Comments on: Help me! I need a fix!

Question: Help me! I need a fix!

Evangeline — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:52:15 -0800

I'd like to recreate the thrill I used to get reading NON-fiction articles in the pre-Tina Brown "New Yorker" (yeah, I know she's no longer the editor, but I can still smell her when I get too close to a current issue), and I'm wondering if I can do it online by following a group of literate blogs (or other online resources?).

I DON'T want to read anything topical.

I DON'T want to read anything political.

I want well-written, personal essays on obscure topics. (I've taken to reading random pages of Wikipedia, but it's a bit to scematic for my tastes.)

When Tina Brown took over the "New Yorker," she scoffed at the articles that the magazine used to publish, citing one on zinc as a laughably obscure example. Well, I read that article on zinc and LIKED it.

I liked the fact that the NYer writing was SO good that I could pick it up and read an article at random -- an article on a subject that didn't even interest me -- and the writer would draw me in.

The closest I've ever found online was Openletters.net. Unfortunately it's been dead for years. I also like "This American Life" when they're straying from the political/topical. But I want something I can read -- not listen to. Help!

By: Evangeline

Evangeline — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:53:18 -0800

By the way, I already know about the NYer archives on DVD.

By: atom128

atom128 — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:56:12 -0800

I like The Morning News. A good portion of it is fiction, but not all. Also try Other Peoples Stories.

By: vronsky

vronsky — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 14:09:58 -0800

I don't have an answer Evangeline, just wanted to say that this was a GREAT question. I am exactly the same way. I miss it so much, and truth is, it will probably never happen again. People rave about Shawn, but for this type of writing, I think Gottlieb's New Yorker was the best.

By: johngoren

johngoren — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 14:13:21 -0800

Do you follow Arts & Letters Daily?

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 14:20:59 -0800

John McPhee is writing for the New Yorker again; his article on coal trains last week was fantastic, as was his piece on riverboat pilots earlier this year.

By: ericb

ericb — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 14:48:33 -0800

I second (highly) John McPhee! Here's his official website.

Also, check out...

Adam Gopnik

Donald Hall

Michael Ruhlman

David Sedaris

Sarah Vowell

By: ericb

ericb — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:00:18 -0800

My bad ... the five links are bad. Here are ones that work:

Gopnik, Hall, Ruhlman, Sedaris and Vowell.

Oh -- and consider Tracy Kidder.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 16:50:31 -0800

IMHO, the jewel of The New Yorker was and remains Louis Menand. If you haven't read The Metaphysical Club, do so immediately. It's one of the best books I've read in the past few years. I can't wait for his next book on the Cold War (I saw him lecture and it was spectacular).

By: dpcoffin

dpcoffin — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 16:56:55 -0800

While I certainly sympathise with any feeling that they just dont do it right any more..., I must say that I still read and love the NYer just as you describe: something I can pick up at random and settle down with for a guaranteed good read about interesting stuff by equally interesting and impressive writers. I miss the huge profiles and the occasional endless essay on unlikely stuff, too, but I still love the critiques and the reviews and the personal histories and the overviews of current scholarship. The recent piece on Gertrude Stein and her first novel was a perfect example.

So...imo, theres still gold in them hills; just heading off now to dig some more, perched on a driftwood sofa with a few random issues twisted into my jacket pocket while my wife beach-combs along the southern Oregon coast. In the middle of gorgeous nowhere, Im connected to the best of the rest of the world...because the NYer is STILL the best magazine in the world.

By: quietfish

quietfish — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 17:23:09 -0800

I was just recently turned on to a Montreal-based magazine called Maisonneuve. Website here.

The topics appear to be wide and varied. For example, there was a really good personal piece about dieting, another about kangaroo killing and how the National Gallery is spending taxpayer dollars.

By: raysmj

raysmj — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 19:58:45 -0800

ericb: Sarah Vowell does not avoid politics. Not hardly. I love political writing, but I grew tired of the constant opinions re current politics in "Assassination Vacation."

By: docpops

docpops — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:20:23 -0800

Damn, dpcoffin, you read my mind.

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 08:04:11 -0800

The London Review of Books does this kind of thing - the pieces are mostly book reviews, but only loosely - they always have good writers who construct an interesting piece around their theme. Sometimes they will have more general pieces, not based around books.

I imagine the New York Review of Books does a similar thing?

By: neuron

neuron — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 12:52:19 -0800

So just read the old NYers on DVD. Also, read John McPhee's books; I've read 20+ of them and they're all great. Read E.B. White.

Also, can someone please explain why the NYer has to have a Fashion issue -and- a Style issue, and why I shouldn't slap them for it?

By: matildaben

matildaben — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 17:18:25 -0800

Best American Essays anthology (yearly).