Culture Watch

New characters, old emnities, revelations, complicated relationships, romances, London literati, hardships ... where do the the plot twists and infatuations end? Not for a while, as Season 4 begins and beyond that, a planned-for Season 5 lies. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: John Galsworthy's descriptions of nature are ravishing, his limning of his characters clear enough for a crime sketch artist to draw them. This descriptive artistry and the revelatory dialogue show the reader within a hundred pages the contrasts and individuality of everyone who has anything to do with the advancing story of Soames and Irene, and also with the subplots enacted by other members of the Forsyte family. All are influenced by the motive principles of the Forsyte clan in general, Victorian society, and their admired Soames in particular.   more »

Oakland Museum of California opened the vaults to showcase the very best in California landscape art from the museum’s holdings, including works by Ansel Adams, Thomas Hill, David Hockney, William Keith, Arthur Mathews, Richard Misrach, Thomas Moran, and more. Peter Stackpole: Bridging the Bay features stunning black-and-white photographs chronicling the original San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge construction in the 1930s by a famed American photographer. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: Often to this day, I wish artists were called on to do what illustrators did in those long-gone days: make a picture for a reader who might not ever have seen anything like what she was reading about. Historical fiction especially could benefit from more than a dust jacket depiction. Oh, I understand how foolish a thought that is from the economic point of view. Books are almost too expensive now. more »