Novelist and memoirist Courtney Maum has built a career exploring ambition, identity, creativity, and the strange pressures of modern life. Her previous books include 'Touch,' 'Costalegre,' and the publishing-world favorite 'Before and After the Book Deal.'Her new novel, 'Alan Opts Out,' takes sharp aim at consumer culture and suburban status anxiety. The book follows a successful Connecticut advertising executive who suddenly decides to abandon capitalism after a disastrous pitch meeting — moving into his backyard playhouse to live off the land while his wife fights for social acceptance in elite Greenwich circles. It’s funny, pointed, and surprisingly tender.

A key lawmaker said the delayed state budget is to blame.

Israel says it will intensify attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and U.S. military struck Iranian boats and missile launch sites as envoys continued negotiations for a deal that would end the three-month war.