Finding the right book at the right time — isn’t that what we all want? It certainly is one of the central obsessions in my world. That’s why I’m delighted to discover The Novel Cure, which provides 751 suggestions for novels that can “cure” certain problems. The premise is that … Read More
Tag: humor
“Denial was a talent she greatly admired. She could have been Gentile, except, of course, she wasn’t.”
How does a humorist write about death? This is what I wondered when I opened Delia Ephron‘s memoir, which has a piece called “Losing Nora” about her famous sister. She relies a lot on the formula that we see in the quote above: she starts by saying the opposite … Read More
“The menu, like love, was full of delicate, gruesome things — cheeks, tongues, thymus glands.”
No writer can make me laugh harder but wince longer than Lorrie Moore. Here is a sample of her humor: “Mike’s friends, however, tended to be tense, intellectually earnest Protestants who drove new, metallic-hued cars and who within five minutes of light conversation could be counted on at … Read More