Nightstand 2014: Week Twenty-Six

What I’m reading this week, including an interview conducted by a favorite writer (Hessler), a book by another favorite writer (Portis), and a sneak peak at a new book celebrating a favorite photographer (Leiter). Oh, and then there’s McSweeney’s “Short Imagined Monologues,” which are brilliant. Two recent versions top this week’s “Nightstand”:

• “A Bear Explains How to Survive a Bear Attack” by Janelle Blasdel (McSweeney’s, June 23, 2014)
• “Because I Said So” by Marsh McCall (McSweeney’s, June 23, 2014)
• “Chocolate Milk in the Schools and Other Products of Expert Opinion” by Paul John Scott (StarTribune, June 22, 2014)
• The Dog of the South by Charles Portis (1979)
• “An Empty Heart is One That Can Be Filled” by Lily King (The New York Times, June 18, 2014)
• “How a Woman’s Plan to Kill Herself Helped Her Family Grieve” by Alix Spiegel (NPR, June 23, 2014)
• “John McPhee, The Art of Nonfiction No. 3” interviewed by Peter Hessler (The Paris Review, Spring 2010)
• “Lest Ye Be Judged” by Jon Mooallem (ESPN The Magazine, June 20, 2014)
• “Saul Leiter: Early Black and White” (L’Oeil de la Photographie, June 23, 2014)
• “Sick, Frail, and Abandoned by Home Care Firms” by Chris Serres (StarTribune, June 22, 2014)

Nightstand 2013: Week Forty-Eight

What I’m reading this week:

• “Chaplin’s Three Hundred and Forty-Two Takes” by Richard Brody (“The Front Row” blog, The New Yorker, November 19, 2013)
• “How Doctors Die: Showing Others the Way” by Dan Gorenstein (The New York Times, November 19, 2013)
• “The Sounds of New York City, Circa 1920” by Theo Balcomb (“The Two-Way” blog, NPR.org, October 22, 2013)
• “This City Could Be Your Poet: Minneapolis” interview with Sarah Fox (Tin House, November 19, 2013)
• “Two Gunshots on a Summer Night” by Walt Bogdanich and Glenn Silber (The New York Times, November 23, 2013)
• “A Year Later, Feds Inch Forward on Fair Housing” by Nikole Hannah-Jones (ProPublica, November 22, 2013)
• Yellowcake by Ann Cummings (2007)

Nightstand 2013: Week Forty-Six

What I’m reading this week — way too much, so let’s get to it:

• “Bob and Evelyn’s Seven-Decade Dance” by Rebecca Koenig (Narratively, November 11, 2013)
• “Comfort Food: No One Brings Dinner When Your Daughter Is an Addict” by Larry M. Lake (Slate, November 8, 2013)
• “Cut in Food Stamps Forces Hard Choices on the Poor” by Kim Severson and Winnie Hu (The New York Times, November 7, 2013)
• “Find the Bad Guy” by Jeffrey Eugenides (The New Yorker, November 18, 2013)
• “In 1913, a New York Armory Filled With Art Stunned a Nation” by Susan Stamberg (National Public Radio, November 11, 2013)
• “Is It O.K. to Kill Cyclists?” by Daniel Duane (The New York Times, November 9, 2013)
• “Is PTSD Contagious?” by Mac McClelland (Mother Jones, January/February 2013)
• “‘It’s Like the Whole First World War in a Cup of Tea’” by Andrew Curry (Slate, November 7, 2013)
• Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner (2004)
• “The Wanderer” by Samanth Subramanian (Aeon Magazine, October 23, 2013)

Nightstand 2013: Week Thirty-Seven

What I’m reading this week — in the last seven days I’ve bookmarked more than 30 articles. I obviously won’t get to all of them, but I plan to read the following, along with a book of nonfiction about World War One veterans:

