in which marinatina again proves that she is a huge nerd

Politics by Hendrik Hertzberg
First of all, I'm not going to lie. This book is no longer the book that I'm technically "reading," but that doesn't mean that I finished it. It's a collection of essays from The New Yorker and The New Republic by my new favorite essayist and intellectual, Hendrik Hertzberg.

(That sounds so refined, but really I have an insane schoolgirl crush on Mr. Hertzberg. It started somewhere between six and nine months ago. The exact date eludes me, but at some point I realized that the articles I loved every week were all written by one man. That dawning realization that the leading article in The New Yorker's Talk of the Town section, the articles that made me wonder how one person could arrange his thoughts so clearly and eloquently, one man, one genius of a left-wing intellectual, was writing these articles that I.... oh holy hell, I'm just going to stop right here.)

This is a book I look forward to reading in small bits, short bursts for at least the next few months. I love reading something that so clearly elucidates an idea, a point of view, especially when I generally agree with that point of view. That sounds bad, like I'm just happy to hear my own poorly-formed opinions confirmed by someone much smarter than me, but I prefer to think of it as appreciating the accomplishments of someone who has worked hard to get where he is. Or something.

Wow, I am so good at book reports, no? I think the past three paragraphs of nonsense are a perfect explanation of why I want to save this book and come back to it often. I think this book will serve as a good model of the type of writing I can aspire to, and the type of career and influence I can only dream of achieving, at least right now. Maybe if I keep reading well-written books by people I admire, some of their talent and accomplishments will rub off on me, which will help me accomplish my grand plan of attending my ten-year high school reunion and being the most successful person in the room. Because that's what it all comes down to--showing up the people who made me feel like shit when I was 14.