Harper

Fortunately for avid bibliophiles, Harper Lee was an inveterate pack rat. Born in rural Monroeville, Ala., in 1926, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” — whose first name is Nelle, her grandmother Ellen’s name spelled backward — spent much of her adult life in Manhattan after moving there in 1949.

First, she lived in a cold-water flat on the Upper East Side (subsisting on peanut butter sandwiches and meager bookstore and airline ticket agent salaries); then in a room in a Midtown hotel where Edith Wharton and Mark Twain once resided; a third-floor York Avenue walk-up ($20 a month for five years, where “Go Set a Watchman” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” were written); and, finally four decades at 433 E. 82nd St. There, amid “piles of her correspondence and practically every pay stub, telephone bill and canceled check ever issued to her, were notebooks and manuscripts” and eight previously unpublished early short stories and eight once-published essays and magazine articles. Those writings, discovered in her New York City apartment after she died in her Alabama hometown nine years ago, have been gathered into the welcome hybrid compendium “The Land of Sweet Forever.”

The short stories take up the first half of the collection, but it’s an unusual selection in the second half, “Essays and Miscellaneous Pieces,” that may reveal as much about the burgeoning author as the fictional juvenilia. In a contribution to “The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook” (1961), along with entries by Lillian Hellman, William Styron and Marianne Moore, Lee offered a one-page recipe for crackling bread, complete with the authorial observation, “some historians say by which alone fell the Confederacy.” The opening instruction is, “First, catch your pig.” After that, the ingredients (water-ground white meal, salt, baking powder, egg, milk) and directions might just as well function as an analogy for the process of writing and editing a manuscript.

In her introduction, Lee’s appointed biographer Casey Cep observes that it “takes enormous patience and unerring instincts to refine a scrap of story into something … keen and moving.” Lee admits to being “more of a rewriter than a writer.” In a 1950 letter to one of her sisters, she outlines her typical writing day, working through at least three drafts:

From around noon, work on the first draft. By dinnertime, I’ve usually put my idea down. I then stop for a sandwich or a full meal, depending on whether I’ve got to think more about the story or just finish it. After dinner, I work on a second draft, which involves sometimes tearing the story up and putting it together again in an entirely different way, or just keeping at it until everything is like I want it. Then I retype it on white paper, conforming to rules of manuscript preparation, and run out & mail it. That sounds simple, but sometimes I have worked through the night on one; usually I end up around two or three in the morning.

It’s all rather like testing, perfecting a recipe. If the product was these eight short stories, then “yes, chef” has baked a perfect loaf.

Each story illuminates Lee’s quintessential talents as the “balladeer of small-town culture” and the chronicler of city life. They display narrative skills, an acute ear for dialogue (especially the vernacular), development of fully rounded characters and vivid descriptions of settings. They also introduce subjects and significant themes — family, friendship, moral compass — that reappear in her nonfiction and novels.

Country life imposes restrictions on childhood characters in the first three stories. In “The Water Tank” anxious 12-year-old Abby Henderson, reacting to schoolyard rumors, believes she’s pregnant because she hugged a boy whose pants were unbuttoned. Anti-authoritarian first grader Dody (one of Harper’s nicknames) in “The Binoculars” is chastised for not tracing but writing her name on the blackboard. Early glimpses of “Mockingbird’s” Scout and Atticus Finch appear in the amusing “The Pinking Shears” when third grader “little Jean Louie” (without the later “s”) undermines gender rules when she whacks off a rambunctious minister’s daughter’s lengthy locks.

In New York City, where “sooner or later you meet everybody you ever knew on Fifth Avenue,” urban stress leads to a shocking monologue with an incendiary conclusion about feuding neighbors in “A Roomful of Kibble,” a frivolous kind of parlor game involving movie titles in “The Viewer and the Viewed,” and a humorous parking incident when one friend agrees to help another with lighting for a fashion show in “This Is Show Business?”

The closing title short story, “The Land of Sweet Forever,” adeptly merges locations and themes. It opens with a satirical nod to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”: “It is a truth generally acknowledged by the citizens of Maycomb, Ala., that a single woman in possession of little else but a good knowledge of English social history must be in want of someone to talk to.” When adult Jean Louise (now with the “s”) leaves the city for home, she has a hilarious church encounter with someone she hadn’t seen since they were children, 21-year-old Talbert Wade, now with the taint of three years as an economics major at Northwestern University and a patina full of Europe, looking “suspiciously as if he had returned from a tour and had picked up a Brooks Brothers suit on the way home.” Together, they are trying to understand why the doxology, always sung “in one way and one way only” suddenly has been “pepped up” with an energetic organ accompaniment. Before it’s resolved there is an amusing anecdote about a cow obituary in verse and a concluding bow to Voltaire’s “Candide” when Jean Louise concedes that “all things happen for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds.” The story is a resounding example of Lee’s scintillating sense of wry humor.

