Books & Fiction

In the end, reading about the lifestyles of the ultrarich may leave you feeling outraged, appalled, and—possibly—envious of those with so much money to burn. In any case, you’ll better understand the lofty realm these people inhabit, a place bearing little resemblance to the world occupied by you, me, and the rest of humanity.

Tapper and Thompson expect readers to take a lot of information on faith. Even if everything they report is true, anonymity is yet another easy cudgel by which the current president’s supporters can attack representatives of the “fake media.” A tricky situation, to say the least.

These are just a few of the facts thrillingly recounted in 'Adventures in the Louvre.' Sciolino’s mission, she says, is to explain the museum’s origins and the secrets behind its enduring allure. With what emerges as genuine curiosity and fervor, she describes the museum’s “trio of superstars”—the Mona Lisa, the marble statue of Nike, and, of course, Venus de Milo.

What’s clear about the book is Kurata’s intimate knowledge of Middle Eastern mores and customs, having lived and worked in the region for a number of years. Though the action takes place in the 1960s, it feels contemporary to today’s hostilities in the Middle East.

Gamerman delves into these issues, and the often-colorful characters driving the story. There’s Jarrett and his dutiful daughter Jami; Marty Wilde, a volatile and eccentric wind prospector; Russell Gordy, an oil and gas billionaire “with the power to make trouble”; and David Chesnoff, a wealthy criminal defense lawyer and prominent figure in Big Sky country. Then there’s a neighboring farmer, Jan Engwis, who is bitterly opposed to wind farms in his area.

I started to scan the front of the file. It had the usual paperclip with the picture of the suspect attached. I looked at their photo. They looked somewhat dazed, as though they didn’t know what they were doing at a police station at 3 a.m. That is generally what we see during this time of night.

Much of the novel takes place in 1984, and the author serves up plenty of 1970s/1980s cultural name-checking to anchor us in time and place. There’s David Bowie, Natalie Wood, Love Boat, Hogan’s Heroes, and especially Fleetwood Mac and their album 'Rumors.' Steven’s memories of that time lend resonance to his present-day goal—finding out why his father disappeared from the family.

Ever since the dawn of man, it seems we’ve been predicting (or, at least, anticipating) the end of the world as we know it. This is a key theme in Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, author Dorian Lynskey’s new study of what he dubs “apocalyptic angst.”