My Mistake
Menaker has been steeped in language his entire life, as the son of a copy editor, a perceptive reader, an incisive and witty writer, and an editor for the New Yorker and Random House. He now contemplates the origins, happenstance, and consequences of his devotion to literature in a warm, humorous, on-point memoir. Amiably self-deprecating, Menaker is a deft sketch artist, vividly portraying loved ones (especially his older brother, who goaded him to excel and whose early death is the source of depthless sorrow) and colleagues (his portraits of New Yorker staff are hilarious, barbed, and tender). His insider view of publishing is eye-opening and entertaining. What elevates Menaker’s clarion reminiscence is his eloquently affirming appreciation for the humanities: Everything in your life is enriched, everything has a more universal human context. And his illumination of the exacting work of a New Yorker editor can serve as a veritable guide to the practice of getting things right in life, word by word, realization by realization, as we open ourselves to facts and art, truth and compassion. --Donna Seaman