Big themes of love, family and friendship recur in the eight previously published essays and articles (from 1961 to 2006) that appeared in Vogue, McCall’s, an American Film Institute program (about Gregory Peck), a Book of the Month Club newsletter (on the “little boy next door” Truman Capote and “In Cold Blood”), Alabama History and Heritage Festival, and O, the Oprah Magazine (a letter about the joy of learning to read). In addition to the crackling bread recipe that serves as a fingerpost to Lee’s writing process, the standout essay “Christmas to Me” details how she received a generous gift that changed her life, allowing her to become an accomplished, published writer. In 1956, best friends, lyricist-composer Michael Brown and his wife, Joy, surprised her with an envelope on the tree with a note, “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” That meant $100 every month, covering more than five times her rent.

Juvenilia is tricky. It can be evanescent, exposing weaknesses or revealing strengths and talent. “The Land of Sweet Forever” reinforces Lee’s indelible voice, contributing a rewarding addition and resource to the slim canon of her literary legacy.

The recipe for crackling bread:

First, catch your pig. Then ship it to the abattoir nearest you. Bake what they send back. Remove the solid fat and throw the rest away. Fry fat, drain off liquid grease, and combine the residue (called “cracklings”) with:

1 ½ cups water-ground white meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk

Bake in very hot oven until brown (about 15 minutes).

Result: one pan crackling bread serving 6. Total cost: about $250, depending upon size of pig. Some historians say by this recipe alone fell the Confederacy.

Papinchak, a former English professor, is a freelance book critic in Los Angeles. He has also contributed interviews to Bon Appetit.

“Harper & Hal,” premiering Sunday on the cinema-centric streamer Mubi, is a gorgeous, generous limited series that has nothing to show you other than people, how they are and how they do or do not get along. Its elements are not unfamiliar, because they’re drawn from life, rather than from the movies — or just from the movies, as they’re subjects to which the movies have often turned.

But, like this year’s “Adolescence,” which it (differently) resembles in its mix of naturalism and artifice, the series, written and directed by and starring 28-year-old Cooper Raiff — writer-director-star of the indie features “Shithouse” and “Cha Cha Real Smooth” — demonstrates that something fresh can still be done in an oversaturated medium.

While the story spreads out over eight episodes, the cast is compact. Harper (Lili Reinhart) is the daughter of Mark Ruffalo’s character, credited only as “Dad”; Hal (Raiff) is her younger brother. Alyah Chanelle Scott plays Jesse, Harper’s longtime girlfriend; Havana Rose Liu is Abby, Hal’s shorter-time girlfriend; Kate (Betty Gilpin) is Dad’s girlfriend. The company is completed by Audrey (Addison Timlin), divorced with two small children, who shares an office with Harper, and Hal’s roommate, Kalen (Christopher Meyer).

In scenes set in the past, Reinhart and Raiff play their younger selves, a la Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle’s “Pen15,” with less overt comedy, though Raiff’s performance as very young Hal, whom no one in the series describes as hyperactive (though I will — not a doctor) is often funny. It’s not a gimmick but a device — much as the one-shot production of “Adolescence” was not performative cleverness, but the right fit for the material — both in the sense of the child being the parent of the adult, and because it allows for a different, deeper sort of performance than one is liable to get from a first or a third grader. (As spookily good as small child actors can be.) Significantly, it unifies the characters across time.

A confluence of events triggers the drama. The house Hal and Harper grew up in — and which Dad, who spends much of the series seriously depressed especially, can’t let go — is being sold. (Harper and Hal are in L.A.; the house, and Dad and Kate, are elsewhere.) Kate is pregnant; there’s a chance the baby might have Down syndrome, which leads Dad to reflect that with “a disabled kid … you gotta meet them where they are every day” and that he might have been a more present parent to his older children. Jesse has a job offer in Texas and wants Harper to come with her. Hal, a college senior who isn’t pointed anywhere in particular, though he likes to draw, breaks up with Abby after learning — when she tells him she’d like them to become “exclusive” — that up until then they hadn’t been. And Harper has become attracted to Audrey.

The loss of their mother and their father’s unresolved grief has made Hal and Harper unusually close; she’s a caretaker to her brother, who, even though he’s grown, sometimes wants to crawl in bed next to her; at the same time, Harper’s internalized the feeling that she’s holding everything together, which makes it hard to move on. They’re on an island together.

“Are we friends?” young Hal asks Harper.

“We’re brother and sister,” she replies.

“Not friends.”

“I guess we can be friends, too.”

There is an almost complete absence of expository dialogue. The characters are not afflicted with speechifying; silences allow the viewer to enter into the spaces between them, and to let their experience echo with one’s own. (If you’ve lived long enough to be reading television reviews, you’ve felt some or all of these things.) There’s no wall of declaration erected between the viewer and the viewed, but the actors, Reinhart and Gilpin especially, can destroy you with a look. (Although some writers and actors love them, there’s nothing that feels less true to life than a long monologue.)

Though the story feels organic, it’s also highly structured, stretching the length of Kate’s pregnancy, shot through with resonances and reflections — “I Will Survive,” sung by adult Harper at karaoke and in a flashback as part of a children’s chorus, or a precocious young Harper reading “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” “It’s about this family where everyone’s super lonely,” she tells Hal, shining a light back on her own, “but then it gets even worse because they withdraw and they became selfish and so miserable. But maybe it gets better.” (We see her often with a book.) There’s a slow-fast rhythm to the cutting; short scenes alternate with long; memories explode in montage. Just as Raiff doesn’t bother overmuch with explanations, he eliminates transitions. We’re here, then we’re there. You won’t get lost.

Once or twice, I fretted Raiff might be steering his ship to some cliched dark outcome, but I needn’t have worried.

VICTORIA Beckham’s daughter Harper is set to follow in her footsteps and become a beauty entrepreneur.

It comes after the fashion designer, 51, hinted that 14-year-old Harper could become the next Kylie Jenner.

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Earlier this month the HIKU BY Harper, the proposed name for the skincare and beauty brand, was filed under two trademark applications by the business Victoria incorporated for Harper, H7B Limited, matching the teenager’s full name, Harper Seven Beckham.

A source said: “Harper loves fashion and make-up and has already started doing make-up tutorials. 

“The plan is to create a brand aimed at the younger market, taking inspiration for pop culture and Korean beauty.

“The Beckhams are incredibly encouraging parents when it comes to their kids’ talents and exploring their hobbies and business ideas.  They’re a very entrepreneurial family.”

Harper has been increasingly popping up on mum Victoria’s Instagram feed and even set up her own account earlier this year.

Victoria said: “Harper is going to be one of two things. She’s either going to be a beauty mogul or she’s going to be a stand-up. She is hilarious.”

Last year Harper, who has been stepping out in custom-made dresses by her mother’s VB label, spoke publicly for the first time to present Victoria with a prestigious award for entrepreneurship, on behalf of Harper’s Bazaar magazine at its annual Women of the Year event.

She said: “I’m so nervous. Especially as tonight’s a school night. Hopefully this isn’t going to get me in trouble.

“My amazing mummy has built an incredible business from the ground up and has shown me the value of working hard.

“But above all, she’s taught me to always be kind and, even though she has a million things to do, she rarely misses school.”

Harper is still being made to do her homework in addition to her online make-up tutorials alongside her mum.

Victoria chooses to lead by example, instilling a work ethic into each of her four children.

While eldest son Brooklyn, 26, is forging a career with his own hot sauce company Stateside, former footballer Romeo is successfully modelling.

She told The Sun: “I mean, I feel sorry for these kids that are considered nepo-babies.

“The kids are simply the kids of their parents.

“It’s not their fault. Give them a chance.

“What matters is that people are good and kind.

“It is fine to be ambitious, but it is more important to be kind.”

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Hardcover fiction

1. The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books: $30) Members of the Thursday Murder Club plunge back into action after a wedding guest disappears.

2. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.

3. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $32) Two rival graduate students journey to hell to save their professor’s soul.

4. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.

5. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Del Rey: $35) A woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy.

6. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.

7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful period in her past.

8. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.

9. We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) The follow-up to the campus satire “Bunny” goes on a journey into the heart of dark academia.

10. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

…

Hardcover nonfiction

1. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (Simon & Schuster: $30) The former vice president tells her story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.

2. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.

3. We the People by Jill Lepore (Liveright: $40) The historian offers a wholly new history of the Constitution.

4. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.

5. Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $29) The Oscar-winning actor shares his writings and reflections.

6. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Scribner: $30) The acclaimed novelist’s first memoir takes on the complex relationship with her mother.

7. I’m Just a Little Guy by Charlie James, Paige Tompkins (illustrator) (Quirk Books: $15) The comedian offers a softer, sillier, sunnier way to walk through life.

8. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books: $35) The bestselling author’s memoir about an intense and ultimately tragic love.

9. 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.

10. Truly by Lionel Richie (HarperOne: $36) The music legend tells his story.

…

Paperback fiction

1. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)

2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)

3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)

4. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Gallery Books: $19)

5. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $18)

6. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)

7. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Picador: $19)

8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22)

9. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)

10. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)

…

Paperback nonfiction

1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)

2. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)

3. Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books: $22)

4. The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (Penguin: $19)

5. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19)

6. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)

7. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)

8. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)

9. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)

10. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)

PHILADELPHIA — It was quintessential October baseball.

