Books

book excerpt

Mike Nichols’s Heartburn

 After directing Nora Ephron’s divorce movie, his own breakup — and breakdown — turned out to be around the corner. By Mark Harris
book excerpt

‘There Are People Who Think, Black People Just Aren’t Good at This’

 Here’s just how racist improv theaters can be, according to Amber Ruffin. By Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
2021 preview

46 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021

 With new novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Rachel Cusk, and more.
  1. book excerpt
    Mike Nichols’s HeartburnAfter directing Nora Ephron’s divorce movie, his own breakup — and breakdown — turned out to be around the corner.
    By Mark Harris
  2. anti-racism
    Netflix to Adapt Three of Author Ibram X. Kendi’s Anti-Racism BooksSpecifically Stamped From the Beginning, STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism and You, and Antiracist Baby.
    By Halle Kiefer
  3. spoilers
    What to Expect From Bridgerton Season Two, Based on the NovelsIt’s (probably) Anthony’s time to shine.
    By Maggie Fremont
  4. one grand books
    Samantha Power’s 10 Favorite BooksInvisible Man, The Long Loneliness, Hiroshima, and more.
    By Samantha Power
  5. last night on late night
    Sorry to the Aunties Who Weren’t Invited to Riz Ahmed’s Secret WeddingThe Sound of Metal star married writer Fatima Farheen Mirza, he told Jimmy Fallon.
    By Justin Curto
  7. book excerpt
    ‘There Are People Who Think, Black People Just Aren’t Good at This’Here’s just how racist improv theaters can be, according to Amber Ruffin.
    By Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
  8. trailer mix
    Watch the Swoon-worthy To All the Boys: Always and Forever TrailerThe third and final installment is out February 12.
    By Zoe Haylock
  9. books
    Call Your Book Club, Sally Rooney’s Third Novel Is ComingBeautiful World, Where Are You drops September 7, 2021.
    By Rebecca Alter
  10. cherk
    Watch the Teaser for Cherry, the Tom Holland Movie With the Weird PosterCHERK PLEASE!
    By Rebecca Alter
  11. read like the wind
    My Grandmother’s Braid and 9 Other Reads I Can’t Get Out of My HeadIncluding a comic feel-bad novel for anyone who needs “hair of the dog” relief from their existential hangover.
    By Molly Young
  12. 2021 preview
    46 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021With new novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Rachel Cusk, and more.
  13. profile
    Torrey Peters Goes ThereThe author’s debut novel, Detransition, Baby, wades into two of the most vulnerable questions for trans women.
    By Lila Shapiro
  14. legacies
    Eric Jerome Dickey Wrote Books We Couldn’t Wait to Grow IntoThe books were in the homes of my friends; their mothers left them unattended on nightstands. We held them close knowing they were for adults.
    By Hanif Abdurraqib
  15. obits
    Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times Best-selling Author, Dead at 59The Sister, Sister author died Sunday after “a long illness.”
    By Zoe Haylock
  16. books
    The Implosion of American DirtHow one of publishing’s most hyped books became its biggest horror story — and still ended up a best seller.
    By Lila Shapiro
  17. public domain
    The Great Gatsby and All Your Favorite Works from 1925 Enter the Public DomainNot to mention books by Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Aldous Huxley…
    By Halle Kiefer
  18. vulture lists
    10 Romance Novels to Read After Binging BridgertonRakish dukes abound.
    By Carly Lane
  19. close reads
    The Villainous White Mother Was All Over the Domestic Novel This YearThese stories came in a year that thrust white liberal parents into a harsh light.
    By Kelly Coyne
  20. meet the ton
    Who’s Who in Bridgerton: A Books-to-Series Character GuideNo one should enter London high society without knowing who matters and what they’re up to. Allow us to introduce you to the ton.
    By Maggie Fremont
  21. books
    Who Did J.K. Rowling Become?Deciphering the most beloved, most reviled children’s-book author in history.
    By Molly Fischer
  22. gift guide
    32 Books (That Aren’t Political Memoirs) to Gift for the HolidaysIncluding comics, romance, young-adult fiction, and cookbooks.
    By Gabrielle Sanchez and Emily Palmer Heller
  23. celebrity shopping
    What Author Neil Gaiman Can’t Live Without“It’s a beautiful book about fathers and sons and birds.”
    By Neil Gaiman as told to Hilary Reid
  24. vulture quiz
    Is This Quote From Barack Obama’s Memoir or Cazzie David’s?Which one of them tried to impress an ethereal bisexual?
    By Rebecca Alter
  25. booked and busy
    Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Forms Publishing Imprint With Random HouseSeriously, Blue Ivy Carter is begging y’all to pick up a book.
