Monday, January 3, 2011

Why I get The New Yorker

I just renewed my subscription to The New Yorker although I was a little on the fence about it. I've gone through periods of getting the magazine then cancelling, because they do pile up.

But it helps me live a rich fantasy life, pretending I'm on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. (Do people who live in New City York read The New Yorker? I'm assuming they do but I don't really know.)

And where else can you get insight like this, in Adam Gopnik's interview with chef Ferran Adria, of the legendary Spanish restaurant elBulli:
Were we, I asked, on the verge of entirely breaking down the line between sweet and savory?
He looked at me with delighted triumph. “It can’t be that an American is asking me that!” he said. “A hamburger with ketchup and Coca-Cola? That’s the most intense symbiosis of sweet and savory imaginable. It’s your cultural theme.”
Our cultural theme is a hamburger with ketchup and a Coke - now I know! I searched Google for a photo to accompany this post but to be honest, they were all pretty unappetizing.

7 comments:

karigee said...

This New Yorker does! I always find something I want to see in their listings, and I love both Anthony Lane and Alex Ross (and Adam Gopnik, who had a great piece on Van Gogh last year). David Denby wrote a review of a new book on Joan Crawford last week that was a great rollicking read.

Jeff said...

Oh, we most definitely read the New Yorker! Some weeks it doesn't contain much that interests me, but there's usually at least one thing that does. But as a friend of mine once said, the New Yorker is a weekly magazine that contains about a week and a half's worth of reading. So I am forever falling behind.

Esther said...

Thanks Kari and Jeff! I feel more secure in my fantasy life now. ;-)

I liked the piece on the Joan Crawford bio, too. Their book reviews are really more like essay about the person, which is great. The article on the Vatican library was good, too. In fact, was an especially good issue.

The one thing I generally skip is the fiction. I've never been much of a short story fan. I just find them hard to get into. And some of them are excerpts from novels, which makes it even harder.

karigee said...

There's a kerfuffle a-brewin', however: http://jezebel.com/5723537/

Esther said...

Wow, maybe that's why I enjoyed the latest issue so much - it was written by boys! ;-) Seriously, it would never occur to me to do a gender check on the list of contributors to make sure there were an equal number of men and women.

Aaron Riccio said...

I've loved Adam Gopnik's writing ever since he did a big essay on magic a few years back.

And Esther, I would love for you to give the fiction another chance, especially this most recent story (from the Jan. 3 issue) that Steven Millhauser wrote. It's only three pages. I've started writing up the fiction printed in major publications, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the stories.

Esther said...

Thanks for the comment, Aaron. Ok, for you, I will give the fiction another chance! But I think I'm just more of a novel person. ;-)