February 8, 2024
My favorite essays

The Year of Numbered Rooms: Notes from the Station Eleven tour

The year before you were born, my love, I traveled constantly. It was sometimes magnificent and sometimes numbing. I was very tired, but there were moments of grace.   

HUMANITIES »

The Gone Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the Train: Why Do So Many Books Have ‘Girl’ in the Title?

Spoiler alert: I have no idea why so many books have ‘girl’ in the title. But some of the numbers are fascinating.

FIVE THIRTY EIGHT »

Notes on Regarding Susan Sontag

Sontag once wrote, “What makes me feel strong: being in love, and work.” All she wanted was everything. 

HUMANITIES »

You'll Probably Never Catch Ebola — So Why is the Disease so Terrifying?

It’s a danger I’d rank well below, say, the ever-present possibility of being hit by a car on my way to work in the morning. This possibly says more about New York City drivers than it does about Ebola.

THE NEW REPUBLIC »

A Closed World: On By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

By Grand Central Station is a staggering accomplishment, an exquisite and often ecstatic rendition of a tumultuous affair: “Jupiter has been with Leda, I thought, and now nothing can avert the Trojan wars. All legend will be broken, but who will escape alive?”

THE MILLIONS »

The Bulldozing Powers of Cheap

On the novelist and former textile manufacturer Edoardo Nesi's Story of My People, clothes as armour, and the unspeakable cost of cheap fashion.

THE MILLIONS »

I Await The Devil’s Friend Request: On Social Media and Mary MacLane

We live in a performative age. What participation in social media comes down to, I think, is that either you have an instin