Two starting pitchers dominating two helpless lineups.

A low-scoring contest in which every stranded baserunner felt like a monumental missed opportunity.

A nail-biting affair decided by one team cashing in a rare scoring chance, and the other failing to do the same.

In the bottom of the sixth inning in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies had two aboard with one out, but came up empty.

In the next half-inning, the Dodgers faced the same situation, but came away with four runs.

That was the difference in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory at Citizens Bank Park, giving them a commanding 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series that will shift to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers during the second inning Monday against the Phillies.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

For most of Monday night, a crowd of 45,653 in South Philadelphia sat anxiously in anticipation, waiting for the dam to break in an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel.

On one side, Blake Snell was dotting his fastball up in the zone and to both parts of the plate, giving the Phillies little to hit while setting them up to flail at his dominant arsenal of secondary weapons. Through four innings, he retired 12 of 14 batters with only two walks issued. He had gotten whiffs on each of the first 11 non-fastballs he threw. And not until there were two outs in the fifth did he give up his first hit.

Opposite him, Jesús Luzardo was equally effective. After stranding runners on the corners in a shaky first, the left-hander locked in and made the Dodgers look silly with a barrage of sweepers and changeups that dipped below the zone. Where he needed 24 pitches in the first, he completed the next five on just 48 throws. In that time, he retired 17 in a row and let only two balls even leave the infield.

Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, the narrative began to change.

The Phillies generated the game’s first big opportunity, after Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber walked in back-to-back at-bats against Snell with one out. It was the first time all night their lineup had gotten a runner past first. And it happened as two-time MVP Bryce Harper came strolling to the plate.

Snell’s plan of attack against Harper was simple. His first pitch was a slider in the dirt. His next was another one up in the zone Harper fouled off. Two more sliders followed, with Harper fanning on the first and fouling off the next. Then, after one change-of-pace curveball was buried in front of the plate, Snell went back to the slider one more time. It darted below Harper’s swing for a strikeout. Citizens Bank Park groaned.

The inning ended a batter later, when Alec Bohm chased a 2-and-0 changeup and hit a groundball to third base. Miguel Rojas fielded it behind the bag, clocked the speedy Bohm racing toward first, and decided to go the short — albeit risky — way instead, sprinting to third base and beating Turner to the bag with a headfirst slide.

That ended the inning. This time, frustrated boos rained down from the stands.

Minutes later, the Dodgers would be in front. Unlike the Phillies, they didn’t squander their one opportunity for runs.

Teoscar Hernández led off the top of the seventh with a single. Freddie Freeman followed with a line drive to weak-fielding Nick Castellanos (who was drawn into the Phillies’ lineup following an injury to Harrison Bader in Game 1) in right, getting on his horse to leg out a hustle double.

That knocked Luzardo out of the game. And in a move that would soon be second-guessed, Phillies manager Rob Thompson opted for right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering instead of dominant closer Jhoan Duran.

Kerkering got one quick out, striking out Tommy Edman.

But then Kiké Hernández hit a cue-ball grounder to Turner at shortstop. After a slight hesitation, Teoscar Hernández broke for home hard. As Turner fielded the ball and fired to the plate, Hernández chugged in with a feet-first slide. Catcher J.T. Realmuto’s tag was a split-second too late.

Teoscar Hernández celebrates after advancing to third on a double by Freddie Freeman in the seventh inning against the Phillies in Game 2 of the NLDS on Monday. Hernandez later scored the Dodgers’ first run.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers had opened the scoring — and would only keep adding on.

With two outs in the inning, Will Smith (who, like in Game 1, entered as a mid-game replacement as he continues to work back from his fractured hand) hit a two-run single to left. Shohei Ohtani, who had been hitless in the series and 0 for 3 earlier in the night, tacked on another with a groundball that got through the infield.

By the time the dust settled, the Dodgers had surged to a 4-0 lead.

They would need every bit of it.

Emmet Sheehan followed Snell’s six-inning, one-hit, nine-strikeout gem with two innings of relief, retiring the side in the seventh before limiting damage in the eighth, when he gave up one run after a Max Kepler triple and Turner RBI single but retired the side on a strikeout of Schwarber and a flyball from Harper.

The real trouble came in the ninth, when the Dodgers turned to Blake Treinen — and not recently ascendant bullpen ace Roki Sasaki — to close the game.

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the ninth inning against the Phillies on Monday in Game 2 of the NLDS.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Treinen couldn’t, giving up a leadoff single and back-to-back doubles to J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos to bring home two runs and put the tying runner at second.

Alex Vesia entered next and got two outs (one of them, a crucial play from third baseman Max Muncy to field a bunt and throw out Castellanos at third as the lead runner). Then, Sasaki was finally summoned to face Turner with runners on the corners.