    By Zoe Haylock
  26. best of 2020
    The 10 Best Comedy Books of 2020Featuring Nicole Byer, Rachel Bloom, and a thorough history of The Office.
    By Brian Boone
  27. vulture lists
    The Best Way to Read John le Carré’s George Smiley BooksIf I wanted to undertake the worthwhile project of reading le Carré’s Smiley novels for the first time, this is the order I’d recommend.
    By Max Read
  28. rip
    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Author John le Carré Is Dead at 89Recently, le Carré published the final novel in his George Smiley series and was an executive producer on The Little Drummer Girl.
    By Rebecca Alter
  29. best of 2020
    The Best Books of the Year (So Far)During a difficult year, fiction is rising to contemporary challenges and demands.
    By Hillary Kelly
  30. one grand books
    Misty Copeland’s 10 Favorite Children’s BooksHair Love, Sulwe, Dreamers, and more.
    By Misty Copeland
  31. adaptation
    Kid Cudi to Star In Film Adaptation of Brandon Taylor’s Debut Novel Real LifeTaylor’s debut novel made the short list for the 2020 Man Booker prize.
    By Chris Murphy
  32. best of 2020
    The 10 Best Books of 2020Interior Chinatown, Piranesi, Romance in Marseille, and more.
    By Molly Young
  33. good call
    Bad Sex in Fiction Award Canceled Because We’ve All Suffered Enough“The judges felt that the public had been subjected to too many bad things this year to justify exposing it to bad sex as well.”
    By Charu Sinha
  34. good one podcast
    David Sedaris Needs Your FeedbackThe humorist joins this week’s Good One to talk writing, The Simpsons, and more.
    By Jesse David Fox
  35. adaptations
    Queen’s Gambit’s Scott Frank and Anya Taylor-Joy Working on Nabokov AdaptationBased on the author’s 1932 novel, Laughter in the Dark.
    By Halle Kiefer
  36. the quarries
    The First (And Dear God, It Better Be the Last) QuarriesIn which we award the most original, absurd, scrappy, and ingenious works that shaped our year in quarantine.
    By Vulture Editors
  37. the quarries
    Nothing Made Sense in 2020 — Unless You Were on the InternetThe culture of quarantine brain.
    By E. Alex Jung
  38. apologies
    Roald Dahl’s Family Apologizes for Late Author’s Anti-Semitism“We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.”
    By Halle Kiefer
  39. adaptations
    The Undoing Took All the Wrong Cues From Big Little LiesTaken together, the two David E. Kelley series demonstrate the limitations — and diminishing returns — of copying one’s own success.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  40. read like the wind
    Dark Wave and 8 Other Reads I Can’t Get Out of My HeadBooks are dicey gifts. But give someone the right set of bound pages and you’ve changed their life forever.
    By Molly Young
  41. crazy ex-theater kid
    Hear Rachel Bloom Sing a Musical About Her Love of MusicalsFrom the audiobook of her memoir I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are.
    By Jackson McHenry
  42. books
    Is It Possible to Enjoy This Winter?In her memoir, Wintering, Katherine May suggests that retreating from the world in the coldest, darkest months has its benefits.
    By Molly Young
  43. one grand books
    Lily Cole’s 10 Favorite BooksMusic for Chameleons, A Room of One’s Own, The Gift, and more.
    By Lily Cole
  44. books
    Penguin Random House Buys Simon & Schuster for Over $2 BillionThe Big Four become three.
    By Zoe Haylock
  45. encounter
    Hugh Hamrick Tells His Side of the StoryAfter 30 years of dating David Sedaris, “Congressman Prude” finally has his say.
    By Matthew Schneier
  46. appalachia
    What to Read, Watch, and Listen to Instead of Hillbilly ElegyIf you’re curious about the Appalachian region, there’s a world of books and films beyond the Netflix movie.
    By Sarah Jones
  47. dear (alan rickman’s) diary
    25 Years of Alan Rickman’s Diaries Will Be Published As a BookOh, don’t worry! He wanted them to be.
    By Halle Kiefer
  48. last night on late night
    Jimmy Kimmel Awkwardly Asks Obama If He Banged After Bin Laden Died“On the night you did kill bin Laden, did you and Michelle make love?”
    By Zoe Haylock
  49. books
    Shuggie Bain Takes the Booker PrizeCongrats to author Douglas Stuart.
    By Madison Malone Kircher
  50. one grand books
    Tsitsi Dangarembga’s 10 Favorite BooksYoung Blood, The Theory of Flight, House of Stone, and more.
    By Tsitsi Dangarembga
  51. book excerpt
    ‘We Basically Smoked Austin Out’In the new book Alright, Alright, Alright, the Dazed and Confused cast remembers what it was like at Richard Linklater’s “summer camp.”
    By Melissa Maerz
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