Frank Sinatra Has a Cold - by Gay Talese, first appearing in Esquire. I still remember it from reading it as a teenager.
Linkateria:
-Esquire 70th Anniversary Special -- The Greatest Stories Ever Told - five more essays from the magazine's history
Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco to close. What with Cody's in Berkeley biting the dust and Kepler's in Menlo Park on life-support, it's clear that even independents in the book-hungry Bay Area can't compete with the chains and the Internet. Wonder how Booksmith in the Haight is doing.
"We Need to Talk About Kevin" has its problems, but I can't put it down. The DaVinci Code -- because I'm so much smarter than everyone -- I could barely finish. But this book is a real page-turner. It's about a yuppie couple from New York who moves to the suburbs ands raises a kid who becomes one of those Clinton-era school shooters. The book won the Orange Prize, whatever that is (better than "The Lemon Award" I guess), and it's bound to infuriate one side of the nature/nurture debate or other.
Linkateria:
-Listen to author Lionel Shriver talk about the book on the BBC
-First three pages from Google Book Search
Them's fightin' words, from Slate.
Apropos of nothing, have y'all checked out The Underminer yet? (Is it in bad taste to use "y'all" and "apropos" in the same sentence?) Terrifically funny book by Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan. Amazon.com will let you read a half-dozen pages for free. Also take a look at Slate's Valentine's Day with the Underminer.
Linkateria:
-MikeAlbo.com
-Audio: Mike Albo performs The Underminer (Slate)
