I’ve been on a New Yorker kick lately. I’m reading About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made, by Ben Yagoda. It’s filled with wonderful anecdotes (including some about pieces/authors that the magazine rejected), excerpts from correspondence, excerpts from New Yorker pieces, some famous cartoons, and summaries of famous articles and stories that originally appeared in the New Yorker (such as “Silent Spring,” “Hiroshima,” “In Cold Blood,” some Salinger and Updike stories, etc.). Great stuff.
Ben Yagoda wrote a terrific bio of Will Rogers that was published a few years ago. I recommend it if you have the chance to give it a look.
Cool. I just checked out About Town from the library, and can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. (Aside: the 1939 letter reproduced on the back cover is priceless.)
Excellent! I just finished it yesterday, and now there are so many authors I want to read.