Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : North Point Press, 2004.
Description
"Born a hundred years ago, Abbott Joseph "Joe" Liebling was one of the greatest of all New Yorker writers, a colorful figure who helped set the magazine's urbane tone and style. Today he is best known as a celebrant of the "sweet science" of boxing, and as a "feeder" who ravishes the reader with his descriptions of food and wine." "Liebling is a most companionable figure, and to read the pieces in this book is to be swept along on an adventure in a world of confidence men, rogues, press barons, and political cronies, with an inimitable writer as one's guide."--Jacket.
Media reviews
He has never been a war correspondent; he has never written about boxing, or chronicled the lives and customs of grifters and con men. And though Lemann is said to be an excellent cook, just from looking at him you know that he is hardly a trencherman of Lieblingesque appetite and amplitude. No
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one is anymore. Liebling's idea of a good lunch was as follows: ''raw Bayonne ham and fresh figs, a hot sausage in crust, spindles of filleted pike in a rich rose sauce Nantua, a leg of lamb larded with anchovies, artichokes on a pedestal of foie gras, and four or five kinds of cheese, with a good bottle of Bordeaux and one of Champagne.'' Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
Last year I read Secret Ingredients, a compilation of food-related articles originally published in The New Yorker magazine. A few authors were particularly enjoyable: Calvin Trillin is a long-time favorite author and I'm well familiar with M. F. K. Fisher, but A. J. Liebling was an unknown to me
This book contains 26 of his articles and essays, divided into sections on dining in Paris, World War II, New York City, Boxing, the Press and politics in Louisianna. If you can imagine essays written by a beat reporter, that will give you some of the flavor of these pieces. They are funny and sophisticated, full of gusto for life, and not a little bit of self-regard: "...Fowler's Modern English Usage, a book I have never looked into. It would be like Escoffier consulting Mrs. Beeton (The author of the first modern cookbook)."
Was this "just enough" of Liebling? On the whole, I'd say yes. I wouldn't have minded a bit more on Paris and World War II; they were wonderful...while the attraction of a long excerpt about a con man ("from The Honest Rainmaker") and the Louisianna politics had faded by their respective ends. Overall, however, I really enjoyed these pieces.
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prior to that book.This book contains 26 of his articles and essays, divided into sections on dining in Paris, World War II, New York City, Boxing, the Press and politics in Louisianna. If you can imagine essays written by a beat reporter, that will give you some of the flavor of these pieces. They are funny and sophisticated, full of gusto for life, and not a little bit of self-regard: "...Fowler's Modern English Usage, a book I have never looked into. It would be like Escoffier consulting Mrs. Beeton (The author of the first modern cookbook)."
Was this "just enough" of Liebling? On the whole, I'd say yes. I wouldn't have minded a bit more on Paris and World War II; they were wonderful...while the attraction of a long excerpt about a con man ("from The Honest Rainmaker") and the Louisianna politics had faded by their respective ends. Overall, however, I really enjoyed these pieces.
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LibraryThing member alamosweet
What can you say about Liebling? He is one of the finest essayists I know, whose sense of character, scale, and humor are nearly unparalleld. His style is very essentially New Yorker, done to perfection.
LibraryThing member Imprinted
Just Enough Liebling left me yearning for more! Abbott Joseph Liebling was an immensely engaging and skillful writer-journalist (and droll character) whose work is truly unparalleled. This volume provides just a sampling of his writing -- on subjects ranging from dining in Paris to World War II to
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boxing -- most of which were originally published in The New Yorker. Only wish I could give it 6 stars! Show Less