Over the next few months, we’ll be putting put on a spotlight on each of our editors and three things that they’ve been enjoying right now: whether that be a beloved piece of music, a tried-and-true recipe, an all-consuming movie or show, and of course, always, books. We’re looking to highlight the ways we’ve found solace and inspiration, and celebrate the things that have transported us, uplifted us, carried us through this time into a place of comfort.
Right now, when I’m not participating in a Google Hangout, I’m reading Virginia Woolf’s sprightly fictional biography-across-time Orlando, one of the books I’ve owned for more than forty years but had never read. (Octavio Paz wisely said that books need to mature before being consumed; this one by now is like a great premier cru Bordeaux.) I think a lot of us are making these kinds of discoveries these days. It’s what happens when you finally have the time to organize your bookshelves.
In the evenings sometimes we watch the Metropolitan Opera HD broadcasts, which are prodigious–though I find I need to indulge sparingly. Last night it was Thomas Ades’s virtuoso tour de force The Tempest.
And we’ve been cooking up a storm; it’s really fun, but I’m concerned about the after-effects. Recently, I made a delicious braised celery which I turned into a soup the next day. (Watch out for the stringy bits on the larger stalks.)
Jonathan Galassi is President at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
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