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 event’s date in . . .
“Among the many things that distinguished literature at the turn of the 19th century was the quality and creative richness of the friendships that produced it.”
I’ve savored Calvin Trillin’s stories — of Xmas dinner in Chinatown, of the tic-tac-toe-playing chicken, of his late wife Alice — for years, but hadn’t seen him speak until January’s 92nd Street Y event celebrating the publication of About Alice. Trillin and his interviewer, Mark Singer, are old friends, so the banter was perfectly timed, and not at all stagey. . . .
Books on tape and voice recognition software nearly made Braille obsolete, but the writing system has experienced a resurgence in recent years.