The Ideal Reading Experience For CNN's Don Lemon

Don Lemon, the CNN host, was asked in the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" Q & A column (March 21, 2021), to describe the "ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how)."

His answer sounds like something that would appeal to me: "The ideal reading experience is a Sunday afternoon in fall or winter with PJs, fur-lined slippers, a roaring wood-burning fireplace, WBGO Jazz 88 playing quietly in the background with a good book in hand and the Sunday New York Times in reach."

Lemon is later asked to name three writers, alive or dead, he would invite to a literary dinner party: "Obvious answer: [James] Baldwin, [Toni] Morrison, and [Truman] Capote."

A fascinating choice of writers. However, he would have to be careful what he told Capote. Anything said in confidence might end up in a short story or article. I would suggest Lemon read a biographical novel called The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (Delacorte Press, 2016). It's about Babe Paley (the wife of broadcasting mogul William Paley) and her wealthy friends who befriended Capote and revealed their secrets to him; they later felt betrayed by Capote when those secrets were published in an Esquire article he wrote. That ended those friendships and Capote never recovered from those losses.

Kooky Conservatives

One of my co-workers (a staunch conservative and conspiracy theorist) at a call center that specialized in political surveys sent me a text message that said: " See [Matt] DRUDGE on Alex Jones sites for [John] PODESTA* doing Satanic ritual." (Sent to me on November 4, 2016.)

That brought to mind a quote from conservative columnist/Firing Line host/National Review publisher and founder William F. Buckley, Jr. In a 1962 letter to William Loeb, the publisher of the Manchester Union Leader in New Hampshire, Buckley wrote: "Why is it our side [that] is afflicted with all the loonies?" (From Buckley: William F. Buckley, Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Carl T. Bogus, Bloomsbury Press, 2011.)

Bogus, a liberal, points out on the same page that "...not all conservatives were dull-witted or dysfunctional, but conservative causes attracted far more than their fair share of kooks and bigots."

Judging by the Trump era, that's still true.

*John Podesta (born January 8, 1949), former chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

A Translator's Literary Advice

Margaret Jull Costa is described by the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" interview column (March 7, 2021) as a "prolific translator" of Spanish- and Portuguese-language literature.

In the interview she was asked what book she would recommend be read by everyone before age 21. Her response: "I would say probably read everything you can lay your hands on, then reread it when you're 40 or older to find out whether it was any good and, if so, what it was really about. But," she continued, "if I had to choose one it would be The Great Gatsby, just to see what it's possible to do with the English language."

If I had to choose one book to reread it would probably be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I first read it when I was 11 or 12. I can still remember certain scenes from it: preadolescent Francie Nolan reading a book on the fire escape; her mother on her hands and knees scrubbing the wood floors; her father's corpse in repose in a casket in the apartment.