Books Archive |
Unorthodox: The Satmars v. Feldman & Kornbluth - You do not want the Satmars on your case. I learned this the hard way the other week, when I reviewed Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, Deborah Feldman’s
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots - Decades ago, when I was reporting a story on New York sex clubs for Playboy, the proprietor of one club showed me a special door that provided Hasidic rebbes a
Unremarried Widow - The trick to great movie acting is to let the camera do the work. Even in scenes of extreme emotion, the challenge for the actor is to do as little
Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy - The sickest she’d ever been was “after I ate a bad chicken sandwich in South America.” And now her left hand doesn’t work. Susan Spencer-Wendel lives
Ursula Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” - Ursula Le Guin got the Great Writer obituary in the New York Times. She deserved it --- calling her a science fiction writer misses the point and range of her
Use Me - Elissa Schappell is co-founder of the literary magazine Tin House and longtime author of Vanity Fair’s monthly “Hot Type” column on books. She has a new novel, Blueprints for Building
V Is for Vegetables: Inspired Recipes & Techniques for Home Cooks — from Artichokes to Zucchini - The last time I saw Michael Anthony was in a private dining room at Gramercy Tavern. The occasion was a press lunch for his first cookbook. But it didn’t feel
Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate - How much water does it take to grow your favorite foods? Beef: 3 million gallons of water per ton. (Slaughtering and processing beef requires another 132 gallons of water per
Venice - It was so long ago our daughter was an idea for the future. We arrived the day after Christmas. It was cold; at evening concerts held in churches, the musicians
Veronica - I read this short novel --- just 227 pages --- several months before the New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2005. I wanted
Veterans Day: All About War - At Fort Hood, President Obama did what Presidents aren’t supposed to --- he personalized war, he made us see “dead soldiers” as thirteen friends and neighbors, as thirteen dead people.
Villa - When the songwriter and singer Curtis Mayfield was at a low point in his career, he made sure he went to the movies every day. Why? "It’s important to dream,"
Viva la Repartee: Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts - It's really hard to be funny when you're on the spot. It requires a mental trick: Someone hands you a set-up line, your onboard computer whirs into action,
Wabi Inspirations - Beauty is a function of time and Nature. You can buy something new and shiny and stamped with much-admired design and technology, but from this perspective, it doesn’t matter what
Wabi-Sabi - Raymond Chandler's manuscripts were perfect. That's because he typed on half sheets of paper. As soon as he made a typo --- this was so long along Wite-Out hadn't been
Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother - The subtitle could make you gag from the cuteness. But Peggy Orenstein is a Contributing Writer to The New York Times Magazine, a position not easy
Waiting for Sunrise - Maybe if I could just type THE END to this novel I’ve been writing and writing and writing, I wouldn’t have such trouble reading the fiction of living novelists. Or
Waiting for the Barbarians - Weak, cowardly, stupid people require “barbarians” so they can look strong and feel superior. Trump lives that story now; the South African novelist J.M. Coetzee wrote it in 1980. “Waiting
Walking Through Walls - Ever read a book, love it, but come away shaking your head, not sure what to believe? That's a picture of me, after inhaling every word of Philip Smith's memoir. A
