For many people, the new year is a time to set a resolution for self-improvement. Barnes &

For many people, the new year is a time to set a resolution for self-improvement. Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest retail bookseller, has compiled a few lists of books to help. Here are five books to improve mindfulness in 2019:

v “How to Control What You Can and Accept What You Can’t So You Can Stop Freaking Out and Get On With Your Life”: by Sarah Knight

v “Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life”: by Bryan E. Robinson

v “I’ve Been Thinking ...The Journal: Inspirations, Prayers, and Reflections for Your Meaningful Life”: by Maria Shriver

v “Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection”: Haemin Sunim

v “13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy”: Amy Morin

“Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic” (4 p.m., ESPN): No. 2 Clemson plays No. 3 Notre Dame in a college football playoff semifinal.

“Capital One Orange Bowl” (8 p.m., ESPN): No. 1 Alabama takes on No. 4 Oklahoma in a college football playoff semifinal.

“Alec Baldwin Show” (10 p.m., ABC): Baldwin sits down for an hour of engaging conversations with award-winning actress and director Regina King, and attorney Gloria Allred, who has spent decades fighting for women and minority rights.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Murder-mystery dinner theater at 2 Valley locations

Moxie Events will present the interactive murder-mystery show “A New Year’s Eve to Die For” on Dec. 31 at Cafe 422 in Boardman and at Cava Tapas & Wine Bar in Niles.

The evening begins at 7 p.m. at both locations with a cabaret performance by cast members, followed by dinner where guests can interact with each character.

The performance is set in 1950s Youngstown and will reference sites, scenes and characters of that era.

Guests, who will ultimately solve the crime, are urged to dress the part.

Tickets are on sale at moxieevents.ticketspice.com.

Stolen painting will be returned

A painting that was stolen during World War II and later spent decades in a Connecticut home will be returned to an art museum in Ukraine, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials.

The FBI seized the painting after a retired couple in Ridgefield transported it to Washington, D.C., to be auctioned last year. The couple, David and Gabby Tracy, had long cherished the painting but figured it was a copy, not the signed original.

Standing nearly 8 feet tall, the painting depicts the 16th-century Russian czar Ivan the Terrible looking crestfallen as he flees the Kremlin on horseback. It had been left behind in a Ridgefield home that David Tracy bought in 1987. The previous couple in the home said the painting was already there when they purchased the house from a Swiss man in 1962.

As the Traceys made plans to move to a condominium last year, they realized the painting wouldn’t fit. They hired an auctioning company to sell the work, which was appraised at about $5,000.

After the auction house added the painting to its catalog, though, an employee received an urgent email from an art museum in Ukraine asking it to cancel the auction.