By MICHIKO KAKUTANI on Mar 14, 2010 09:13PM

Books of The Times: Michael Lewis?s ?Big Short?: Investors Foresaw Meltdown

Michael Lewis?s book does not attempt a macro view of the financial crisis, but instead proposes to open a small window on the calamities.

By DAVE ITZKOFF; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS on Mar 14, 2010 09:43PM

Arts, Briefly: Judi Dench Memoir Is Set for October

St. Martin?s Press said it had acquired a memoir from Ms. Dench, called ?And Furthermore,? that described her professional and private lives.

By NOAM COHEN on Mar 14, 2010 09:02PM

Sales of ?The Coming Insurrection? Helped by Glenn Beck

Sales of ?The Coming Insurrection,? which first appeared in France in 2005, surged after Glenn Beck talked about it on his Fox TV show.

By WILLIAM GRIMES on Mar 12, 2010 10:18PM

Richard Stites, Historian of Russian Culture, Dies at 78

Mr. Stites opened up new territory for historians with a landmark work on the Russian women?s movement.

By RICHARD EDER on Mar 11, 2010 09:29PM

Books of The Times: Paolo Giordano?s ?Solitude of Prime Numbers?: Scarred Souls

The Italian writer Paolo Giordano has drawn a mesmerizing portrait of a young man and woman whose injured natures draw them together and inevitably pull them apart.

By JANET MASLIN on Mar 10, 2010 09:14PM

Books of The Times: James Hynes?s ?Next?: A Job Interview to End All Interviews

In James Hynes?s new novel, a middle-aged man on a one-day trip to Austin, Tex., for a job interview comes full to life at long last.

By MOTOKO RICH on Mar 10, 2010 01:48PM

Pellegrino Book Is Pulled and Publishers Ponder Procedures

Charles Pellegrino, who wrote ?The Last Train From Hiroshima,? admits being duped by a source, but says other sources that his publisher has questioned definitely exist. Digital media raises the question of what part the traditional book publisher will play in the future.

Mar 15, 2010 12:15AM

Four actors join "The Descendants" (Reuters)

Reuters - Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster are joining the cast of Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," which begins filming Monday in Hawaii.

Mar 14, 2010 11:43PM

"Ugly Betty" actor Gorham climbs "The Ledge" (Reuters)

Reuters - "Ugly Betty" actor Christopher Gorham is the latest to climb up on "The Ledge."

Mar 14, 2010 11:19PM

"Conan" books "G.I. Joe" actor (Reuters)

Reuters - Said Taghmaoui, who played Breaker in the summer hit "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," has booked a role in "Conan," a new take on the barbarian warrior created by Robert E. Howard.

Mar 14, 2010 07:49PM

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA (AP)

AP - Peter Graves, the tall, stalwart actor likely best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running television series "Mission: Impossible," died Sunday.

Mar 14, 2010 07:13PM

"Frankenstein" breathes new life, at 100 (Reuters)

Reuters - Thursday marks the 100th anniversary of the American movie industry's first attempt to bring "Frankenstein" to the big screen with a long-forgotten film made by Thomas Edison's studio.

Mar 14, 2010 07:12PM

White Stripes movie documents oddball Canada tour (Reuters)

Reuters - As stylish as the band it depicts and occasionally as enigmatic, "The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights" stands out among tour films largely because of the strange tour at hand.

Mar 14, 2010 07:10PM

Scribes share secrets in "Tales From the Script" (Reuters)

Reuters - Author/filmmaker Peter Hanson's "Tales From the Script," with its focus on writers who've furnished the studios with mainstream product and know the rules, inadvertently suggests the great divide that separates the mainstream movie factories from the indie world.

Mar 14, 2010 09:00PM

Historian takes fresh look at Tudor dynasty (AP)

AP - "The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty" (Delacorte Press, 640 pages, $30) by G.J. Meyer: Five centuries have not diminished the appetite for all things Tudor. Henry VIII, his six wives and his equally intriguing children are endlessly being reinvented in the popular media. Veritable rock stars of the English monarchy, their lives easily eclipse anything our own celebrity-obsessed, reality show culture can spit out.

Mar 14, 2010 09:00PM

`Texas Tough' is compelling history of US prisons (AP)

AP - "Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire" (Metropolitan Books, 496 pages, $30), by Robert Perkinson: As Robert Perkinson points out in "Texas Tough," his very readable history of U.S. prisons, locking up people is big business. America sends more people to prison per capita than any other country in the world, locking up about one out of every 100 people.

Mar 14, 2010 09:00PM

Review: `Chased the Moon' offers light reading (AP)

AP - "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" (Bantam Books, 265 pages, $25), by Sarah Addison Allen: Sarah Addison Allen stays on familiar ground in her latest offering, "The Girl Who Chased the Moon," dishing up light doses of magical realism and romance, all in the North Carolina landscape where she grew up. It's a formula that has worked well for her, including putting her first novel, "Garden Spells," on the best-seller list.

Mar 14, 2010 05:14PM

It's Tallulah, Dahling, through Harper on Broadway (AP)

AP - Wearing a full-length fur coat, a long blue scarf, a chic violet dress and sunglasses, she staggers into a recording studio. Four-letter words fly. And so do the laughs. But then, what did you expect?

Mar 13, 2010 12:26PM

"Love Never Dies" a brilliant sequel to "Phantom" (Reuters)

Reuters - Unlike lightning, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom" does strike twice.

Mar 12, 2010 03:23PM

CD reviews: Gorillaz, Broken Bells, Goldfrapp (Reuters)

Reuters - Gorillaz may have originated as a way for Damon Albarn to sidestep the limelight, but on the cartoon group's third album, "Plastic Beach," he very much takes center stage.

Mar 12, 2010 07:44AM

Review: `Whip Smart' describes life as dominatrix (AP)

AP - "Whip Smart" (Thomas Dunne Books, $24.99, 288 pages), by Melissa Febos. The memoir is a popular genre in books, thanks to writers like Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris and even James Frey. So these days, if you're going to write a memoir, you need to be original.