I graduate from college in 5 months.  5 MONTHS!!!  On the one hand, I couldn’t be more ready.  On the other hand, the more logistic hand, I am so not ready.  I have so many things that I need to do before I graduate, so many things that I need to buy for my first real place… the list is endless (I won’t bore you with all the details).  One of the main categories I’m really lacking in both knowledge and supplies is technology.  Other than a crappy phone and a 20” TV, I’m coming totally unprepared and I haven’t the slightest clue as to what I’ll need to outfit my place with the necessary technologies— which let’s face it, there really isn’t such a thing, but I’d love a really big shiny TV.  So, here to help us today is Jason Chen.  Take it away Jason! Name: Jason Chen Age: 28 Official job title: Editor Company: Gizmodo When moving into your first home, how does one begin to prioritize which electronics they will need/use most and thus should buy first? Unless you’re coming completely empty-handed, you probably have some leftover appliances and gadgets left over from your previous apartments and homes. Use them—at least temporarily, while you get set up with your new home. One mistake people make is that they move in and immediately buy a lot of stuff. You should use your old stuff in the meantime and figure out what you’re missing and what you can still live with. Maybe you don’t need a new microwave when the cheap one that’s built into the stove works alright. Or maybe you don’t need another TV in the bedroom when the bedroom is actually too small to accommodate anything more than a bed. Live first, then purchase. When buying electronics, what are some helpful tips to remember? Comparison shopping and timing your purchase are the two biggest things you can do. Check out the best prices online, and then figure out what time of year the products get refreshed. For example, HDTVs get introduced in January, at CES in Las Vegas, so last year’s models go on sale (when the new ones ship) in mid to late spring. This is the best time to get a TV that’s almost just as good as the new ones, but much, much cheaper. If you could only buy one electronic product what would it be? A computer, because it’s basically the all-in-one entertainment and information device. And, because I need it to do my job. J Which brand/company do you feel makes the best TVs?  Phones?  Vacuums?  Cameras?  Stereo? Some product lines have definite winners, like the Pioneer Kuro was with Plasma TVs, but a lot of the time the “winner” depends on what kind of features and functionality you want from a gadget. Even for something relatively simple as a smartphone, you have to decide whether or not you want to switch providers, whether you want video recording or more applications, or even if you want a hardware keyboard. There’s no easy answer as to which company makes the best anything, so you should first define what  features you NEED to have, and then go from there. If you had $500 to spend and not one electronic product to your name, what would buy? I would buy a computer, as I said in the previous answer. Specifically, I would buy an HP Mini 311, because it’s small enough to be portable but decent enough to be used like a normal computer would be. I’d use that leftover $100 to get a smartphone (probably an iPhone 3G or a Palm Pre). What electronics are worth the investment and which ones can you skimp on? You shouldn’t skimp on a computer or a phone, because those are the two things you use ALL the time, but you can skimp on something like a stereo or a TV. Here’s why: unless you buy something super, super cheap, you’re going to be happy enough with anything in the mid-range. The only way you can really tell the difference between two products is when they’re sitting side by side in the store, so once you take home a $1000 TV, you won’t be able to tell the difference between that and a $1500 TV. What are some of the products you’d like to warn readers against? Products that are really new, like pico projectors, HD streamers and touchscreen computers. Wait for those to mature just a little bit more (1 or 2 years) before you buy one. What do you feel is the coolest gadget on the market right now? Cheap consumer HD cameras are the coolest thing right now. We’ve gotten to a point where you can have something that records 1080p, fits in the palm of your hand and can store hours of footage for just a couple hundred dollars. It’s amazing that you can get this amount of quality for this cheap, and be able to share the results with everyone else (for FREE) on YouTube. Where do you stand on the Mac vs. PC debate? I’m somewhere in the middle, being that I use a Mac and a PC simultaneously every day. But if I had to choose only one of the two, I’d pick a Mac (since I use a MacBook Pro on the road). How about the iPhone vs. Blackberry? For most people I would recommend an iPhone, just because it can do so much more—functionality-wise—with all the apps in the app store. They’re both fine phones and they can both do the same basic things like sending email and looking up Google Maps, but the iPhone has a lot more other things it can do. Plus, if I say iPhone, maybe I can get somebody to buy my book.

