Sad news. I remember vividly when his gooey warm chocolate chunksters arrived on the scene (warring with Mrs. Fields’s) after an early childhood of dry, crumbly Chips Ahoy from plastic sleeves. Manhattan madeleines. nytimes.com/2024/07/10/din…

Cats are the new pussy hats. By Ginia Bellafante nytimes.com/2024/07/25/nyr…

I could have written an entire review just about the Sondheim chapter, but controlled self. nytimes.com/2024/07/28/boo…

Are brick-and-mortar bookstores crucial to our democracy? Evan Friss makes a good case for yes. nytimes.com/2024/08/04/boo…

The literary angle: Walz’s time in Mankato, associated with both Sinclair Lewis and Maud Hart Lovelace. cc The Betsy-Tacy Society

"The president's cat, Willow, was slinking around underfoot." Michael D. Shear Katie Rogers @adamentous nytimes.com/2024/08/15/us/…

Disgruntled reader wrote that I made a flagrant error calling Ian Frazier a Baudelaire of the Bronx not a Tocqueville of the Bronx, Nope! I said I what I said. My flagrant error was attributing plastic-bag idealization to the wrong guy in American Beauty. nytimes.com/2024/08/18/boo…

Love a big bio. Nothing nobler. nytimes.com/2024/08/25/boo…