The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled and posted by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30 pm, and highlights the best of the week to come. Special favor is given to New York’s independent booksellers and venues, and low-cost and free events. Please send details to Ms. Cerand at lauren [at] maudnewton.com by the Thursday prior to . . .
Like the narrator of his The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford had a “genius for creating confusion & a nervous horror of dealing with the results.”
The to-do pile is toppling over, so the week’s blogging forecast isn’t great. For now, I invite you to consider, in view of this photo I took on the subway last week (back in those halcyon days when the train was delayed but not altogether useless), a couple essays on reading that you may have seen earlier this year: Ursula . . .
Margaret Atwood’s Long Pen is just the beginning. The new digital implements are amazingly versatile. (Thanks, Max.)
As you probably know, Governor Paterson issued a directive last week requiring New York agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Since then, several groups and politicians have threatened challenges, the Christian Alliance Defence Fund has actually sued, and the state’s conservative party released a statement accusing the Governor of acting “without giving New Yorkers the opportunity to . . .