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This week: Whit Stillman's new web series, a one-of-a-kind exhibition, and Philippe de Montebello leads a tour of the world's best art museums. 

Fiction: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein (Europa): The third book in Ferrante’s Neapolitan series (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name) follows the reunion of childhood friends Elena and Lila and their loving if competitive relationship. As the story progresses through the 1960s and 1970s, Lila remains in Naples, raising her son. Elena leaves to study in Pisa, eventually building a family of her own in Florence. Their continuing friendship provides the backdrop for larger observations about life’s struggles, from grand political movements to more quotidian challenges. BPK

Nonfiction: Philippe de Montebello: Rendez-Vous With Art by Martin Gayford (Thames and Hudson): The British art critic Martin Gayford is a lucky fellow. He got to travel around some of the world’s best museums,  from Florence, Paris, and London to New York, Madrid, and the Hague, with one of the world’s greatest museum directors, Philippe de Montebello, who ended a thirty year tenure at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008. This handsomely produced and illustrated volume is a record of their journeys and, more to the point, their many conversations about Goya, Titian, Rubens, Duccio, Velázquez, Bosch, and a dozen other artists. It is not quite a book of art history, nor is it a travel book, though there is something of both genres enlivening this charming and insightful rendez-vous with art.  RK

Poetry: Once in the West by Christian Wiman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): Wiman’s fourth collection of poetry is incredibly personal, exploring everything from his wife and children to illness and failure.  DY

Art: "State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now" (September 13, 2014–January 19, 2015): "On a lonely road quite long ago,/ A trav'ler trod with fiddle and a bow;/ While rambling thru the country rich and grand,'/ He quickly sensed the magic and the beauty of the land." This state song of Arkansas took on new meaning in 2013 as curators from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville set out cross-country "to investigate what’s happening in American art today." 100,000 miles and a thousand studio visits later, "State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now" is set to open this week promising "an unusually diverse look at American art." JP

Music: Bargemusic presents Mark Peskanov and Rita Sloan (Saturday & Sunday): The violinist Mark Peskanov and the pianist Rita Sloan join forces for a program of sonatas, including Mozart's Sonata no. 23 in D Major and Schubert's tranquil Sonata no. 4 in A major. Anchoring the program is César Franck's late masterpiece, the A-minor Sonata. ECS

Other: Whit Stillman’s The Cosmopolitans: We are delighted that our friend Whit Stillman, the creator of such films as Metropolitan, Barcelona, The Last Days of Disco, and Damsels in Distress, has returned to the smaller screen with The Cosmopolitans. This Amazon Original Pilot staring Chloe Sevigny and Adam Brody is now streaming online and dependent on our positive audience feedback for renewal as a full series. So in addition to offering up quality entertainment, here's our chance to help out another UHB. JP

From the archive: Pink pigeons & blue mayonnaise by Joseph Epstein, November 1998: On the composer, painter & novelist Gerald Berners

From our latest issue: What Jeff Koons has wrought by Eric Gibson: On “Jeff Koons: A Retrospective” at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

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