Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: The roles of Ava Gardner and Barbara Stanwyck, the darkness of Dick Cheney, one of the most stunning shows of Indian art ever to be displayed in the US, Chris Christie and the question of accountability, and the con of American Hustle. Plus a wintry poem by Joseph Brodsky.

Beneath the Stars Jeanine Basinger In 1988, Ava Gardner invited a writer to work on her autobiography. (“I’m broke, honey. I either write the book or sell the jewels….And I’m kinda sentimental about the jewels.”) After numerous bottles of white wine, the two sat down to work.   ADVERTISEMENT   In the Darkness of Dick Cheney Mark Danner In 1969, he was a 28-year-old fledgling academic wannabe from Wyoming laboring obscurely as an intern on Capitol Hill—and lucky to be there, having twice flunked out of Yale, twice been jailed for drunk driving. Five years later he was White House chief of staff. Can American history offer a more rapid rise to power?   Under the Spell of Yoga William Dalrymple By the 16th century, yoga and the secret bodies of knowledge that were associated with it had become part of the science of government in Indo-Islamic courts. The interest was as much practical as mystical: many sultans were convinced that extraordinary powers could be accessed through the practices of yogis.   ADVERTISEMENT   North Baltic Joseph Brodsky When a blizzard powders the harbor, when the      creaking pine leaves in the air an imprint deeper than a sled’s       steel runner, what degree of blueness can be gained by an eye?      What sign language can sprout from a chary manner? Falling out of sight, the outside world makes a face its hostage: pale, plain, snowbound. … (1988)   Christie’s Nixon Playbook Elizabeth Drew Chris Christie is not Richard Nixon—Nixon’s personality made him a unique figure in our politics. But there does seem to be a pattern in Christie’s activities, and indications of corruption on a scale that could be unprecedented even for New Jersey.   The Music of the Swindle Geoffrey O’Brien David O. Russell's American Hustle slides with such grace through its intrigues, slipping in so many diverting props and devices and walk-ons, that you may start to feel you’re being hustled by the film itself.    Give a gift subscription to the Review and save over $64 off the cover price!   Vengeance is Hers In time for Valentine’s Day, a series of films about female violence and revenge.   The City without Jews A series devoted to “Vienna Unveiled” opens with this prophetic 1924 sci-fi satire.