ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

*BOOKS/ NYT LISTS BEST BOOKS OF 2009: The New York Times has published its list of the 10 best books of 2009. This years best books, 5 fiction  and 5 non-fiction titles, will be published in next Sunday's Book Review. The Times will also list other notable books of the year, and many reviewers will also reveal their personal choices. This years winners are:


FICTION
Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It--Maile Meloy
Chronic City--Jonathan Lethem
A Gate At The Stairs--Lorrie Moore
Half Broke Horses--Jeannette Walls
A Short History Of Woman--Kate Walbert
NON-FICTION
The Age Of Wonder--Richard Holmes
The Good Soldiers--David Finkel
LIT: A Memoir--Mary Karr
Lords Of Finance--Liaquat Ahamed
Raymond Carver--Carol Sklenicka

MUSIC/ BBC REVEALS 2010 LONGLIST: The BBC has announced the longlist for the "Sounds of 2010". The annual list is designed to highlight the best new music that's likely to make the biggest impact next year. 15 acts on the list have been chosen by 165 UK-based tastemakers who each named their favorite 3 new artists. The top 5 artists and winner will be declared at the beginning of January. The 15 groups are: Daisy Dares you, Delphic, Devlin, The Drums, Everything Everything, Giggs, Gold Panda, Ellie Goulding, Huts, Joy Orbison, Marina and the Diamonds, Owl City, Rox, Stornoway and Two Door Cinema Club.

THEATRE/ MIXED NOTICES FOR "RACE": The new play be David Mamet, "Race," opened last night on Broadway to mixed reviews. The story concerns a wealthy, white public figure looking for legal representation after his first choice took a pass,. The man has been accused of raping a black woman; he claims the sex was consensual. Variety said: "As one of the characters in David Mamet's teasing faux-polemic on the subject says, "Race is the most incendiary topic in our history." The slender play that takes its terse title from that declaration seems hatched more out of an urge to inflame arguments easily triggered in the age of Obama than out of the need to tell this particular story or even to explore the issue with any real conclusiveness. This being Mamet, however, the dialogue is tasty, the confrontations spiky and the observations more than occasionally biting. Slick but hollow, "Race" entertains as it unfolds, but grows increasingly wobbly as it twists its way to an unsatisfying wrap-up". The New York Times said: "No sooner had the curtain fallen on David Mamet’s “Race” the other night than the predominantly white audience rose, smiling, to its feet. Standing ovations on Broadway have become a conditioned reflex, but this one seemed a shade more self-conscious and self-congratulatory than usual. You could argue this was the perfect coda to a play that examines the self-consciousness that descends on American white people when they talk about, or to, black people". The Times went on to say: "Though the play made pointed use of sexual and ethnic words that are still seldom heard in polite discussion, these elicited far more giggles than gasps. I couldn’t help longing for the days when a new play by Mr. Mamet so knocked the breath out of you that you wouldn’t think of standing up afterward until you were sure your legs would support you". "Race" runs 95 minutes and is playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway.