One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.” —Thomas Wolfe New York. The city. Home to 8 million devotees. It’s not always easy, and in the summer the subway is hotter than Andrew Garfield, but there’s only one New York. It’s been the backdrop, [...]
I love to cook, but I don’t always enjoy coming up with recipes. Like many of us, I have binders full of recipes that I’ve found online, but I still adore a beautiful, resource-full cookbook. When it’s truly great, you tend not to stray, and you keep coming back because it works. So I’ve put [...]
It’s no secret that young adult (YA) fiction is being read by more than young adults these days. Despite being generally geared at kids ages 12-18, the hoards of grown women wearing Team Edward shirts clearly indicate that this is a very loose guideline. I’ve personally avoided the Twilight saga (I prefer my characters to [...]
I always read before I go to sleep at night (hence the super catchy title of this column). And as often as I am dozing off with the book on my face, I’m laying awake listening to every creak and shudder, convinced there’s a psycho at the back door. This is what happens when you [...]
Well, fellow book lovers, I’m bowing out. I’ve read my last book and I’m moving to an ashram to be totally alone with my thoughts. OK, so that’s not true. The ashram part anyway. This is my last column, however, and with its culmination I leave you a final preview of all the good, great, [...]
What a week. (Weeks, actually.) A hurricane that made my house shake so violently I had to take a Dramamine, an infinitesimal inconvenience considering the heartbreaking devastation from the Jersey Shore to Coney Island, including my own Hoboken. An election night that drew to a close two years of intense politicking, and lastly, a snowstorm [...]
It’s back! It’s back! Last Sunday, Lena Dunham’s brilliant Girls returned to HBO for its second season. Teeming with that same naked, intelligent energy as last season, Girls deserves all good things. (OK, I admit I wasn’t an early adopter. I felt a bit—well, old, but when my pop culture curiosity got the best of [...]
I love getting books as presents. The neatly wrapped stack of books under the Christmas tree every year is my version of a Lexus with a giant bow on top. (And hey, credits for e-books are pretty great, too, I suppose.) So consider this list my personal wish list (hint, hint)—or, as it’s really intended, [...]
I may not ever visit India or own a vineyard, but I’ll still spend my life traveling all over the world and walking in winemaker’s shoes. It’s the beauty of books, of course. I can’t say it isn’t fascinating in its own way to read a book about middle class mothers living in the Northeast [...]
Tonight is the Season 3 finale of Downton Abbey. Now, if you’re anything like me (obsessed), you’ve already watched every episode on Amazon (I blame Tom the socialist chauffeur), and you’re already sad that you have to wait another year before Season 4. Ho hum. That’s what I get for having no patience. I take solace [...]
Perhaps this week’s column should be called On My TiVo. I love TV. It’s up there with my cat and my bookshelves as things I would never be willing to part with. (Of course, I mean after my family. Sigh.) And it’s a glorious time for television—maybe the best ever. So this week, I decided [...]