Author Archives: Wendy Lesser

Two Book Recommendations

One of the nice things about running a literary magazine is that you get advance copies of many books, arriving for free at your doorstep. I have always taken full advantage of this gift.  At the end of each workday, … Continue reading

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Why I Read

This is just to let you know that my new book, Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books, is out today from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. I feel a bit abashed at tooting my own horn, but if I … Continue reading

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A Japanese Novelist

Why are we not all reading Natsume Soseki? Last year I was introduced to his best-known novel, Kokoro, by a professor of Japanese literature at Berkeley. It was terrific and I was grateful, though not so grateful as to immediately … Continue reading

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Perfect Beckett

It’s been over two weeks since I saw the British production of All That Fall at 59E59, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. Rarely have I seen a Beckett play performed so movingly or so delicately. What Trevor … Continue reading

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News Flash

It turns out—to no one’s great surprise—that Mark Morris’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, now a quarter-century old, is as amazing as it ever was. In fact, like many of the best works of art, it seems to have accumulated … Continue reading

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The Pacificas (Again)

I’ve already had my say, at length, about how great the Pacifica Quartet is, so when I set off for their Zankel concert last night, my only intention was to listen for the pleasure of it. The performance was so … Continue reading

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Arcangelo

Going to hear a musical group you’ve never heard before always entails a risk, but the risk tends to be less with Baroque music, which—if it is played at all—is usually played at a fairly high standard. The risks in … Continue reading

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Highlights from October

I was so busy attending things in October that I didn’t get a chance to write about any of them at the time. Now that we’re well into November, I’ve had an opportunity to reflect on the best of what … Continue reading

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Good Dance, Better Music

One of the fun things to go to in New York every autumn is the annual Fall for Dance series at City Center. There are generally four or five separate programs, each of which presents four different sets of performers … Continue reading

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Urban Frenzy

I’ve been in New York for less than a week, and already the entire pace of my life has changed. When we’re in Berkeley, my husband and I spend at least five nights a week at home, watching movies or … Continue reading

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