James Wood: “Lessons From My Mother”
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Lovely essay.
Knausgaard & Zadie
Sunday, October 23, 2016
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvvjWhFlV38?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281] Yes, please.
“Fractured Lands”: An extraordinary, deeply affecting single-article issue of The New York Times Magazine. Unforgettable.
Roz Chast's Deeply Poignant Memoir
Saturday, August 20, 2016
I’ve long chuckled at Roz Chast’s cartoons in The New Yorker. This graphic memoir, the first such book I’ve read, was so much more than a chuckle: funny, yes — but direct, deeply poignant, sharply observant. It’s hard to think about someone more perfectly born and raised to write (and draw) one specific book. Having finished the book, I’m looking forward to listening to this “Fresh Air” interview with the author.
The Refugee Nation
Sunday, August 14, 2016
The official flag for The Refugee Nation, a team of ten refugees currently competing in the Rio Olympics, draws its colour scheme and design from lifejackets. Designed by Syrian artist and refugee Yara Said, the flag is a vivid orange with a single black stripe. Learn more about this beautiful effort.
Tadao Ando: The Idea of a Center
Sunday, August 14, 2016
From Michael Auping’s Seven Interviews with Tadao Ando: The idea of a center is an interesting one, and one that is more of a Western concept. Roland Barthes made a comment on visiting Japan that it is a country that doesn’t seem to have a center; great depth, but no center. I think I carry that aspect of Japan with me. For me, the center of a building is always the person who is in it, experiencing the space from within it themselves.
Listenforestpark.org
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Fun audio project our Forest Park Forever team launched this summer.
Max Porter's "Grief Is the Thing with Feathers"
Sunday, July 10, 2016
"> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:540px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:56.296295166016%;" class=" image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio "> <img src="http://sschenkenberg.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/0ce4d-image-asset.jpeg" alt="" /><img class="thumb-image" alt="" /> </div> </figure> </div> I loved everything about this singular, poetic, deeply moving book. Huge congrats to Max Porter on a phenomenal debut. (Here’s the review that led me to it.)
“The Monocle Guide to Cozy Homes”
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Really enjoyed this book, which eschews icy, spacious luxury and celebrates lived-in warmth and often modest SQF. The choices on the first few pages (shown below) are representative of the book’s distinct point of view. (That kitchen towel is telling.) <div class=" image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-hidden design-layout-inline "> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:500px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:126.40000915527%;" class=" image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio "> <img src="http://sschenkenberg.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/eea1e-image-asset.jpeg" alt="" /><img class="thumb-image" alt="" /> </div> </figure> </div> <div class=" image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-hidden design-layout-inline "> <figure class=" sqs-block-image-figure intrinsic " style="max-width:500px;"> <div style="padding-bottom:133.
Paul Kalanithi Writes To His Daughter
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
From his extraordinary book, When Breath Becomes Air: When you come to one of the many moments in life where you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and done, and meant to the world, do not, I pray, discount that you filled a dying man’s days with a sated joy, a joy unknown to me in all my prior years, a joy that does not hunger for more and more but rests, satisfied.
"Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl"
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Really enjoyed Carrie Brownstein’s impressive, observant, terrifically titled memoir.
Silverblatt & Knausgaard
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Having just finished book three of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle (I enjoyed the first two more, though this volume’s still captivating), I was eager to listen to both part one and part two of the author’s interviews on Michael Silverblatt’s “Bookworm.” It’s great listening. These insights from Silverblatt — which followed his comment that Knausgaard clearly knows his “great literature” — rang especially true for me: What’s daring about My Struggle is that you’re willing to put the difficulty of the literature of the century — Joyce on — aside, to recapture the human.
Year in Review: 2015
Friday, January 1, 2016
Continuing a 15-year tradition (though one that’s gotten briefer with age and fatherhood), here’s a roundup of some of my favorite things experienced during the past 12 months: Books My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Elena Ferrante The Story of a New Name, Elena Ferrante The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante Lila, Marilyn Robinson My Struggle: Book 2, Karl Ove Knausgård Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
My Bubba
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzzVdi3HOfU?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281] My Bubba — great discovery for me via NPR Tiny Desk Concerts.
David Remnick on "CBS Sunday Morning"
Friday, December 4, 2015
He continues to be near the top of my list of working professionals I admire.
Adam Gopnik: "Practicing Doubt, Redrawing Faith"
Friday, December 4, 2015
Terrific “On Being” conversation.
"Status Update" — This American Life
Thursday, December 3, 2015
The first segment on high school freshman and Instagram (“’Relevance’ is a big term right now…. In middle school, we were definitely really relevant… ”) is a pretty incredible window.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Longform
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Two of my favorites.
Ida
Friday, November 27, 2015
A film with gorgeous black and white shots from start to finish.
"I Was a Refugee"
Friday, November 27, 2015
Veneta Rizvic, writing in the St. Louis Business Journal.