Spotify launches audiobook store with some 300,000 titles
September 20, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — The expanding audio books market has a major new retailer: Spotify.
On Tuesday, the music streaming service announced its long-rumored audiobook initiative, launching a store that includes more than 300,000 titles, including such popular works as Delia Owens' “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Michelle Obama's “Becoming” and Colleen Hoover's “It Ends With Us.” Spotify has previously offered audio books on a limited basis, including J.K.
Marsha Hunt, ’40s star and blacklist victim, dies at 104
September 10, 2022 GMTTORONTO (AP) — Marsha Hunt, one of the last surviving actors from Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s who worked with performers ranging from Laurence Olivier to Andy Griffith in a career disrupted for a time by the McCarthy-era blacklist, has died.
Review: Dakota Johnson brings a modern spark to ‘Persuasion’
July 12, 2022 GMTThe new adaptation of “ Persuasion, ” coming to Netflix Friday, does not seem to have been made for Jane Austen fans.
Her book about the unmarried Anne Elliot, who at 27 is on the edge of spinsterhood and regretting having been persuaded to give up her true love years earlier because of his lowly status, was the author's last before her death.
New this week: ‘Black Bird,’ Lizzo and ‘The Rehearsal’
July 11, 2022 GMTHere’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— Jane Austen’s last completed novel “Persuasion” gets a fresh spin from British theater director Carrie Cracknell.
Review: Austen-era schemes, dreams fill ‘Mr. Malcolm’s List’
June 30, 2022 GMT“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” goes one of the more famous opening lines in English literature, “that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
That’s Jane Austen, beginning her 1813 “Pride and Prejudice.” Austen herself has nothing to do with “Mr.
Like ‘Bridgerton’? Wait till you catch ‘Mr. Malcolm’s List’
June 30, 2022 GMTYears before “Bridgerton” and the Regency-era fashion moment it helped inspire, director Emma Holly Jones was dreaming of an early 19th century romantic comedy with a diverse cast.
Inspiration isn’t always easy to pinpoint, but in this instance, Jones can trace the spark back to a fortuitous week in 2015.
New this week: ‘Interceptor,’ Post Malone and ‘Fire Island’
May 31, 2022 GMTHere’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— Screenwriter and comedian Joel Kim Booster looked to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” as the inspiration for his modern romantic comedy “Fire Island,” coming to Hulu on Friday.
Today in History
January 28, 2022 GMTToday in History
Today is Friday, Jan. 28, the 28th day of 2022. There are 337 days left in the year.
‘Notting Hill,’ ‘The Duke’ director Roger Michell dies at 65
September 23, 2021 GMTLONDON (AP) — Roger Michell, the British stage, television and film director whose movies include the indelibly popular romcom “Notting Hill,” has died, his family said Thursday. He was 65.
Michell’s family said in a statement that he died on Wednesday.
Jane Austen family link to abolition movement comes to light
June 14, 2021 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — While Jane Austen admirers savor the wit and romance of “Pride and Prejudice” and her other enduring novels, scholars ferret out details of Austen’s life and times, including a family link to slavery that surfaced 50 years ago.
WWII codebreaker Turing honored on UK’s new 50-pound note
March 25, 2021 GMTLONDON (AP) — The rainbow flag flew proudly Thursday above the Bank of England in the heart of London's financial district to commemorate World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, the new face of Britain's 50-pound note...
Sons use e-books to help virus-stricken dad, other patients
August 17, 2020 GMTLONDON (AP) — Geoff Woolf gave his sons a love for literature. When he got sick with COVID-19, they turned to books to help him — and others...
Review: Another dull go-around with ‘The Kissing Booth 2’
July 24, 2020 GMTWe all like bad movies when we’re young and sometimes we like good movies for the wrong reasons. I can pretend my 11-year-old self loved “Clueless” when it came out in 1995 for its smart satire of teen movies in a modernized Jane Austen framework...
Review: Austen’s ‘Emma,’ humanized but not modernized
February 19, 2020 GMTThere's beauty to spare in the new screen adaptation of Jane Austen's “Emma,” from its palatial country estates with their art-filled galleries and manicured lawns, to the exquisitely detailed costumes (those feathered bonnets...
Jane Austen, actress create PBS costume drama diversity
February 4, 2020 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — Crystal Clarke could imagine herself playing the heroine of a period costume drama, a genre that regularly makes its way to TV and film screens with potential breakout roles for young actresses...
China voices strength, pushes nationalism around trade war
May 15, 2019 GMTBEIJING (AP) — What do tilapia, Jane Austen and Chinese revolutionary poster art have in common?
All have been used to rally public support around China's position in its trade dispute with the U...
MRT’S CHRISTMAS GIFT: FULL HOUSES
December 23, 2018 GMTLOWELL -- Though the Merrimack Repertory Theatre recently celebrated its 40th year in Lowell, it sort of feels like it's only the beginning, says MRT Artistic Director Sean Daniels.
That feeling is helped along by this holiday season's showing of "Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley," which set a MRT box office record, becoming the best-selling show in the company's four-decade history.
Rowling, Tolkien, Austen novels vie for bragging rights
October 22, 2018 GMTLOS ANGELES (AP) — The results are in for an impassioned national election that put the popularity of candidates Jane Austen, J...
The Slice: The Slice: A proud day for some ma or pa
April 6, 2017 GMTEditor’s note: Paul Turner has been basking in the Arizona sun … um, helping cover the Final Four. As he makes his way home this week, we offer up a Slice from the archives from April 6, 2006.
A note from my friend Judy McKeehan made me think of spring break.