bloviatrix Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The May 19 issue featured an article which to me really captured the essence of why I love The New Yorker. The article was titled A Voice from the Past by Alec Wilkinson and is about an experimental physicist named Carl Haber, who work on the Higgs Boson, who after hearing Mickey Hart talk about the deterioration of musical archives realized that some of the tools he uses in his work could be applied to saving these archives. Fascinating article that I recommend if you haven't gotten to it yet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 No no. The guy who's writing that endless multi-volume autobiographical novel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 I think he means Knausgaard. ETA Yes he does but at least I got the name. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Yeah yeah Knausgaard right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 So anybody reading/read him? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 No. I have to do Jules Romains first. ; Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I just saw that Argosy, that unsung treasure of a bookstore--which certainly outlasted Gotham--is featured in the new issue. I think it was Judith, among the owners, who I persuaded to give me a nice discount on a complete hardcover set of Conrad missing only The Secret Agent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 A new Ashbery poem too. Life is tolerable. Must be a book coming; he's published two or three recently, which counts as a harbinger. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lippy Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Has anyone here read that Danish guy yet? I just finished the first volume. It's strange and wonderful in a weird, Proustian way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I just saw that Argosy, that unsung treasure of a bookstore--which certainly outlasted Gotham--is featured in the new issue. I think it was Judith, among the owners, who I persuaded to give me a nice discount on a complete hardcover set of Conrad missing only The Secret Agent. I haven't finished it yet, but what a lovely piece. It struck me, in reading it, that knowing the Cohen sisters is sort of like knowing the Russ daughters. We don't appreciate what we have, but overvalue what we just missed. Of course, I knew their parents, too. It actually took me a while to figure out that Miss Shevin -- never "Ms." -- was Lou's wife. Janet Malcolm should have checked, however, before she condescended to the business on the second floor of the nondescript low-rise next door as "a business that rents tuxedos and does 'expert tailoring and alterations'". Her scare quotes notwithstanding, John's is an estimable shop that has in fact done expert tailoring and alterations for both me and members of the Rockefeller family. I don't want to go all Jeremiah Moss on you, but it's one of those treasurable businesses that -- like the Argosy -- New York will be poorer without. (Surely it was a sad day when Del Floria's closed near the U.N.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Wow. Could you imagine getting a copy of Edith Warton with Louis Auchincloss's margin notes? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I concur with everything. Argosy was never talked about as much as Gotham Book Mart (deceased), and it deserved this tribute. I didn't know the family story. I can't tell you how many books I have which are excellent, hardcover reading copies from that Selected Reading shelf. I would just say the story downplays the basement. Many visitors never head down there, and they are seriously missing out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I really liked the part where Caius Pawlson's mother hears The xx for the first time and grabs him and implores, "Don't fuck this up!" NOTE TO ADRIAN -- You see how The xx are like 9.5 times better than Lorde, right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bloviatrix Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I concur with everything. Argosy was never talked about as much as Gotham Book Mart (deceased), and it deserved this tribute. I didn't know the family story. I can't tell you how many books I have which are excellent, hardcover reading copies from that Selected Reading shelf. I would just say the story downplays the basement. Many visitors never head down there, and they are seriously missing out. I have spent way too much money over the years on books from the basement. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 You read David Remnick's Putin/Russia piece, and you remember what a supremely great journalist he is. I still think it's worth it, losing his regular output so he can be the best New Yorker editor since William Shawn. But that piece does give you pause. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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