I graduate from college in 5 months.  5 MONTHS!!!  On the one hand, I couldn’t be more ready.  On the other hand, the more logistic hand, I am so not ready.  I have so many things that I need to do before I graduate, so many things that I need to buy for my first real place… the list is endless (I won’t bore you with all the details).  One of the main categories I’m really lacking in both knowledge and supplies is technology.  Other than a crappy phone and a 20” TV, I’m coming totally unprepared and I haven’t the slightest clue as to what I’ll need to outfit my place with the necessary technologies— which let’s face it, there really isn’t such a thing, but I’d love a really big shiny TV.  So, here to help us today is Jason Chen.  Take it away Jason!

Name: Jason Chen

Age: 28

Official job title: Editor

Company: Gizmodo

When moving into your first home, how does one begin to prioritize which electronics they will need/use most and thus should buy first?

    Unless you’re coming completely empty-handed, you probably have some leftover appliances and gadgets left over from your previous apartments and homes. Use them—at least temporarily, while you get set up with your new home.

    One mistake people make is that they move in and immediately buy a lot of stuff. You should use your old stuff in the meantime and figure out what you’re missing and what you can still live with. Maybe you don’t need a new microwave when the cheap one that’s built into the stove works alright. Or maybe you don’t need another TV in the bedroom when the bedroom is actually too small to accommodate anything more than a bed. Live first, then purchase.

    When buying electronics, what are some helpful tips to remember?

    Comparison shopping and timing your purchase are the two biggest things you can do. Check out the best prices online, and then figure out what time of year the products get refreshed. For example, HDTVs get introduced in January, at CES in Las Vegas, so last year’s models go on sale (when the new ones ship) in mid to late spring. This is the best time to get a TV that’s almost just as good as the new ones, but much, much cheaper.

    If you could only buy one electronic product what would it be?

    A computer, because it’s basically the all-in-one entertainment and information device. And, because I need it to do my job. J

    Which brand/company do you feel makes the best TVs?  Phones?  Vacuums?  Cameras?  Stereo?

    Some product lines have definite winners, like the Pioneer Kuro was with Plasma TVs, but a lot of the time the “winner” depends on what kind of features and functionality you want from a gadget. Even for something relatively simple as a smartphone, you have to decide whether or not you want to switch providers, whether you want video recording or more applications, or even if you want a hardware keyboard.

    There’s no easy answer as to which company makes the best anything, so you should first define what  features you NEED to have, and then go from there.

    If you had $500 to spend and not one electronic product to your name, what would buy?

    I would buy a computer, as I said in the previous answer. Specifically, I would buy an HP Mini 311, because it’s small enough to be portable but decent enough to be used like a normal computer would be. I’d use that leftover $100 to get a smartphone (probably an iPhone 3G or a Palm Pre).

    What electronics are worth the investment and which ones can you skimp on?

    You shouldn’t skimp on a computer or a phone, because those are the two things you use ALL the time, but you can skimp on something like a stereo or a TV. Here’s why: unless you buy something super, super cheap, you’re going to be happy enough with anything in the mid-range. The only way you can really tell the difference between two products is when they’re sitting side by side in the store, so once you take home a $1000 TV, you won’t be able to tell the difference between that and a $1500 TV.

    What are some of the products you’d like to warn readers against?

    Products that are really new, like pico projectors, HD streamers and touchscreen computers. Wait for those to mature just a little bit more (1 or 2 years) before you buy one.

    What do you feel is the coolest gadget on the market right now?

