Above: Thurber in Life magazine, March 14, 1960 How serendipitous that James Thurber’s birthday falls on Thurber Thursday! The great artist and humorist was born 128 years ago today in Columbus, Ohio. The Thurber House in Columbus is celebrating today with “seasonal music, carols and hot chocolate.” I think of the above books as must-haves for anyone interested in Thurber.
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I can’t be in Maine without thinking of the Whites, E.B. and Katharine (and Roger Angell of course). On our yearly long drive up here we pass through Ellsworth, one of the “big towns” close to Brooklin where the White’s saltwater farm is located. Anyone who has read White’s classic collection of essays, One Man’s Meat will come across
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For the past twenty-seven summers, my wife, Liza Donnelly, and I have gone to the same Downeast home, and over those years, have built a small library of books, some New Yorker-centric (but many having nothing to do with the magazine). Copies of all of The New Yorkery books in Maine are also in the Spill‘s library back home
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A good many books anchoring the Spill‘s library — books heavily favoring text over cartoons that is — are books by and about the White and Angell family. After hearing of Roger Angell’s passing yesterday, I spent some time looking over these books. I keep them on the shelf together — a never ending family reunion. You can’t really think
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