The New Yorkerest project is here to help you get a head start on your New Year’s resolution to eliminate that bedside stack of New Yorker magazines. Think of all the things you could do with the extra space on your bedside table.
It’s no easy task to narrow an already-crowded roster of amazing New Yorker articles from this year. Alas, a top-47 list would prove unwieldy, so without further ado here are my ten favorite pieces from 2009 (in publication order):
- Getting There from Here: How health-care reform really happens. by Atul Gawande (January 26)
- Hellhole: Is solitary confinement torture? by Atul Gawande (March 30)
- “A Tiny Feast†by Chris Adrian (April 20)
- Brain Games: The Marco Polo of neuroscience. by John Colapinto (May 11)
- The Cost Conundrum: Expensive health care can be harmful. by Atul Gawande (June 1)
- The Kill Company: Behind a war crime in Iraq. by Raffi Khatchadourian (July 6)
- “The Five Wounds†by Kirstin Valdez Quade (July 27)
- Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man? by David Grann (September 7)
- “The Lower River†by Paul Theroux (September 14)
- Testing, Testing: The complex battle to cut health-care costs. by Atul Gawande (December 14)
Did I miss your favorites? Do you think my list was spot on? Do you want to express heartfelt adoration for The New Yorkerest project? Well, this is your chance to be a part of the project by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
If you want to spread the love you can always post this list on twitter, facebook, delicious, digg, StumbleUpon, or whatever social media site is too cool for me to know about. You can also support the project by using our links to subscribe to The New Yorker in either print or Kindle versions. Thank you for all your encouragement, support and contributions in 2009 and I look forward to a new year filled with inspiring New Yorker writing. ♦
Atul Gawande is speaking in Cambridge tonight – I had a ticket but can’t make it. He’s brilliant!
He’s in SF next week and I’m debating heading out to one of his talks. His new book sounds pretty interesting.
Just came across the site. Are you going to keep it up through 2010? I see that the last few issues aren’t covered here.
this is kind of ridiculous. 4 Atul Gawande articles? come on.
@TK The project is in hibernation mode for 2010. If someone wants to take the reins for 2010, I’ll provide the site maintenance.
@Gary It wasn’t intentional. Dr. Gawande had a great year writing for The New Yorker and I didn’t want to fudge my Best Of list because it seemed — as you say — “kid of ridiculous” for one person to take up 40% of the list.
I’ve been mulling over your offer to run the blog in 2010. I’m sufficiently New Yorker obsessed and would really enjoy blogging about it — but I see that you have an offer from Techtweetr. Let me know if things don’t work out.
Hi there:
I have been reading the New Yorker for about two years now and I wouldn’t mind having to list out “my recommended” pieces. However, as you suggest, it would be completely relative and I am not sure whether the recommendations would flow from 2009 to 2010. Let me know if you are interested in chatting.