There was a copy of Vogue in my car the summer before I graduated from college, and some afternoons, when the gridlock was so hopeless I might as well have shut off my engine, I leafed through its thin pages and dove far into a daydream, too far to actually, you know, read it. That summer I had driven my car to meet my friend Abby at a North Berkeley Albertson’s, where we got snacks and this copy of Vogue, […]
The Reading Life: Vivian Gornick and Pet Psychics
Vivian Gornick’s memoir Fierce Attachments competes with other books in your bag if you bring it with you on your commute. It’s tough, it’s rude. It’s harsh and pretty. It’s down-on-his-luck Warren Oates, behind the wheel of a large automobile. You choose its toothy grin over whatever else you’ve decided to lug around, because the stories within are short, punishing. With Vivian, five minutes on the train feel spent.
The Reading Life: The Terrible Poster for What Maisie Knew
I want to apologize publicly to all the strangers I have run into on the street while texting someone, emailing someone, or not paying attention to traffic lights, where I was going, or really anything that isn’t my phone. It’s a problem I have: I’m a multi-tasker, for lack of a prettier word. I am a sucker for appliances with several uses—it chops and it dices! I like combination exercise classes—it’s yoga and it’s rock climbing! When I cook, I […]
The Reading Life: Lovely Lydia Davis Quotes And This Year’s Prank
My father sent me an email from Seattle the other day to tell me he doesn’t like Seattle very much, despite all the wonderful things you can find there. He has a running list, I think, of cities he dislikes. Most people who travel for business must keep something similar on reserve. It amuses me to hear vehement distaste for places I have never seen. The words “Pittsburgh” and “Orlando” are hilarious when said with disgust.
The Reading Life: Around Ten A.M. and Missing Achewood like a Lord
On an email thread yesterday, our own Tobias Carroll was goofing around like he does, and, perhaps off topic, he linked to an old Achewood comic. That link might not make any sense to you. If this were a few years ago, I wouldn’t feel like I have to explain to a reader what Achewood is. There was a brief moment, at least from my cultural vantage point, of deserved recognition for the web comic. In 2007 the comic’s website […]
The Reading Life: Nikolai Gogol and New York Real Estate
For a month, I’m living in the second bedroom of my aunt’s apartment in Cobble Hill. She’s not my aunt, and it’s not in Cobble Hill, but these things are easier to say than “my family friend who’s so close that she’s family” and “the Columbia Waterfront District.” I needed a place to stay, and she needed a subletter for the month of March. She has a cat; I have a cat. It works. I’ve lived with her before: my […]
The Reading Life: Adapted Patricia Highsmith and Steve McQueen in San Francisco
Knowing where all the movie theaters are in the Bay Area taught me a considerable amount of geography. The Embarcadero Center, spanning five blocks and connected with hypnotic tile, is not just named conveniently for its adjacent landmark. It’s also the home of an excellent art house theater. You can almost see it in The Conversation. There’s Harrison Ford, lying to reporters in the breezeway. Leave San Francisco, and things get less glamorous. You sit in boxy multiplexes, designed with […]
The Reading Life: “Shooting an Elephant” and Orwell’s Clarity
I once wanted to be a lawyer, and being a paralegal was a stop on the way to where I thought I wanted to go. To get to 100 Church Street I took the M15 bus down a road where pedestrians were not allowed, past 1 Police Plaza and the courthouse named for Daniel Patrick Moynihan, stopping in front of J&R Electronics. I would walk through the park to Broadway. I would get a large coffee at Dunkin Donuts. The whole thing felt less […]