February’s CultureWatch

Julia Sneden, Jill Norgren and Nichola Gutgold re-read books and those long-denied treats and must-reads: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God was a ground-breaker; she used her gift for telling a story to reach into our hearts and minds. A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America begins “Silas Deane was stranded in Paris, sick with anxiety, and nearly out of invisible ink”; The Pink Lady: The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas gives rich detail of the Hollywood heyday and the woman remembered for Nixon’s rough treatment; and Matisse’s inspired biographies by Hilary Spurling await.