Driving around New Jersey last weekend, we saw a lot of Ukrainian flags (more than we see here in South Florida). And I found the sight not only touching but encouraging, as I thought: Perhaps Americans are ready for a memoir that takes Eastern Europe as one of its subjects.
Someone who had never been to our condo before commented on the number of books and then asked the proverbial question, “Have you read them all?”
“I’ve read a lot of them,” I gave my standard reply. Then I added, “And I’ve written a few of them.”
Gifts this year included essays, travel books, a biography and, weighing in at 15 pounds, a two-volume collection of New Yorker cartoons. (Rarely has anything so light been so heavy.) This last present was courtesy of our neighbors Charles and Claudine, who also distinguished themselves by presenting me with three bandannas imprinted with the covers of my books.
In my Literary Hub essay last week I stated that travel writing has never been better and cited as a prime example Pamela Petro's The Long Field, even though the book is labeled a memoir.
This week the Financial Times chose The Long Field as one of the year's best travel books.
Yesterday at Bookwise, the excellent secondhand bookstore in Boca Raton, I bought a copy of Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer. I had not gotten it when it came out in 2004 because I had a lot of Liebling already, but reading it in bed last night I realized that there is no such thing as too much Liebling.