National Entertainment

If you find it odd that Kate McKinnon chose her first book to be for middle-grade kids, the former “Saturday Night Live” star says, think again. “I find sketch comedy and middle school to be very similar,” she said recently over Zoom.

Geordie Greep’s “The New Sound” is not going to be for everyone. Fans of his former act, the experimental British rock band black midi, which disbanded in August, have never been faint of heart. And Greep’s solo debut further pushes the envelope.

TORONTO — As a kid, Matt Johnson spent a lot of time talking himself out of trouble.

Top Movie Purchases and Rentals (US): 1. It Ends With Us 2. Deadpool & Wolverine 3. Blink Twice 4. Twisters 5. Bad Boys: Ride or Die 6. Trap 7. Despicable Me 4 8. Beetlejuice 9. Coraline 10. Longlegs The Associated Press

Top Paid Books (US Bestseller List): 1. Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks (Random House Publishing Group) 2. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore (One More Chapter) 3. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (Crown) 4.

Top New Shows (US): 1. Criminal Attorney , Wondery 2. Murder in the Orange Grove: The Troubled Case Against Crowley Green , 48 Hours 3. 60 Minutes: A Second Look , CBS News 4. Talk Tuah with Hailey Welch , Hailey Welch 5.

Ta-Nehisi Coates always writes with a purpose, so naming his latest collection “The Message” is nothing if not on-brand.

NEW YORK (AP) — Long before Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa mini-empire of bestselling cookbooks and TV shows ever took off, she found herself at an airport, wanting to learn to fly.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An 81-year-old model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant after competing in the South Korean pageant against much younger rivals.

ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) — As lawmakers voted on a budget deal at the U.S. Capitol, a different kind of balloting was taking place a dozen miles away in a sun-filled Virginia preschool classroom .