David Alpern, a former Newsweek senior editor, looks back on the many pleasures of a trip to Morocco, among them an unexpected meeting at a desert campsite with G.E. Smith and Taylor Barton.

Simon Van Booy has drawn from the stories of one rural Kentucky family for his new book, and he repays them with an affecting, generous novel.

Bach “had an appreciation for the pleasures of being alive,” said Alan Alda in his introduction for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival's first summer concert. “He was also an obstinate, headstrong grouch who didn’t mind insulting musicians he didn’t admire.”