• “The Bus Stop Between Two Worlds: Photographs by Greg Miller” by Greg Miller (“Time LightBox” blog, Time, September 4, 2013)
• “James Turrell Experiments With the ‘Thingness of Light Itself’” by Edward Lifson (npr.org, September 7, 2013)
• The Last of the Doughboys by Richard Rubin (2013)
• “My Best Stupid Decision” by Katy Read (Full Grown People, September 6, 2013)
• “The Value of Suffering” by Pico Iyer (The New York Times, September 7, 2013)
• “Who Was J. D. Salinger?” by Adam Gopnik (“Page-Turner” blog, The New Yorker, September 5, 2013)
• “Your Labor Day Syria Reader, Part 1: Stevenson and Lofgren” by James Fallows, Charles Stevenson, and Mike Lofgren (The Atlantic, September 2, 2013)
• “Your Labor Day Syria Reader, Part 2: William Polk” by James Fallows and William Polk (The Atlantic, September 2, 2013)

And if anyone has read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I read it last week and sobbed through the last 100 pages or so. I’m not sure if I’m hormonal or the moon is in a weird phase, because books usually don’t make me cry. But this one? Oy.

Nightstand 2013: Week Thirty-Four

What I’m reading this week, including stories on genocide/political unrest, grief/funerals, publishers, surprises found in old books, and photographer Alec Soth’s thoughts on one of the most intriguing novels I’ve read this year, Submergence:

• “Always Go to the Funeral” by Deirdre Sullivan (npr.org, August 8, 2013)
• “Anatomy of a Publisher: The Story of Farrar, Straus & Giroux” by Robert Gottlieb (The New Yorker, August 13, 2013)
• “The Bank of Bygone Bookmarks” by Shannon Firth (narrative.ly, August 13, 2013)
• “Egypt Crosses the Line” by Peter Hessler (“Daily Comment” blog, The New Yorker, August 15, 2013)
• “Popsicle #32: Submergence by J.M. Ledgard” by Alec Soth (“Little Brown Mushroom” blog, August 19, 2013)
• “The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Grief Magic” by Emily Rapp (“The Rumpus” blog, August 11, 2013)
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (1998)

And I’m crushing on these sweet illustrations by London artist Alice Ferrow:

• Alice Ferrow

Nightstand

Life is a whirl this time of year, and I tend to hunker down with art projects rather than books over the holidays. But I always look forward to The New York Times annual lists of best books. Along with these, below are all the lists I’m purusing this week (and the recommended book from each that I look forward to reading in the new year):

• “The 10 Best Books of 2012” by the editors of The New Times Book Review (The New York Times, November 30, 2012): Ugh — too difficult to pick. But I love Dave Eggers, so I’ll go with A Hologram for the King, with Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo a close second (because my dad loved it).
• “100 Notable Books of 2012” by the editors of The New Times Book Review (The New York Times, November 27, 2012): Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
• “Best Books of 2012: The Complete List” (NPR, November 18, 2012): Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro
• “The 10 Best Books of 2012” (The Washington Post, November 16, 2012): Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
• “Best Books of 2012” (Publisher’s Weekly): Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain by Lucia Perillo

Let the Great City Spin

My apartment’s Internet connection was on the fritz for more than a week, so instead of posting a bunch of back posts, I’ve summarized and catalogued my latest challenges, observations, and adventures for your quick perusal.

Bussing out all over

I took the bus from NYC to Boston to meet my parents for a long New England weekend. Perhaps a plane or a train would have been a smarter option, but where’s the true discomfort and adventure in that?

I envisioned sitting next to some questionable characters who packed their own lunch and preached old time religion to me, but alas, just normal, boring folk like yours truly ride the bus. But the driver had a garbled Sylvester Stallone voice and hung a plastic bag full of bananas behind his seat, reaching back occasionally to partake of its contents. For a $32 round-trip ticket, I was sufficiently entertained and amused.

Connecticut rest stop

Good times

Upon my return from Boston I rushed to Brooklyn for the last hours of the Brooklyn Book Festival. I visited dozens of independent publisher and literary magazine booths, including Graywolf and Coffee House Presses. We briefly commiserated about Minnesota and the good people and places back home.

