John David California's Novel Attempt to Best J. D. Salinger: Read It and Weep by David Finkle

What's missing is the effortless character charisma Salinger provided. It does no damage to the 1951 bestseller. <em>The Catcher in the Rye</em> continues to stand on its own, un…

Hilary Kole Deserves to Be Your Valentine by David Finkle

Everyone should want to listen to and look at Hilary Kole in an understated black cocktail dress and high-heeled gold-strap shoes and tresses flowing past her shoulders.

Late-Breaking Bulletin: Frenchmen Don't Wear Berets by David Finkle

Frenchmen sell berets. But Frenchmen don't buy them. Tourists do. In order to indicate they've been in France. One possible theory is that Frenchmen sell berets in order to spot foreigners m…

Brian Dillon's Informative The Hypochondriacs: Read It and Become Symptomatic by David Finkle

In <em>The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives</em>, Brian Dillon goes into gory detail in describing the afflictions -- or presumed afflictions -- gripping the nonet.

J. D. Salinger Remembered With Gratitude and Suspicion by David Finkle

The only book my mother ever forbade me to read was <em>The Catcher in the Rye</em>. Perhaps if she'd used reverse psychology, I wouldn't have become an avid Salinger fan.

The Real Tyne Daly Stands Up at Manhattan's Feinstein's at Loews Regency by David Finkle

Tyne Daly has been acting for 49 years. She relays the astonishing fact during her current and irresistible cabaret act at Feinstein's at Loews Regency.

Mavis Gallant: Underrated Short Story Master Proves Herself Again by David Finkle

Peter Gelb and His Met: No Booing Please by David Finkle

What occurs to me about the booing is that it might begin to color attitudes towards the Met under Peter Gelb for whom this 2009-10 season is the first with no vestigial ties to Joseph Volpe.

Video Books, or Vooks: Do We Need to Watch Books as Well as Read Them? by David Finkle

It would be a sin -- practically a capital crime -- to write off masterpieces because no one has the patience for the sentences Marcel Proust had the patience to craft so scrupulously.

Johnny Mercer, Lyricist-Composer-Singer, at 100 by David Finkle

Among other accomplishments you can find in <em>The Complete Lyrics</em>, Mercer is one of the most evocative writers about the American South who's ever put pen to paper.

Come to the Cabaret Two by Two by David Finkle

The best thing for light NYC entertainment with a hint of shadow is to storm the Café Carlyle where the John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey have a show called "Lost and Found."

Philip Roth and Woody Allen: Have I Got a Girl for You! by David Finkle

Roth and Allen are producing works it's difficult not to describe as clich&eacute;s. What could be more commonplace than men obsessed with proving that male elders remain attractive to …

Broadway Revivals Founder on Brighton Beach by David Finkle

Too often the only review that counts is the <em>Times</em> pronouncement via Ben Brantley or Charles Isherwood. This time Brantley's response was not what's known as "a mon…

Holiday Cheer: Not Always So Cheerful by David Finkle

Denying wide-spread downbeat feelings as the year's festivities loom can be problematic, as sufferers will only feel more removed from the general jubilation.

Neysa McMein: Who Is She And Why Does She Deserve Your Immediate Attention? by David Finkle

The revival of S. N. Behrman's <em>Biography</em> has me thinking about someone who's fascinated me for years, someone well-known at the time the play debuted but virtually forgo…

Blanchett as Blanche in Tennessee Williams's Streetcar Named Desire by David Finkle

Cate Blanchett pulls out all stops throughout Tennessee Wiliams's supernal tragedy, <em>A Streetcar Named Desire</em>, now at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Hot New Night Club Duo: Michael Feinstein and David Hyde Pierce by David Finkle

Pierce has a resonant baritone-bass that doesn't come as a total surprise after his stints in the one-word-titled musicals <em>Spamalot</em> and <em>Curtains</em>.

Seeing Stars in Hollywood and New York by David Finkle

Just as the Hollywood Powers That Be are beginning to consider the lessening impact of box-office stars, the Broadway Powers That Be are concluding the only box-office sure-things are star n…

Religion in the United States and England, as Influential English Rabbi Sacks Claims to See It by David Finkle

In Rabbi Sacks's estimation, much of what he sees in the United States as religious practice is far superior to what's happening in England.

Stooping to the Highest Level by David Finkle

For a long time, I've insisted that civilization reached its highest peak with the invention of the porch.

To "Friend" or "Defriend"? That is the Question by David Finkle

If you ask me, one of the worst things assaulting the English language in the last few years is the transitive verb "friended."

Writing Under the Influence, Living Under the Influence by David Finkle

Although her title is an eyebrow-raiser, Elizabeth Hawes knows what she's doing. With <em>Camus, a Romance</em>, her new and unconventional work, she isn't simply writing a biog…

The Breakfast Club Takes on Jackson, Fawcett, Sanford, Mrs. Madoff by David Finkle

On the day after Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett went to their fabulous maker(s), The Breakfast Club kicked off its daily meeting with discussions of both departed celebs.

Books, Books and More Books, or Tote That Bookbag by David Finkle

I plucked and pillaged a number of books but I consumed the Hershey kisses, apples and candy canes on the spot.

Breakfast Club Forever! by David Finkle

It wasn't long before the koffee klatch to which I paid fealty had a name. We were The Breakfast Club.

Over a Cheever, Under a Cheever by David Finkle

I cried when I found out that John Cheever died in 1982. And now with few readers, the paradise that is Cheever's writing is at risk of being a lost paradise.