Good books lately

Today, I hit up two of the places that make NYC impossible to leave: the Strand and Chelsea Market's Buon Italia. At the Strand, I got this and this--should keep me busy for a while. As always, the question of where exactly these books were when I was writing my BA came to mind. Pierre Birnbaum is basically who I want to be when I grow up, and until today I'd never even heard of him!