And for some reason Jimmie Walker was interviewed on one of the main stages (I guess he wrote a book). The interviewer tried desperately to entice the audience to yell “DYN-O-MITE!” When the literary crowd didn’t go for that nonsense, she had them try multiple times until the desired level of enthusiasm was achieved. I was a poor sport, yelled nothing, and skedaddled.

Bibliophiles are hungry (and messy)

Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza

High life on the LowLine

After the book festival I scurried back to Manhattan to pass through the last hour of the LowLine sneak peak. Check this puppy out. It will be the new High Line, but underground in an abandoned trolley terminal. Promising concept. Not sure I can spend lots of time underground, no matter how much solar-powered sunlight they pump in, but excited to see what transpires.

The future! Tree growing underground

Stranger than fiction

This spring my friend Loren encouraged me to submit something for Three-Minute Fiction, a writing contest National Public Radio holds several times a year. The latest submission deadline was midnight Sunday. I think thousands of people submit stories, so my goal was just to get something completed and out the door. I dislike the contest topic (the story has to include a real or fictional U.S. president), but I finally completed and submitted my story two hours before the deadline.

Because my Internet was down, I went to the wine bar across the street and ordered some sparkling vino so I could use their wi-fi to upload and send the piece. A French guy sitting next to me at the bar was inebriated and kept singing bad dance tunes as he composed them in his head. Fitting end to my crazy, busy, magical day.

Speaking of presidents…

Obama is in town — or something is afoot at the United Nations. Police officers everywhere. I was afraid to cross against a red light, thinking they’d yell at me. I’m a sensitive flower and hate to infuriate people, so I followed the rules. For the most part.

High times in a tiny box made of glass and metal

Last year when I was in Manhattan, I passed the trams that take people to Roosevelt Island and thought, “I’m so glad I’ll never set foot in one of those death traps.”

Then I had this urge Monday to see Roosevelt Island, and because there is nothing remotely challenging about wanting to go there, I surmised I would have to take the tram rather than the subway to escape to said isle. If you are familiar with my exploits, you’ll know I’m terrified of heights, and tram joy rides are a no-no. But I boarded it with my “it can’t be that bad” jolly attitude.

The tram goes high. And over water. And lumbers slowly next to a scary bridge. And there are ventilation holes in the bottom at the sides. Sometimes in the midst of one’s tram ride, one might accidentally look down not knowing the holes are there and see the water below and start to panic. Then you come to the steep decline that lands you on the island, and it looks like you’re going to drop to your death. I tried to take pictures. I couldn’t hold the camera straight because I was so terrified, but here’s a taste of the view, which was spectacular when I wasn’t hyperventilating.

Scary high

Of course I survived it and the return tram ride. And I won’t likely go back (Roosevelt Island felt like the Land of Misfit Toys). My work here is done.

Swing your partner, do-si-do

I haven’t square danced since Jefferson Elementary School gym class. Luckily, I didn’t need to wait another 35 years for a chance at the big dance. I ended the day promenading with hundreds of others in Bryant Park. Cheshire Cat grin-worthy stuff, people.

Hoedown in Bryant Park

Buck It Up, Sunshine — Part II

Last week I told the forlorn tale about the gushing indoor waterfall and my need to possibly find alternative shelter or pack it in and go back to Minnesota early. Long story short, I’m staying put for now and keeping my fingers crossed that there’ll be no more apartment malfeasance during my stay.

Hey! No, wait, forget it

Thought I saw the following people as I walked around Manhattan Monday. All false alarms:

• Owen Wilson sitting in the Washington Square Park fountain
• Lena Dunham walking across Washington Square Park away from fake Owen Wilson in the fountain
• Dustin Hoffman and George Lucas by the United Nations each wearing a three-piece suit

I need new spectacles.

The Quotidian Photograph

A story NPR ran earlier this year on the Providence Athenaeum enamored me, and today my parents took me there. This was the highlight of possibly my whole East Coast/New York adventure. I was giddy — a book and history lover’s dream.