In our latest quarantine diary, Charles Finch contemplates Kierkegaard, watches "Love Is Blind," gets the Led out and develops a candle habit.

"Apropos of Nothing" is a mixed bag of rich memories, harsh defenses and tone-deaf reveries.

Marie Mutsuki Mockett's 'American Harvest' looks at the divide between the heartland and those who seldom think about where our food comes from.

Books about nature to read while avoiding the coronavirus — from classics by John McPhee and Annie Dillard to the upcoming "Book of Eels."

Winners of the L.A. Times Book Prizes will be announced in a special, virtual Twitter ceremony this year because of the global health crisis.

A book club for people who don't like book clubs, founded in 2012 in San Francisco and now boasting six chapters in L.A. County, has moved online.

Jenn Shapland's "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers" and Mark Doty's "What Is the Grass," about Walt Whitman, are hybrid memoir-biographies.

The author of "Nothing to See Here" enjoys BennY RevivaL, furniture-breaking wrestling moves and lots of books in his quarantine diary.

Author Mark O'Connell visited preppers, paranoiacs and prophets worldwide for "Notes From an Apocalypse." Now he says "the world will go on."

Read "Attack on Titan," "Somali & the Forest Spirit," "Fire Force," "Arte" and more with Mangamo, a new mobile manga subscription service.

Marlon James, whose novel "Black Leopard, Red Wolf" pioneered queer fantasy, thanks Mary Shelley and "Moby Dick" for predicting our current crisis.

In Rufi Thorpe's novel, a poor, closeted teenager befriends a wealthy girl, until an act of violence lays their class distinctions bare.

'Always Home' author Fanny Singer worries more about running out of garlic than toilet paper.

In an excerpt from "Scandinavian Noir: In Pursuit of a Mystery," the essayist Wendy Lasser recommends her favorite writers in the booming genre.

He's interviewed Neko Case, Jeff Tweedy and Maria Bamford about depression. With his new memoir, "The Hilarious World of Depression," John Moe looks inward.

Gov. Newsom has taken to calling California a "nation-state" when discussing its efforts to fight the coronavirus. Constitutionally, that's not true.

Screening a sample of the population to see who has been infected with COVID-19 and who hasn't is a huge step forward in returning to normal life.

Free college was common in the U.S. until the 1960s and produced alumni that included Nobel Prize winners and accomplished statesmen.

When doctors are given N95 masks but the nurses who frequently come into contact with sick patients do not, you know something's wrong.

Calls to close streets to automobiles show the demand for exercise. Too bad all local trails have been closed to hikers.

No Democratic candidates called for social distancing before Super Tuesday, and now the left is Monday-morning quarterbacking the president.

Cloth masks are not nearly as effective as N95 respirators and they give wearers a false sense of security against the coronavirus.

If you're a cancer patient, you should not avoid treatment because of the pandemic. Surgery and follow-up care cannot wait.

Publishing photos of maskless tourists romping in poppy fields does not help the cause of social distancing.

Calendar Feedback: Is competence sexy? Readers on whether it trivializes Dr. Fauci to call him 'sexy.' Plus, differing opinions on the Peter Zumthor design of LACMA.

If most beaches in Southern California are closed, so should those in Orange County, which attracted thousands of people on a hot weekend.

Not everything has to go back to normal after the pandemic, including L.A. traffic. More businesses need to make working from home permanent.

Readers weigh in on a cellist's front-porch concerts and TV ads in coronavirus time, pop-up bookstores vs. bookmobiles; renegade designs for anew LACMA and more.

The Brown Act doesn't give officials any excuse they want to shut out the public from their meetings.

You can't explain away your support for Joe Biden despite a sexual assault allegation without talking about Brett Kavanaugh.

In one article, wealthy private schools get government aid. In another, desperate citizens beg for funds online.

As a divorce lawyer in 'Marriage Story,' Laura Dern calls out societal bias against mothers. She helped craft the speech with writer-director Noah Baumbach.

Makeup designer Nicki Ledermann took the concept of the Joker's look from Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips and then made it say everything.

Reasons for cutting scenes from a movie vary. Here's why 'Little Women,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Parasite' and others didn't keep everything they shot.

The Envelope likes to judge a film's chances of winning the best picture Oscar by seeing whether it echoes any previous winners, and these do. Sort of.

Cinematographers Rodrigo Prieto and Lawrence Sher compare notes on their films, 'The Irishman' and 'Joker.'

Find out if your favorite film, TV show or commercial won at the 22nd CDGAs, which were hosted by Mindy Kaling. Also honored were Charlize Theron, Adam McKay, Michael Kaplan and Mary Ellen Fields.

Bong Joon Ho's mesmerizing movie deserves to win best picture. But can it?

The motion picture academy's new museum should include an exhibit of the painful racist images created to maintain a system of dehumanization.

The success of Greta Gerwig's "Little Women" has been a boon for Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott lived.

Oscar voting is ending and a few motion picture academy members are ready to share their picks.

"The Irishman," "1917," "The Lion King," "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," "Avengers: Endgame" — a rundown of the visual-effects Oscar finalists.

Sure, the Oscars are exciting, but what about the film moments they don't celebrate? That's where the Envy Awards step in.

From where and how to watch the ceremony to who and what is nominated, here's a complete guide to this weekend's Academy Awards.

A luxurious house in "Parasite" and visions of '80s urbanism in "Joker" paint vivid pictures of haves and have nots for #Oscars2020.

The Times examined the filmographies of the last five years' worth of lead-actor academy award nominees to see how many female filmmakers they've worked with.

Hispanic, Latino or both? White or a person of color? The identity debate sparked after some declared Banderas a "person of color" when the Oscars' overwhelmingly white acting nominations were announced.

Before the Oscars on Sunday, watch the wildly different and entertaining acceptance speeches Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix have made this awards season.

"The Farewell" made off with best picture as Zhao Shuzhen upset Jennifer Lopez and "Uncut Gems" claimed three prizes, including a win for Adam Sandler.

Longtime Los Angeles Times photographers Al Seib and Jay Clendenin assess the 2020 setup.