MEADOWS ADDS TO COLLECTION: The Meadows Museum has added five early 20th Century Spanish paintings to its collection, thanks to a gift from Alan and Janet Coleman. Mr. Coleman is the former dean of SMU’s Cox School of Business. The additions are:

• Moulin Rouge, Exit to the Box Seats, c. 1902, by Hermenegildo Anglada-Camarasa
• Segovia, from Perogordo Road, c. 1908, by Aureliano de Beruete y Moret
• Allegory, c. 1903, by Joaquim Mir Trinxet
• Snow and Thaw, c. 1900, by Darío de Regoyos y Valdés
• Farm-House, Alcira, c. 1903, by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida

You can read more about them plus see images of each on the Meadows Museum website.

BIG BEN: Earlier this month, we noted that The New York Times named Ben Fountain’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk to its list of notable books of 2012. And now we have a good idea of which critic was pushing for the Dallas author’s book. That’s because it has also made Janet Maslin’s 10 favorite books of the year. “Mr. Fountain devastatingly juxtaposes the complacency of America’s home game with the reality facing troops headed back to war,” she writes.

EXPANDING WEST: Jerry Russell continues Theater Jones’ series of year-end essays. At the end of the year, he’ll leave his post as producing director of Stage West, the Fort Worth theater he founded. And in his essay, he passes along news that the theater – which has recently expanded – may actually expand some more. “We have many dreams ahead,” he writes. “A second space is on the horizon and hopefully, further down the road, an expansion that would increase the Mainstage seating capacity by 40 percent.’