The New Yorker (1-year)

Two quibbles, though.

1. The editorial staff is extremely liberal. I really avoided all of the Clinton-Monica justification stuff, and how it really all was a Republican conspiracy to put Monica up to it, and how she lied, and how the angelic Clinton was and is a saint. This left-wing refusal to view reality almost made me cancel my subscription.

2. I think Tina Brown was the worst thing to happen to the New Yorker. I liked the articles that went on and on and on, and sometimes tested one's patience. However, it was almost always worth it to slog through some of them. The articles on John Paul Vann in Vietnam and mud-flows in Los Angeles (really!) were so excellent I think they are some of the best non-fiction writing of the twentieth century.


First magazine I actually paid to subscribe   July 16, 2005
Bookworm (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I got to read this magazine in my local library where you can actually check out magazines and keep them for a week. Soon decided to subscribe it instead of running to the library everyweek. What I like about this magazine is the time it takes for me to finish one article is about the same amount of time it takes me to get tired and want to go to sleep after reading. It covers a variety of issues, such as world politics, health, environment, art, you name it. One thing I need to point out is, English is my second language, so it also helps me improve my vocabulary. And I totally agree with one of the previous reviews, that is you never get to read 3/4 of its content, one thing is certain for me, I never read its fictions.


good writing but...   August 26, 2005
Lobstah (Boston)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

I have been a reader for 20 years, but am considering canceling my subscription (I did this once before when it became a Vanity Fair look-alike under Tina Brown). I think the writing is exceptional. My complaint is that the issues have become thinner (with an embarrassingly small "Double-Issue" mid-August). The articles are shorter and edited to end at the bottom of a page, which sometimes breaks the article's flow. It is full of advertising, which pays the bills, but now seems to have squeezed out some of the writing. The articles also do not seem as essential as they had in the past. The political writing is great and the movie reviews by Lane and Denby are the best you will find.



How to be a snob?   December 27, 2007
Peter M. Deuel (Whippany, NJ)
5 out of 18 found this review helpful

Exactly. While the previous reviewer to use this title matched it with a full 5-star rating, I don't. If you want the most pompous view on everything no one ever asked about, then go ahead and buy a copy. I thought perhaps an informed, enlightend editorial tone would have been a nice perspective to bring into my home. Now, years later, they won't stop sending that rag no matter how many times they claim it's my final issue.

In short, not a fan. My advise to you: get one issue off the newstand and see what you think. If you're like me, you'll hate it and never go back.


Too late and so Great   February 26, 2002
L. Dann (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

My only regret concerning the New Yorker is that I've only been subscribing to five years and I can't help but ruminate about the years I've missed. It is the only magazine I've ever subscribed to for over 1 year and the only one that I read faithfully from cover to cover. It is intimidating to a degree; the enormity of talented writers, informed perspective and the reliability of point of view- (mine, at least). It is the only film resource that inevitably works for me. The only section that

(for me at least), can be disappointing is the short fiction. However, I'm a novel enthusiast anyway- and hardly qualified to rate current fiction- especially the stuff that makes it into publication. My favorite is the medical articles; they like so many of the areas precede other avenues for public information. It's all I need, and pathetically one of my greatest pleasures.