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 . . .
Your only options two centuries on?: Either Frankenstein is a masterpiece by Mr. Shelley, or it’s so incoherent and clotted only the missus could have spawned it?
Jerry Stahl braced for “your basic backwoods, teenage-accidental-shooting, hicks ‘n’ fascists saga,” but wound up breathless with admiration for American Youth.
Please read James Wood’s Roberto Bolaño appreciation, and then consult The Mumpsimus. A few highlights from the National Arts Club tribute are incoming.
Six years after my mom’s dad helped start a garment cutters’ union, he’d left the clothing trade, been divorced from my grandmother and remarried, and founded Bruce Motor Service. This photo appeared in the May 16, 1947 issue of Shopping News, a weekly Oak Cliff circular masquerading as a newspaper. The caption paints Robert Bruce as a man who liked . . .