    Cheap consumer HD cameras are the coolest thing right now. We’ve gotten to a point where you can have something that records 1080p, fits in the palm of your hand and can store hours of footage for just a couple hundred dollars. It’s amazing that you can get this amount of quality for this cheap, and be able to share the results with everyone else (for FREE) on YouTube.

    Where do you stand on the Mac vs. PC debate?

    I’m somewhere in the middle, being that I use a Mac and a PC simultaneously every day. But if I had to choose only one of the two, I’d pick a Mac (since I use a MacBook Pro on the road).

    How about the iPhone vs. Blackberry?

    For most people I would recommend an iPhone, just because it can do so much more—functionality-wise—with all the apps in the app store. They’re both fine phones and they can both do the same basic things like sending email and looking up Google Maps, but the iPhone has a lot more other things it can do. Plus, if I say iPhone, maybe I can get somebody to buy my book.


--Tagged under: Equipping your first apartment--

--Tagged under: Tech Expert--

--Tagged under: Expert--

--Tagged under: My First Place--

How do I get rid of my blackheads?

I’ve been told on more than one occasion that I’m dramatic about my “acne”.  OK, I admit it.  I don’t have quite the pizza face that I claim to.  That said, my skin could definitely be better—particularly in the blackhead/large pore region if we want to get specific.  I’ve tried everything from prescription products like Differin, Tazorac, Benziclyn and Triaz to OTC systems like ProActive.  I’ve invested in expensive beauty products at Sephora and Ulta and I’ve tried my fair share of drugstore products, too.  I’ve spent hundreds of dollars trying products like the Clarisonic skin brush and I’ve even been on several different oral medications, including Monocycline and Doryx.  Nothing works.  Any of you have these same issues?  If so, you might find this interview rather interesting.  Dr. Lori Schaen, 42, is a dermatologist (and owner of the practice) at Dunwoody Dermatology in Georgia.  She’s here to answer all of our questions about skincare.

P.S.  If any of you have solved the blackhead dilemma—how’d ya do it?

Dr. Schaen

As a dermatologist, what have you found to be the most common symptom for patients in their twenties?

Acne and complexion issues.

What have you found to be the most successful product at clearing up Acne? Blackheads? Rosacea?

For over the counter rosacea products, I prefer gentle, soap free cleansers, like cetaphil or cerave cleansers.  Eucerin and Aveeno also make nice products to calm redness.

For acne, gentle cleansers with salicylic acid are helpful, like Neutrogena acne wash.

Being too abrasive with scrubs and exfoliants often worsens acne and definitely aggravates rosacea.  For prescription products, I like tretinoin (retin- A) or adapalene (differin) for acne and metrogel or finacea for rosacea.

What is in your skincare closet? What products do you use?

I’m a minimalist. Less is better.  I wash with a soap free cleanser- I’m currently using cerave cleanser.  At night, I add tretinoin to my skin—I’m currently using one called Atralin, which is in a nice water based vehicle.  I use a mild night time moisturizer—- this varies, based on what my reps sample me.  Right now I’m using cerave lotion.  In the morning I always apply a moisturizer with a broad spectrum sunblock to my face, neck, and hands.  Currently, I am using Blue Lizard Daily Facial Moisturizer with SPF.

Have you found that topical treatments or oral treatments to be more successful at combating acne?

This question has too many variables.  It depends on how mild or severe the acne is and especially the location of the acne.  I often use combination therapy, which combines oral and topical treatment.

If you could only buy one skincare product what would it be.

Definitely a moisturizer with broad spectrum SPF—- this helps prevent chronic aging of the skin more than anything else.

If you had $100 to spend and not one product what would it be?

This really depends of what the concern is?  For acne, I think the Proactiv line is a first good choice.  It combines salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide and sunprotection.  For anti-aging, office dispensed products often run more than $100.  A nice over-the counter product line is Oil of Olay, especially their products that have Vita Niacin in them.

At what age should you start using anti-aging products?