He induced a groundball to second baseman Tommy Edman. Edman spiked his throw to first, but Freeman picked it with a sprawling effort. And once again, the Phillies had failed to completely cash in on a scoring chance — leaving the Dodgers one win away from advancing to the NL Championship Series.

Hardcover fiction

1. Alchemised by SenLinYu (Del Rey: $35) A woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy.

2. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.

3. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.

4. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.

5. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $35) The deluxe limited edition of a dark academia fantasy about two rival graduate students’ descent into hell.

6. This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (Ace: $39) Carl and Princess Donut are ready for battle in the seventh book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

7. We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) The follow-up to the campus satire “Bunny” goes on a journey into the heart of dark academia.

8. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teenagers 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist.

9. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Henry Holt & Co.: $29) An unexpected wedding guest gets surprise help on starting anew.

10. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

…

Hardcover nonfiction

1. 107 Days by Kamala Harris (Simon & Schuster: $30) The former vice president tells her story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.

2. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books: $35) The bestselling author’s memoir about an intense and ultimately tragic love.

3. Faithonomics by Jerry Lopez (Jerry Lopez: $29) Biblical wisdom is paired with modern-day financial strategies.

4. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.

5. Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $29) The Oscar-winning actor shares his writings and reflections.

6. 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.

7. Replaceable You by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton & Co.: $29) An exploration of the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings.

8. Art Work by Sally Mann (Abrams Press: $35) The artist explores the challenges and pleasures of the creative process.

9. When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows … by Steven Pinker (Scribner: $30) How the hidden logic of common knowledge can make sense of many of life’s enigmas.

10. Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) The comedian uses the writings of the Bible to highlight Christian hypocrisy while calling for compassion and clarity.

…

Paperback fiction

1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)

2. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $19)

3. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)

4. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)

5. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)

6. The Best Short Stories 2025 by Edward P. Jones (editor) (Vintage: $19)

7. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (Penguin: $19)

8. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)

9. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)

10. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Penguin: $18)

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Paperback nonfiction

1. Alignment by Katie Keller Wood (Page Two: $19)

2. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)

3. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)

4. Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik (Scribner: $20)

5. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum (Vintage: $18)

6. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)

7. The White Album by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)

8. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $20)

9. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin Books: $21)

10. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)

Hardcover fiction

1. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness and ancient mythology.

2. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teenagers 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist.

3. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $35) The deluxe limited edition of a dark academia fantasy about two rival graduate students’ descent into hell.

4. The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham (Little, Brown &. Co.: $30) Scandal and drama unfold at a New England boarding school.

5. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.

6. Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury Publishing: $30) Long-slumbering dragons awaken in a prequel to fantasy bestseller “The Priory of The Orange Tree.”

7. Clown Town by Mick Herron (Soho Crime: $30) The disgraced spies of Slough House are caught between MI5’s secret past and its murky future.

8. The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Tor Books: $30) A return to the galaxy of the Old Man’s War series.

9. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books: $29) As sea levels rise, a family on a remote island rescues a mysterious woman.

10. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.

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Hardcover nonfiction

1. All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead Books: $35) The bestselling author’s memoir about an intense and ultimately tragic love.

2. The Book of Sheen by Charlie Sheen (Gallery Books: $35) The movie and TV star reflects on his turbulent life.

3. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.

4. We the People by Jill Lepore (Liveright: $40) The historian offers a wholly new history of the Constitution.

5. Art Work by Sally Mann (Abrams Press: $35) The artist explores the challenges and pleasures of the creative process.

6. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can’t control.

7. Night People by Mark Ronson (Grand Central Publishing: $29) The Grammy-winning record producer chronicles his early DJ days.

8. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Scribner: $30) The acclaimed novelist’s first memoir takes on the complex relationship with her mother.

9. Coming Up Short by Robert B. Reich (Knopf: $30) A memoir by the political commentator of growing up in a baby-boom America.

10. Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey (Crown: $29) The Oscar-winning actor shares his writings and reflections.

…

Paperback fiction

1. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)

2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)

3. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)

4. The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $19)

5. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $18)

6. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)

7. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)

8. Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Del Rey: $18)

9. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Gallery Books: $19)

10. Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor Books: $19)

…

Paperback nonfiction

1. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)

2. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)

3. Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $25)

4. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)

5. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum (Vintage: $18)

6. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin Books: $21)

7. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)

8. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)

9. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)

10. How to Dream by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press: $11)

Hardcover fiction

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)

Hardcover fiction

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)

Hardcover fiction

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)

10. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)

Second-generation NBA players are plentiful, and why not?

Dads can pass down their height, dedication and athleticism. Dad’s handsome compensation can afford a son the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. And Dad’s drive can serve as a road map.

Dylan Harper, the second pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday, is the latest budding star whose father was decorated before him. Ron Harper capped a 15-year NBA career by winning five NBA championships in his last six seasons, back-to-back titles with the Lakers in 2000 and 2001 following three with the Chicago Bulls in 1996, ’97 and ’98.

Ron Harper of the Lakers drives for a layup at Staples Center.

(Paul Morse / Los Angeles Times)

Dylan, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Rutgers, was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs. His brother, Ron Harper Jr., also is in the NBA, having played in 11 games for the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors the last three years.

In any other sport, the progeny of a former star player ascending to the highest level would be especially noteworthy. That Ron Harper’s sons are on the cusp of similar careers as their dad was nothing out of the ordinary.

LeBron James and his oldest son Bronny famously became the first father-son duo to take the court at the same time in the Lakers’ season opener last October. But that is just one of the many dynamics of a son choosing the same career path to the NBA as his dad.

Lakers forward LeBron James greets his son and teammate Bronny James, right, during warm-ups.

(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

The phenomenon goes back a long way. Two sons of Minneapolis Lakers legend George Mikan — a five-time All-NBA center in the early 1950s — were drafted into the NBA, with one, Larry, playing 53 games in 1970-71.

During a 15-year career that ended in 1964, Hall of Fame center Dolph Shayes averaged 18.5 points and 12.1 rebounds a game. His son, Danny Shayes, outdid dad in career longevity, playing 18 years through 1999 for seven teams, including a short stint with the Lakers.

Butch Van Breda Kolff played four seasons in the 1940s and in 1976 his son, Jan, became the first player to face a team coached by his father when Jan played for the New York Nets while Butch coached the New Orleans Jazz. Butch also coached the Lakers to the NBA Finals in 1968 and ‘69, where they lost to the Boston Celtics both times.

Other sons who faced teams coached by their fathers — who also played in the NBA — include Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Sr., Coby and George Karl, and Austin and Doc Rivers.

Austin Rivers also became the first to play for his father in an NBA game when he was traded to the Clippers in 2015. At first, he wasn’t thrilled when his dad called to alert him of the proposed deal.

“He called me up and he asked me if ‘this was something you might be interested in because we need you,’ ” Austin said at his introductory news conference. “When I heard that, it was one of those things where I just kind of had to think, take a day to myself and be like, ‘Could this work?’

“And it does, just because of the relationship I have with him. It’s already kind of basketball oriented … It’s not so much like father-son. It’s just kind of like coach-player and then off the court, we deal with that a different way.”

Sons who achieved more than their father abound. Dell Curry was no slouch, averaging 11.7 points and earning $19.8 million over a 16-year NBA career that ended in 2002. One son, Seth, is in his 11th season, having averaged 10 points while earning $45 million.

1

2

1. Toronto Raptors’ Dell Curry lands on top of Trail Blazers’ Damon Stoudamire as he drives to the hoop during their NBA game Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2000, in Portland, Ore. (JACK SMITH/ASSOCIATED PRESS) 2. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry drives past Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson (1) during the second half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Houston. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

Dell’s other son, Stephen, is a certain Hall of Famer, recognized as perhaps the best pure shooter in history. He’s led the Golden State Warriors to four NBA titles while averaging 24.4 points and earning $357.8 million over 16 seasons.

Klay Thompson was a teammate of Steph Curry on all four Warriors championship teams, and he’s averaged 19.1 points while earning $268.8 million over 12 seasons. That easily eclipses the exploits of his loquacious father, Mychal Thompson, who won two titles with the Lakers before becoming a broadcaster with the team as well as a radio personality.

The list of father-son duos is too long to mention them all. Here are a handful.

Three sons of Hall of Fame guard Rick Barry played in the NBA, with Brent enjoying the most success. UCLA product Mike Bibby outdid his dad by playing 14 years to Henry’s nine. Kevin Love outplayed his father, but Stan Love’s association with the Beach Boys stood out.

The father-son combos include a host of juniors in addition to the Harpers and Dunleavys, among them the Larry Drews, the Patrick Ewings, the Rich Dumases, the Matt Guokases, the Tim Hardaways, the Gerald Hendersons, the Jaren Jacksons, the John Lucases, the Wes Matthews, the Larry Nances, the Gary Paytons, the James Paxsons, the Scottie Pippins, Glen Rice, Glenn Robinson, the Wally Szczerbiaks, the Gary Trents and the Duane Washingtons.

And, of course, there are more Lakers ties.

Luke Walton matched his father with two NBA championships and also coached the Lakers, but couldn’t attain the cult status of Bill Walton, a UCLA legend whose quirky, outsized personality transcended his achievements on the court.

