In the New Yorker...

[Front-Ranger]

Anything that doesn't get read by me in the week that I get my New Yorker probably won't be read by me ever. Although I do keep a stack of NY'ers by the sink in my bathroom and flip thru them while I curl my hair. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Anything that doesn't get read by me in the week that I get my New Yorker probably won't be read by me ever. Although I do keep a stack of NY'ers by the sink in my bathroom and flip thru them while I curl my hair. 

Did Annie Proulx's story, "Tits-Up in a Ditch," curl it for you? 

[serious crayons]

How's this for an idea? We do a New Yorker "article club." My old book club tried this when people kept not reading the books. We could start right now, with the Malcolm Gladwell piece "How David Beats Goliath" in the May 11 issue (my selfishly pick, since I just started reading it) or the Helen Gurley Brown profile, since two people have already read it.

Not a big deal, and no pressure. But if you're interested, read the article(s) and then return here to discuss.

Did Annie Proulx's story, "Tits-Up in a Ditch," curl it for you? 

 

That took me a minute to decipher, but once I got it I LOLed.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Then the magazine gets cast into a pile where it sits for months.

I pass my magazines on to a coworker. She's glad to get them, however out of date they are. I keep the occasional issue, like the two last year that had Annie Proulx stories in them. I look at all the cartoons, but I almost never read the "Shouts and Murmurs," or the short fiction, unless I recognize the author's name.

[Jeff Wrangler]

the Helen Gurley Brown profile, since two people have already read it.

Actually I guess I was a little misleading to call it a profile. The article is one of those New Yorker peculiarities, a combination review of a new biography of her and a profile of her.

I was first aware of HGB when she would be a guest on Merv Griffin's talk show, when I was still a kid. I always think of her when some of my gay male buddies from church order Cosmopolitans at Sunday brunch. ... 

I stick with a Bloody Mary, if anyone is wonderin'. ... 

[serious crayons]

I look at all the cartoons, but I almost never read the "Shouts and Murmurs," or the short fiction, unless I recognize the author's name.

I used to look at all the cartoons, nowadays only if my eye falls on them. And I used to read the fiction more religiously. Now it has a lot to do with what the fiction looks like when I glance at it. Not much dialogue, long dense paragraphs? Forget it. Main character referred to by his last name? Probably not.

But if it's dialogue-heavy and accessible and easy-reading (yeah, I've gotten lazy), I do often find fiction I like by writers I've never heard of before. Last year, I not only read the story but was moved to buy (in hardcover!) and read the whole book: The Ms. Hempel Chronicles, by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum.

Actually I guess I was a little misleading to call it a profile. The article is one of those New Yorker peculiarities, a combination review of a new biography of her and a profile of her.

I've read a bunch of things about that new biography, but based on the comments here I will also check out the New Yorker one.

I stick with a Bloody Mary, if anyone is wonderin'. ... 

That would be my preferred post-church drink, myself.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Here's a factoid that I picked up from The New Yorker that I find interesting. It's from the article on Rwanda in the May 4 issue; I started reading the article at lunchtime today. Anyway, the factoid is, in the city of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, plastic bags are outlawed to keep down litter and protect the environment. 

[Front-Ranger]

A New Yorker article club would be fun!! I think I still have the Gladwell article on David/Goliath around here somewhere.

I often don't read the fiction ennimore (of course, I read ENNITHING by AP) but I highly reccamend the new story by Salmon Rushdie. For one thing, it is short. Another, the first paragraph is a real grabber. You hardly never find that ennimore...

[Front-Ranger]

I loved everything in the previous issue, but in today's issue I am only interested in reading about Victor Fleming and the Guggenheim. Strange whims I have about NY Magazines!

[Jeff Wrangler]

I loved everything in the previous issue, but in today's issue I am only interested in reading about Victor Fleming and the Guggenheim. Strange whims I have about NY Magazines!

I've got three New Yorkers piled up on the dining room table, and one in my backpack.    I read the Victor Fleming article over dinner this evening.