Arts and Culture

Dubai Art Fair Aims to Defy Debt Worry; Top Sellers Want Abu Dhabi Merger Art Dubai opens its doors today with few of the world’s top-selling galleries present, four months after the Gulf emirate announced it was renegotiating its debt, sparking a global stock-market rout.

MacArthur `Genius' Parks Offers Primer on Horrible Playwriting: John Simon Suzan-Lori Parks’s new play (her 375th) “The Book of Grace” may not be the worst ever written, but it surely is the worst by a winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, who teaches at New York University and is the first-ever holder of the Public Theater’s Master Writer Chair.

Freaky Henry VIII, Elizabeth I Appall in New History: Manuela Hoelterhoff Henry VIII and daughter Elizabeth are just two of the sadists animating the lively new history by G.J. Meyer, “The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty.”

Hitchcock's `Psycho' Mural, $450,000 Scary Bus, Playful Eliasson: Hot Art The scary house in which Norman Bates played dress-up with his dead mother in Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” stars in a giant mural at Metro Pictures gallery in New York’s Chelsea district.

The Rich Get Away With Murder in Lipsyte's Funny, Venomous `Ask': Review You get fed up, you mouth off to the wrong person, you’re out of a job. That covers the first chapter of “The Ask,” Sam Lipsyte’s funny, vicious fourth book.

Highlands Brings $45 Glenrothes Scotch, Haggis to Village Pub: Ryan Sutton The best Scottish food is the kind you drink.

Johnny Cash's Raw Farewell Songs Overwhelm Sade's Silky Return: Mark Beech Johnny Cash’s rasp cracks and groans like a wooden galleon about to wreck on the rocks. Sade sings in a smooth voice as slinky as a cocktail dress. Corinne Bailey Rae’s crooning melts like fine chocolate.

Wall Street `Generosity Coach' Stresses Focus, How to Say `No': Interview Kathy LeMay lives in the college town of Northampton, Massachusetts, with a mortgage and a 2005 Honda Accord hybrid that she’s paying off mainly by counseling billionaires and others on how to give away their money.

Cameron Diaz, Recession Can't Stop Winemakers From Entering `Ugly' Market Vintner Ben Sharp was waiting to meet a distributor at a New York cafe last year when he spotted actress Cameron Diaz at a nearby table.

Top Five Nonfiction Books From Ted Conover to Karl Rove: the Muse List With so many books in the stores, we’re often asked for recommendations. Here’s a list of recent nonfiction titles: