Ta-da! I finished! I’ve been reading Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 in weekly installments, since March of 2022. And now I have finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the reading experience. I have a list of doorstoppers that I’d like to approach the same way.
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wmtc: what i’m reading: madame restell (nonfiction version)
In March, I wrote about My Notorious Life, historical fiction by Kate Manning, based on the life of a woman known as Madame Restell. I loved the book. Then, by beautiful coincidence, I stumbled on this book while in Powell’s City of Books in Portland: Madame Restell: the Life, Death
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: my notorious life by kate manning (madame restell, fictional version, nonfiction to follow)
I read this book last year, and have been recommending it nonstop, so it’s about time to commit it to wmtc. My Notorious Life was an obvious book for me to love — or to hate. Much historical fiction feels contrived to me. An author takes a period of history, writes
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: harlem shuffle, exciting new fiction by colson whitehead
I’ve been reading Colson Whitehead since his debut novel, The Intuitionist, caught the attention of critics in 1999. With every successive title — each entirely different than the previous one — I’ve loved and admired his writing more. This blog is full of posts about Whitehead’s work and how much
Continue readingwmtc: from the archives: all over the world, i tell people where to go
On our recent trip to Oregon and California, I made a note every time someone asked me for directions. That may seem like an odd thing to track — unless you’re well-established as a magnet for The Lost. Not the spiritually lost. The physically lost and uncertain. On this trip,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Sometimes They Get It Right
People who read this blog more than occasionally will be aware that I am not a big fan of Americans. Their widespread ignorance, their collective solipsism, their endless bruiting about being “the greatest nation on earth” are off-putting, to put it mildly. However, once in awhile, some of them make
Continue readingwmtc: virtual walking tours of new york city, hosted by ny times architect critic michael kimmelman
During the pandemic shutdown, there were so many offers of interesting things to do online — cooking, crafting, indoor exercise, art classes, author readings, and on and on. I didn’t do any of it. I began piano lessons with Pianote, read books, took walks, and generally (although somewhat guiltily) enjoyed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Young Ben Harper gets a well-heeled start in politics, thanks to dear old dad’s former lieutenant
Give Ben Harper’s old man his due: he got his son a better first job in Alberta than the elder Mr. Harper’s pop got him. Readers with functioning short-term memories will recall that not so long ago much was made of the fact Stephen Harper’s father got the former Conservative
Continue readingwmtc: missing nyc: spontaneous political street art in bloom
This story in The New York Times made me miss New York City more than anything has in a very long time. All over the city, artists have created murals protest racism and police abuse. This critic surveys the murals, and compares them to the Neolithic cave art in the
Continue readingwmtc: a piece of new york is gone: pete hamill, rest in peace
A piece of New York City died this week. Pete Hamill, a legendary New York journalist and possibly the last of a breed, died yesterday at age 85. Obituaries describe him as a “tabloid poet” or “tabloid hero”. If he hadn’t existed, perhaps Raymond Chandler would have invented him. It
Continue readingwmtc: rip christo. there will never be another.
I was so very sad to hear that the artist Christo has died at the age of 84. I felt so incredibly fortunate to still be living in NYC when The Gates was there. I went through the entire installation multiple times, when very few people were there — once
Continue readingwmtc: george floyd, christian cooper, and when will this end?
The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers may be the most shocking disturbing of any I’ve been aware of for a very long time, possibly since the murder of Amadou Diallo, way back in 1999. Police murders of unarmed, and often completely subdued, African Americans have lost all power
Continue readingwmtc: rest in power, larry kramer
We activists like to paraphrase the legendary labour activist Joe Hill by saying “First mourn, then organize”. Larry Kramer, who died yesterday at the age of 84, defined the phrase. He taught a generation — he taught an entire culture — how to use grief as fuel, how to channel anger
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Part 2 of All Extracts from Silent Lips about a virus in New York City – just for you!
Part 2 of All 43 extracts from my novel Silent Lips, which deals with a deadlly virus that leads to New York City being quarantined (available as an eBook for ONLY 99 CENTS!) For Part 1 (posts 1 to 32) check the earlier post.Click here for Part 1. Post 33
Continue readingPostArctica: News From Home – a film by Chantal Akerman
How long is a long take? That’s the question I was asking myself as I began watching this mesmerizing film which is basically a lot of long takes in New York City while the director reads letters (with English subtitles) her mother had sent her from Belgium when she had
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: working by robert caro
Fans of Robert Caro rejoiced when we learned that Caro, author of nonfiction histories, was writing a book about his writing process. When the book was published, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one surprised by its brevity. At a slim 207 pages, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing is the equivalent
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: working by robert caro
Fans of Robert Caro rejoiced when we learned that Caro, author of nonfiction histories, was writing a book about his writing process. When the book was published, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one surprised by its brevity. At a slim 207 pages, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing is the equivalent
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: working by robert caro
Fans of Robert Caro rejoiced when we learned that Caro, author of nonfiction histories, was writing a book about his writing process. When the book was published, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one surprised by its brevity. At a slim 207 pages, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing is the equivalent
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Greening of America – Big Apple Style
New York City is getting serious about slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg set out to cut emissions 30 per cent by 2030. The current mayor, Bill de Blasio, has pledged cuts of 80 per cent by 2050. New York City is targeting it’s biggest emitter – buildings.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Oysters Are Saving New York’s Waters
There are many fans of oysters who eat them for their failure; however, I’m a fan of oysters because of what they eat. Back in 2011 we looked at the idea of using oysters to clean waters while harbouring other species – with the bonus impact that the oysters then
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