In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

You have remarkable discipline, Jeff.

Maybe not. I'm becoming picky. I've started to skip the movie and TV articles, and the Talk of the Town political pieces.

I just finished "The Skeleton Lake" (Dec. 14). I'm always up for a good historical mystery story, and that's a good one. I especially like the part about what DNA can tell ups about history.

[serious crayons]

Maybe not. I'm becoming picky. I've started to skip the movie and TV articles, and the Talk of the Town political pieces.

I've been doing that for some time. I don't read movie or TV reviews unless I'm familiar with the shows. I kind of skim political Talk of the Town pieces, at most, depending on their authors and political events. I rarely read the cultural TotT pieces unless I recognize and like the byline. I glance at Shouts & Murmurs and can usually tell pretty quickly whether it's unusual and imaginative ... or more often, especially with frequent writers, a kind of formulaic tired humor.

I almost never read theater or art reviews because I'm unlikely to be familiar with -- or ever have a chance to see -- their subjects. But I often read book reviews, based on my familiarity with the books themselves or interest in the topic.

As for the rest, it's hit and miss depending on the topic and author. I miss a lot of good ones, though, I discover when I weed through the pile later. I pull those out for later reading and still rarely get to them. 

[Front-Ranger]

I just finished "The Skeleton Lake" (Dec. 14). I'm always up for a good historical mystery story, and that's a good one. I especially like the part about what DNA can tell ups about history.

Yes, that was a great article. So good, I read it twice. I've been in the Himalayas, so I was interested for that reason as well.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've started checking the tables of contents in some of the issues I'm behind, and I'm surprised that some of them don't have much that looks interesting to me.

[serious crayons]

I almost always find at least one thing that looks worth reading.

A really good issue might have four or five things.

[Front-Ranger]

Such a fine sight to see
It's Winona Ryder, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford,
slowin' down to take a look at me

[serious crayons]

 

[Jeff Wrangler]

I almost always find at least one thing that looks worth reading.

I'm about ready to give up on the Jan. 4 & 11 issue. I'd jumped ahead and read Adam Gopnik on keeping the Republic, Lawrence Wright on "The Plague Year," and Vinson Cunningham on Thomas Jefferson's abridgment of the Bible. I started the article on newsletters, but it's not holding my interest.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I finished Rachel Kushner's article about her young life in San Francisco. I found it sad. I was interested in what she wrote about the hustlers on Polk Street because something like 30-35 years ago I read a story about the young hustlers on Polk Street and never forgot it.

[serious crayons]

I finished Rachel Kushner's article about her young life in San Francisco. I found it sad.

You have more patience than I did. What did you find sad about it? The fact that she wrote about people who were down and out and/or had addictions and/or other problems?