December 1, 2017: My second piece for the New York Times Book Review—a cluster review of kids’ books that would …
Old Gray Lady, Two
Best Forgotten VII: One of These Days, Alice…
October 6, 2017: Funny how the first two times I devoted a Best Forgotten column to a movie (see here …
Rumours Is 40, Stevie Is Timeless
August 29, 2017: It’s okay: you can be a good punk and still like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, which turns forty …
Me and the Old (Gray) Lady
August 25, 2017: That’s not me with Dame Edna: that’s Stella McCartney. And Dame Edna isn’t gray, or even (technically) …
Best Forgotten VI: Hard-Boiled, Over Easy
July 13, 2017: Evan Hunter (1926–2005) was probably best known as the screenwriter for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), but …
Mom’s Friend’s Picasso
May 11, 2017: Hey you! (Yes, you.) The Awl just posted “The Picasso in Her Closet,” my essay about a …
My New Favorite Person: Joan Didion
May 10, 2017: I confess to coming late to the Joan Didion Appreciation Society (membership: a squillion), but I’m now …
Happy (Whatever) Birthday, Doris Day
April 3, 2017: Ninety-three, nine-five—let’s not preoccupy ourselves with her age. The crucial tally here is thirty-nine, the number of …
Best Forgotten V: Hold the Eunice
March 22, 2017: Let me be the first to say that the ’n’ in 1972’s Pete ’n’ Tillie, the movie …
Whole Lotta Rosie
January 15, 2017: In just about my favorite assignment ever, V magazine had me write about Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin’s …