Quick Recs

“Roosevelt Dargon” – Andrea Cohen, The New Yorker, 12 September 2022, 52-53

You had me at the first sentence, and you did not let me go.  Masterful storytelling that immerses the reader in both the recollected scene and the narrator’s state of mind.

“Reasons” – Harkaitz Cano (translated from the Basque by Elizabeth Macklin), The New Yorker, 12 September 2022, 61

Love the 15 reasons to remain silent, the 15 reasons to yell and Cano’s use of anaphora to run the gamut from the sublime to the silly (e.g., reason to yell: “to shoo off a grouchy mouse”).

“An Ode to Hotel Rooms” – James Parker, The Atlantic, May 2022, 96

Yeah, I’m a little behind in my reading.  But I’m glad I stuck with this issue to the end so I could read Parker’s essay.  I’ve never thought of a hotel room in quite this light, but I’ll never stay in another one without Parker’s contention that “the robust Wi-Fi will make you slightly vicious” dancing through my head.