From time to time I’m posting bookstore appreciations from readers. Below John Williams, a former Harper Perennial editor now doing freelance editing and writing (and maintaining a blog at A Special Way of Being Afraid), praises Saratoga Springs’ Lyrical Ballad. (Images swiped from Book Trout.) The last full week of every August, I visit Saratoga Springs, New York, with my . . .
A couple weekends ago I was still struggling with that essay about my ex-boyfriend. I’ve tried to write about our relationship many times over the years, in at least five or six completely different ways, and I was starting to worry that this was just the latest abortive attempt when my friend Phil sat me down and told me to . . .
Virginia Woolf suggested that pilgrimages to writers’ houses should be “condemned as sentimental journeys.”
The Smart Set is a weekly feature, compiled by Lauren Cerand, that usually appears Mondays at 12:30pm 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 lauren [at] maudnewton.com by the Thursday prior to publication, with the date in the . . .