Six Picks: Recommendations from the Monitor staff
Alcott鈥檚 other life
The world knows Louisa May Alcott best as the author of the beloved children鈥檚 classic 鈥淟ittle Women.鈥� But in this PBS American Masters special, biographers lift the veil on a literary double life. Not only did she pen purple prose under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, but Alcott was also a free thinker who took lovers years her junior and was an abolitionist from childhood. 鈥淟ouisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 鈥楲ittle Women鈥� 鈥� airs on Dec. 28 at 9 p.m.
Decoding conundrums
Intriguingly cryptic and intellectually rewarding, 鈥淭ypographic Conundrums鈥� is a high-class gift for fans of Sudoku and crossword puzzles. Spend hours poring over 171 sleekly designed mind puzzles from graphic designer Harry Pearce. If you can decode 鈥淕ERNEVEYN,鈥� this book鈥檚 for you.
A pop-culture virtuoso
British writer Nick Hornby returns to the themes 鈥� love and music 鈥� that won him legions of fans, as he sends a fanboy obsession through a midlife crisis in his latest novel, 鈥淛uliet, Naked.鈥� Museum curator Annie is sort of content with Duncan, a professor whose claim to fame is being an expert on reclusive rocker Tucker Crowe. Tucker, who hasn鈥檛 written a song since 1986, would have lapsed into blessed obscurity if the Internet hadn鈥檛 empowered his 12 remaining fans. Now, an unplugged version of his last album, 鈥淛uliet,鈥� has been leaked, and both Annie and Duncan have reviewed it. Melancholy and wry humor ensue after Tucker strikes up an e-mail friendship with Annie, and not his biggest fan.
Kennedy Center kudos
The 32nd annual Kennedy Center Honors, which air Dec. 29 at 8 p.m. on CBS, celebrate the contributions of Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen. It鈥檚 hosted by Caroline Kennedy, and performers and presenters range from Jack Black to Herbie Hancock to Meryl Streep.
Minisub surfaces
World War II buffs know that era is still chock-full of mysteries and tales to be told. The latest revelation as detailed in NOVA鈥檚 鈥淜iller Subs in Pearl Harbor,鈥� premi猫ring on Jan. 5, 2010, at 8 p.m., is by any standard a big fish: the fifth and final Japanese minisubmarine that fired its torpedoes during the battle on Dec. 7, 1941. NOVA scientists made the find during a routine test dive and assembled a team of Japanese and US military forensic scientists and historians to piece together the story of this tiny two-man submersible that glided on its kamikaze mission and remained hidden for more than 70 years, 1,000 feet below the surface.
Sondheim鈥檚 鈥楴ight鈥�
Broadway鈥檚 latest Stephen Sondheim revival, the Tony Award-winner 鈥淎 Little Night Music,鈥� is a melancholy comedy set in a country house in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Its rueful romantics include a love-scarred actress, Desir茅e Armfeldt (Catherine Zeta-Jones), whose career is on the wane (she sings the classic 鈥淪end in the Clowns鈥�), and her wheelchair-bound mother, Madame Armfeldt (the unstoppable Angela Lansbury) (NightMusicOnBroadway.com).
