Obama’s summer reading list has been posted. Join him in his readings ranging from All That Is by James Salter to George Washington’s biography, Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. Or you could simply start semiotically parsing the list. If you’d like to soundtrack your presidential reading, then check out the President’s own personal mixtape, #POTUSPlaylist, on Spotify; it includes the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Brandi Carlile and Justin Timberlake, among others. For a slightly different playlist, check out Rolling Stone’s roundup of the 20 greatest pre-Straight Outta Compton West Coast Rap Songs.
If you’re a Tolstoy fan, you’d be out of luck with the reading President’s list, as he chose all American authors. However, you’d be happy (or perhaps dubious, depending on how you feel about adaptations) to learn more about the War and Peace miniseries with Paul Dano and Gillian Anderson, which debuts in January 2016.
Got credit? Discover the trends behind payments and interest rates better known as the bane of every American adult’s existence in NPR’s article analyzing the Federal Reserve Survey. Credit card payments may always seem worrisome, but New Yorkers can at least calm themselves (a statement rarely uttered) with the knowledge that tickets to FringeNYC are thankfully affordable, at just $18 per show. The festival hosts a vast selection of dance and theater performances, many of which are biographical works depicting the lives of iconic figures like Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackson Pollock, and Sylvia Plath. Starting today, the festival runs until August 30 — that’s enough time to plan your own schedule, with options of up to 200 shows to attend (though this write-up of 10 to see in the New York Times may help narrow it down).