Reading New York: 2022 Edition

Jane Mount, Ideal Bookshelf #364-New York, 2008. (You can order a copy of this illustration as a print from Jane’s … More

Like A Dream : Li Qingzhao’s Poetry

Part I : Encounters I first encountered Li Qingzhao’s poetry in Robert Hass’s translation workshop at Berkeley. I was very … More

When the war began, I realized that I knew almost nothing about Ukraine. I could barely find it on a … More

I keep meaning to write a series of short essays discussing my favorite books of the past year, but I … More

1. At some point in college, I became obsessed with cookbooks. This obsession with cookbooks coincided with two things—first, I … More

I came up with the Cooking By the Book series years ago (really, almost half a lifetime ago), when food … More

One white-hot July morning, I took the train from Bologna to Ravenna. The train dropped me off at the foot … More

2020, overall, was not conducive to serious reading. I spent much of it glued to my glowing screen, staring gape-eyed … More

At some point in the pandemic year, I decided to transform my interest in wine into an intellectual interest. I … More

These past few months, my life has orbited around the same small Manhattan apartment. The experience is like being adrift … More