Tonight I fly down to Argentina for one of my favorites trips of the year. I’ll be in Buenos Aires, one of the great cities, but mostly I’m there to fish. I’ve written a lot about this vital topic, including my favorite Patagonia lodges and some ideas about how to plan a trip down there. There’s also an old story I wrote for Robb Report. And you can read an excerpt of the Patagonia chapter of The Believer, which appeared in Esquire, here. That should get you in the Patagonia mood.
-I went on Dedicated with Doug Brunt, a great podcast for writers. We talk about Hemingway, newsletters and the importance of listening to editors. Look up Doug’s excellent book on the mysterious death of Rudolf Diesel.
-Here’s my latest column for Artful Living, on my favorite stylish cities.
-This incredible story about the deadly 1955 Le Mans race, by my friend Darrell Hartman. It will make you want to read his terrific book.
-There’s a wonderful Anthony Lane story in the New Yorker about risotto, which is everything food writing can be: wide-ranging, historical, personal and funny.
-What about a Peter Kaminsky piece on the great writer and angler Thomas McGuane, in the latest issue of Bonefish & Tarpon Journal. You’ll get the magazine for free if you donate to Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, which you should do if you’re a saltwater angler and even if you’re not!
-If you’re in New York then please see the wonderful Giorgio Morandi painting exhibition at Zwirner.
-The photo here was by Bruce Chatwin. And I guess I presume everybody has read In Patagonia, which in many ways, is the first modern travel book. Worth reading, worth revisiting, worth everything.
Here’s a story about David Lynch though you wouldn’t know it at first. About fifteen years ago, when I still wrote about art, I was asked to contribute to a catalog of Michaël Borremans, one of my favorite artists. I’d done an interview with him for Art in America, which you can still read (my goodness). He came to New York for an opening at Zwirner and we ended up closing down the Rusty Knot (good grief). In any case, Michaël had an idea for a big catalog of his work: He would ask friends to choose one of his paintings and then write about whichever one they liked. What a great idea. I did mine and then they asked for a biography, which they would include, along with the other contributors, at the end of the book.