erica Jong.
5. Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (W. W. Norton & Co.: $32) The naturalist explores rivers as living beings whose fate is tied with our own.
6. 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.
7. The #1 Dad Book by James Patterson (Little, Brown & Co.: $25) The bestselling author’s tips on being a better father.
8. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press: $45) The Pulitzer-winning biographer explores the life of the celebrated American writer.
9. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) The “Braiding Sweetgrass” author on gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world.
10. The Haves and Have-Yachts by Evan Osnos (Scribner: $30) A collection of essays exploring American oligarchy and the culture of excess.
…
Paperback fiction
1. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
3. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
4. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19)
5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperOne: $18)
6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage: $19)
8. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
9. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley: $20)
10. Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Grove Press: $17)
…
Paperback nonfiction
1. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20)
2. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
3. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
4. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
5. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)
6. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
7. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20)
8. Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss (MCD: $19)
9. Historic Los Angeles Roadsides by Mimi Slawoff (Reedy Press: $27)
10. Sociopath by Patric Gagne (Simon & Schuster: $20)
