“[Raymond] Chandler was thirty-five when he married Cissy Pascal, in 1924. Cissy was fifty-three, although she listed her age on their marriage certificate as forty-three.” More

Carmontelle’s 18th-century transparent drawings are a precursor to modern cinema. More

Wilfred Thesiger’s accounts of crossing the Empty Quarter of the Arabian desert and living among the marsh Arabs of Iraq are invaluable as anthropology and thoroughly gripping as action tales. More

This week: Joseph Weisberg, author of “An Ordinary Spy”; Lee Siegel on Peter Gay’s “Modernism”; Jennifer Schuessler on “The Hidden Persuaders”; and Dwight Garner with best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host. More

“My bags were packed and provisions loaded. I was ready for adventure. And so, on a late summer afternoon, I dragged my reluctant friend Drew off to explore new worlds and, I hoped, find some happiness along the way.” More

“Movie Stars! Hollywood made ‘em and sold ‘em daily, gamely producing a product for which its creators had no concrete explanation.” More

Janet Maslin, Michiko Kakutani and William Grimes pick their favorite books of 2007. More