My smell test for this list was simple: Which novels do teenagers themselves think are incredible? Which ones do they recommend to their friends? Which ones do they want to own, rather than borrow? As a grown-up, and therefore an interloper, figuring this out took a little detective work. I …

These days, anxiety is on the rise in all age groups, and toddlers are not immune. Children’s books publishers have responded to the spike by producing more books aimed specifically at helping kids cope with all this ambient anxiety. Of this new crop of books, I prefer those that aren’t …

In 1966, when Norma Tanega released her first single, rock fans were becoming used to unusual lyrics. But as it turned out, that song, “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog,” wasn’t as quirky as the title suggested: The song was inspired by her cat, whose name was indeed Dog. “I had …

Striking workers block the entry at the glass Pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris as France faces its 44th consecutive day of strikes January 17, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes PARIS (Reuters) – Tourists were turned away from the Louvre on Friday as striking staff blocked the entrance to the world’s …

DAKAR (Reuters) – Five towering wooden figures dwarf visitors to the “Lend Me Your Dream” exhibition at Dakar’s Museum of Black Civilisations. The sculptures of fire-darkened cedar stand in a circle, as if deep in conversation. Visitors walk past a sculpture of a Moroccan artist Mahi Benebine exhibited at “Prete-moi …

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (Reuters) – Indigenous weaver and fashion designer Alberto Lopez knew he wanted to be a traditional weaver early on, but there was a problem: the artisans who worked the looms in his village in the lush mountains of southern Mexico were all women. Alberto …

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Michael Morris, a curator at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, was trying to fulfill a run-of-the mill request when he uncovered a treasure trove of eyewitness depictions of the Holocaust, drawn in pencil, ink and crayon. A work of art by Alfred Kantor is pictured …

LITTLE GODS By Meng Jin At the heart of Meng Jin’s ambitious debut novel, “Little Gods,” is a brilliant Chinese physicist named Su Lan. Having grown up in poverty, surrounded by no relatives and “the everywhere smell of sewage and manure,” she is bent on erasing her past. But though …

John Rothchild, a prolific journalist who used humor to turn books about personal finance into engaging reads, including several in collaboration with the successful investor Peter Lynch and one titled “A Fool and His Money,” died on Dec. 27 at a care facility in Virginia Beach. He was 74. His …

LONDON — Britain’s embattled art trade, already rattled by the potential fallout from Brexit, is bracing for new rules intended to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing that some fear could further hamstring dealers in the country. From Friday, “art market participants” in Britain will be subject to the regulations …