The former Laker who did indeed transcend not only his father’s career but that of nearly every player who lived was Kobe Bryant. His father, Joe (Jellybean) Bryant, died last July, four years after his son tragically died in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of his daughter, Gianna, and seven others.

The fractious relationship between Kobe and his father is well-chronicled, and they rarely spoke after Kobe married his wife, Vanessa.

Dylan Harper’s relationship with his father is stronger, although Ron Harper divorced Dylan’s mother in 2012. She raised her two sons and a daughter as a single mom who also happened to coach high school basketball and run a travel program.

Maria Harper, a former Division I player at the University of New Orleans, was an assistant boys’ coach when her sons played at Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey.

“She was hard but loving,” Dylan told the Athletic in 2023. “She wasn’t just tough on me, either. Everyone got a little bit of it.”

Ron Sr. moved near his ex-wife in 2007. Yet he pointed recruiters to Maria when Dylan was being wooed by colleges, he pointed recruiters to Maria.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of him, but I don’t want this to be about me,” he said at the time.

Yet like any father, Ron Sr. was proud of his son’s accomplishments.

“When Dylan was 5 years old, I told people he was going to be really good,” he said. “He reminded me of me.”

Dylan Harper might exceed his father’s accomplishments in the way that Bryant and Curry did, or fail to do so. In addition to winning five titles, Ron Harper averaged 13.8 points and 3.9 assists in 1,009 NBA games.

Either way, Dylan is about to join a lengthy list of players whose fathers blazed a trail they followed.

As expected, the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flagg with top pick while Dylan Harper joins Victor Wembanyama at San Antonio Spurs.

Cooper Flagg anticipated the moment for many months.

Still, when the Duke product heard his name called Wednesday at No 1 overall in the NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, he experienced a flurry of emotions.

“I’m feeling amazing,” Flagg said as he stood with his family. “It’s a dream come true, to be honest. I wouldn’t want to share it with anybody else.”

The Mavericks’ announcement ended a months-long buildup for the 18-year-old Maine native, who had long been projected as the top pick. The only question was which team would get a chance to take him, and Dallas earned that opportunity when it won the NBA Draft lottery last month despite 1.8 percent odds.

Flagg figures to quickly provide a new face of the franchise for the Mavericks, who drew ire from their fan base after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last season.

The 6-foot-8-inch (2.03m), 221-pound (100kg) Flagg helped guide Duke to an NCAA Final Four appearance after averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks as a freshman. He won the Wooden Award as the nation’s best player, along with taking home other honours including Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and an ACC All-Defensive Team nod.

The San Antonio Spurs followed with the No 2 pick, which they used to select Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. The son of longtime NBA player Ron Harper will join a talented roster that includes prized big man Victor Wembanyama and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle.

Harper said he could not wait to get to San Antonio to prepare for the season.

“I’m feeling everything – all the emotions mixed in one bucket,” Harper said. “I think when you play with a bunch of great players, it brings the best out of you. They’ve got a great young core over there. I’m just ready to get in there and make an impact any way I can with those guys.”

At No 3, the Philadelphia 76ers selected guard VJ Edgecombe out of Baylor. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year after averaging 15 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Bears.

The Charlotte Hornets selected Duke guard Kon Knueppel next, which marked the second Blue Devils freshman to be selected in the top four picks. Now, Knueppel will stay in North Carolina to play in the NBA.

“It was a big spotlight at Duke,” he said. “(We) freshmen didn’t shy away from that, and it prepared us for the next level. Hopefully, that will carry over.”

The Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey, who played with Harper at Rutgers, to round out the top five picks.

Flagg’s Duke teammate, centre Khaman Maluach, heard his name called at No 10 overall. The pick belonged to the Houston Rockets, who then sent the draft rights to Maluach to the Phoenix Suns as part of a deal to be finalised for Kevin Durant.

Maluach was born in South Sudan and did not discover basketball until he was an adolescent.

“I’m here representing the whole continent,” Maluach said. “Leaving Africa, I had the whole continent on my back. (I want to be) giving hope to young kids, inspiring young kids and the next generation of African basketball.”

The Mavericks had the No 1 overall pick for the second time in franchise history. They also had the top selection in 1981, when they drafted Mark Aguirre out of DePaul.

Hardcover fiction

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 Martin Writes 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)

Leave it to Megan Abbott to tap into the American zeitgeist and play on her readers’ fears like a conductor leading a doomsday orchestra. As high school and college graduates across the country celebrate the completion of a major milestone, they — and their nervous parents — are looking ahead to a future marked by political uncertainty and economic insecurity.

In an eerie echo, Abbott begins “El Dorado Drive,” her 11th novel, with a graduation party at the beginning of the Great Recession. Though the party is not a lavish affair — just a gathering for friends and family in the backyard of a rental property on El Dorado Drive in Grosse Pointe, Mich. — it’s more than Pam Bishop can afford, and every one of her guests knows it.

