It is a fulfilling and well written novel that can find solace for a character despite a string of lifelong disconnects, and by the end of “Arcadia,” Groff does just that.

If you're anything like me, when you sit down to study with music, you may inevitably find yourself writing "I'm lost in the world / I'm down on my mind" instead of defining relevant aspects of life history theory. Watching TV while completing a problem set? The last time I tried that, I waxed poetic about Liz Lemon's dominant alleles. No, homework requires something else—something without distracting words or images. So whether you're tackling a paper or problem set, movie scores are a surefire accompaniment. The Arts Board presents you with eight classics.

“The Hunger Games” proves to be that rare triumph: a compelling adaptation that captures the spirit and atmosphere of its source material without sacrificing originality or pandering to its audience.

“Actually, if you look closely, our ghosts are fluttering everywhere, dispersed and dispersing,” writes Dan Chaon in “Stay Awake,” an impressive and unsettling new collection of short stories. In this book, an atmospheric ode to all things disturbing, Chaon flits between the gruesome and the depressing and lingers just long enough on each story to fully realize its creepy environment.

There are few other songwriters who could so creatively string together a girlfriend-as-an-industrialized-country metaphor.

The year is 1920, and pioneers Jack and Mabel have recently abandoned their lives “back East” to start over in Alaska. Eowyn Ivey is not only a creative writer but also an emotive one, and “The Snow Child” triumphs through the sheer force of her prose.