Esquire

NOT A REVIEW BUT, A NOTE ON PAGINATION. This book is a bit rare in it's pagination. that the front matter pages (i, ii, iii, iv) do not conclude and then the standard numbered pages begin (1, 2, 3, 4). In this book, the front matter concludes with page xii and, although the next page lacks a number of any type, the following page is #14. This formatting can create a bit of an eyebrow raise when you look at the Pagination and the Physical Summary... Especially if you turn to the back of the book and glance at the last numbered page. Experienced Library Thing members get it. Hopefully this notation will help some of the newer member decide what makes the most sense for them and all the rest who shall follow in our footsteps using the community that we have created.… (more)

This 775-page short story collection is uncommonly good. It has a well-rounded and well-crafted spread of exuberant and surprising stories. I really hate collections that reprint the same twenty stories we've all read before. How many reprints of "Hills Like White Elephants" do we need? It does have its flaws, in my opinion - 3 stories by David Foster Wallace seems like a bit indulgent - but I can think of no other American collection I liked as much as this one. These are nearly all American short stories of course, since they come from a famous American publication. But there is the strange inclusion of Jorge Luis Borges. I took this as a sign that Esquire was just showing off the huge range of classic authors they managed to work into their publication. I would think that this and Esquire's other mammoth compendiums are really marketing tools to continue selling their journal, but that's just speculation.

There's a really stellar story by Antonya Nelson - whom I'd never heard of before - which reminded me of Deliverance. It also brings together masterpieces from Robert Stone, Norman Mailer, Stanley Elkin, Barry Hannah, Joy Williams, Richard Ford, Don Delillo, Philip Roth, Truman Capote, and others in a fairly portable package. It is certainly addictive to encounter so many heart-stopping tales in a row. I would have liked to spend more time with this collection but I couldn't put it down. I pick it up from time to time to sample my favorites. Just about every one of them is a winner. I would recommend this as a gift and for your personal library. Forget those unwieldy Norton Anthologies, this is all you need to get started for some of America's best stories.… (more)

For the last 18 years every issue of Esquire magazine has run a feature called What I've Learned. These are basically curiosity interviews like those producer Brian Grazer and business journalist Charles Fishman wrote about in A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. The writers set out interview famous or infamous people in their chosen field with goal of finding out what made them who they were. This particular volume which contains 64 interviews personalities ranging from Musician "50 cent "born Curtis JamesJackson III to President George W. Bush and Barbra Bush born George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbra Pierce respectively, is the 3 rd volume in the series. Books one and two seem to be out of print. While the interviews are the focus of this volume, I would be remiss in not mentioning the photography. Each interview is accompanied by a photograph of the interviewee which spoke volumes about the person. A lot of the interviews inspired me to do a follow up Google search on the interviewee. There is a best of link in Esquires home page http://www.esquire.com/what-ive-learned-legends/. The most recent interview is of Morgan Freeman http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/interviews/a42686/morgan-freeman-wha... Esquire Magazine is the intellectuals mens magazine. My dad read it regularly. I used to sneak and look at the cartoons and tech sections in it. This book has renewed my interest following Esquire.This a book that you will want to buy and re-read.
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I was a bartender during college and still love the history of cocktails. I've seen many cocktail books over the years, some of which are better coffee table books than recipe books and some of which provide recipes but nothing else. This book provides both impeccable recipes and an interesting discussion and history lesson as to each drink, all in a relatively slim package. Wondrich's book is probably the best cocktail book I've ever seen and includes some worthy cocktails I'd never even head of, when I thought I'd heard of them all by now. This book is both informative and usable and I can't recommend it highly enough, whether you're already a well-informed cocktailian or an introductory reader.… (more)