Any party, no matter how modest, reminds Pam and her two older sisters, Debra and Harper, of all that they’ve lost. Born into a world of wealth and privilege thanks to Detroit’s automotive-fueled postwar prosperity, the Bishop sisters — along with their parents, their peers and their children — watched it all disappear during the decline of the American automobile industry.

Pam’s ramshackle rental on El Dorado Drive, though several steps down from the home she grew up in or the mansion she moved into when she got married, is a symbol of the reckless pursuit of wealth that destroys those who can’t see through the illusion.

“When you grow up in comfort and it all falls away — and your parents with it — money isn’t about money,” Abbott writes. “It’s about security, freedom, independence, a promise of wholeness. All those fantasies, illusions. Money was rarely about money.”

For Pam’s ex-husband, Doug Sullivan, money is a game to be played in order to get what he wants, and he will stop at nothing to get it. But when Pam is brutally murdered in the opening pages, he emerges as a prime suspect. The first half of the novel backtracks from the discovery of Pam’s body to the graduation party nine months prior, when each Bishop sister is struggling with serious financial hardship.

Locked in an acrimonious divorce with no end in sight, Pam doesn’t know how she’s going to pay her son’s college tuition or handle her rebellious teenage daughter alone. The oldest sister, Debra, is buried under a mountain of medical bills while her husband suffers through another round of chemotherapy and her son slips away in a cloud of marijuana smoke. Harper, the middle child, struggles to make ends meet while rebounding from a relationship that ended in heartbreak.

The solution to their money problems arrives in the form of a secret investment club called the Wheel. Run for and by women who have fallen on hard times, the program is simple but sketchy. It costs $5,000 to join, but once the new members recruit five new participants, they are “gifted” five times their initial buy-in.

If this sounds too good to be true, you have more sense than the Bishop sisters. Such is their desperation they don’t quite allow themselves to see this is a fairly basic pyramid scheme that depends on fresh blood — and their bank accounts — to keep the Wheel turning.

The novel follows Harper, the outsider in the family, due to the fact that she’s never married nor had children. She’s not part of the community, either, because she’s recently returned to Grosse Pointe after time away to mend her broken heart. The first half of the novel concerns the Bishops’ dynamics and their found family in the Wheel, which operates like a combination of a cult and a recovery group for women who’ve lost everything.

At a moment of vulnerability, Harper is buttonholed by an old classmate named Sue. “It’s called the Wheel because it never stops moving,” Sue said. Twice a month, we meet. A different member hosts each time, and the meetings were just parties, really. And at these parties, they took turns giving and receiving gifts to one another. To lift one another up. As women should, as they must.”

Behind the rhetoric of sisterhood lurks avarice and greed. When Harper asks Pam if anyone ever left the group after just one turn of the Wheel, Pam — a true believer — can’t fathom backing out of the group. “Why would anyone do that?” she asks.

The answer proves to be her undoing, and the second half of “El Dorado Drive” follows Harper as she tries to solve her sister’s murder. It’s a classic whodunit story with Harper — who has plenty of secrets of her own — playing the role of the reluctant detective.

Despite the book’s suggestive title, the landscape is anything but illusory for Abbott, who grew up in Grosse Pointe and spent the first 18 years of her life there. Evoking a rich setting has never been a weakness of Abbott’s stories. Her novels have a hyperreal quality and are often populated by characters churning with desires they cannot manage.

Abbott is especially adept at rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people and at making a book’s backstory as suspenseful as the narrative engine that drives the plot. In “El Dorado Drive,” however, the focus is on adults, and the past mostly stays in the past. The result is a novel in which the story is straightforward and the stakes are low. Nevertheless, true to her penchant for shocking violence, Abbott delivers a revolting revelation that sets up a series of twists that propels the story to its inevitable, but no less satisfying, conclusion.

But then there’s the matter of the Wheel. When we watch a video of people in a boat who are drinking, carrying on and disobeying the rules of the road, we don’t feel badly for them when they end up in the water, no matter how spectacular the crash, because they brought it on themselves.

The same logic applies to the participants in the Wheel. We can empathize with the calamities that prompted these characters to take such foolish chances, but we would never make those choices ourselves.

Or would we?

One could argue that our era will be defined not by whether the American dream lives or dies but by the questionable choices of our political leaders and, by extension, the people who elected them. We may not know where we’ll be tomorrow, but Abbott knows wagering that the wheel of grift, greed and corruption will keep on turning is always a safe bet.

Ruland is the author of the novel “Make It Stop” and the weekly Substack Message from the Underworld.

Hardcover fiction

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 Martin Writes 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)

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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)