Strict sun protection is recommended at all ages, and is by far the best anti-aging product out there.  UVA light penetrates through windows, especially when driving, and this ultraviolet light penetrates deeper into the skin and really starts degrading the elastic and collagen tissue.

Most of my female patients start to become more conscious of facial fine lines in their mid to late 20s.

What are some of the products you’d like to warn readers against?  What just doesn’t work?

I don’t think any over- the-counter products really help with cellulite.  Save your money; exercise and eat well.

College students tend to be known for their laziness.  What is a simple skincare routine that would be easy for students to stick to?

Wash your face 2x/ day and apply a morning sunscreen.  Studies have shown that washing more than twice a day aggravates and dries out the skin, which responds by producing more oil.   While washing less than twice a day has been associated with more acne.

What is the best piece of skincare advice you’ve ever received?

Sunscreen protection, sunscreen protection, sunscreen protection.   The number one thing I hear from patients is that they wish they had been more consistent with sunscreen in their youth. Tanning is a sign of injury to the skin.

--Tagged under: Dunwoody Dermatology--

--Tagged under: Lori Schaen--

--Tagged under: blackheads--

--Tagged under: skincare expert--

--Tagged under: expert--

As a college student, read flat broke, I find it hard to justify the expense of beauty products when I can barely afford Ramen.  That said,  I also understand just what a major role beauty plays in our everyday lives and… well, really- who doesn’t just want to look good?  So, I’ve called in a beauty expert to help us with our beauty closet.  Even if you only have $100,  Kaitlyn Dreyling (Beauty Editor at BeautyBlitz.com.) can help you look your best.  Read on to learn the secrets of a beauty pro: If you could only buy one beauty product what would it be? Definitely Envision Beauty’s The Solution. This skincare product is a serum, moisturizer, night cream, eye cream all in one.  I truly believe that you can’t look your best without beautiful skin first.  I love this product because it combines the best of eco-skincare with the best in technology. If you had $100 to spend and not one beauty product to your name, what would buy? Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil. I love love love cleansing oils!  I feel like they get every last bit of dirt, grime and waterproof makeup off my skin without leaving it taut and dried out. Even if you’re concerned about oily skin or pimples, there’s a Shu Uemura cleansing oil for acne-prone skin. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion in a Tube. You  definitely need a moisturizer, and I think this one is a classic and it doesn’t break the bank. Philosophy Supernatural Airbrushed Canvas SPF 15. I love this foundation.  It’s a powder, yet you get flawless coverage, so no need for liquid foundation (which I think can be clogging).  The name is no lie-you will definitely look airbrushed! CoverGirl Waterproof LashBlast Mascara. Considering that you need to replace your mascara often, I wouldn’t empty my wallet on an expensive one. I love the volume, definition and waterproofness of this new cult classic. Clinique Blush To add that last bit of color, I’d opt for this blush. What beauty products are worth the investment and which ones can you skimp on? I definitely would spend my money on a little nicer skincare, but that’s just my philosophy. I totally support eco-friendly skincare. Not just because it’s better for the Earth, but because I want to put natural ingredients on my skin that get absorbed into my body.  Boscia and Aveda are great options that don’t hurt your wallet too much. I would skimp more on my makeup if I had to choose between my skincare and my cosmetics. I definitely think your skincare will benefit you more in the long run, and it benefits your health more than slapping on makeup. Also, you could find a few standout cosmetics and splurge on them, and then save money on other items.  I definitely think that you can find great drugstore brand mascaras, and since you have to buy that more frequently, you don’t want to invest in something that goes bad more quickly. When going on an interview, what would be the perfect look? You’re trying to impress a future employer with your skills, experience and professionalism.  The last thing you want is to look unkempt or overly made up.  So it’s definitely about finding that happy medium. You definitely want your personality to come out, but you don’t want to look too wild.  I would opt for a natural look and simple hair.  You don’t want your look to overwhelm your presence. Definitely look nice, but I think keep it simple. You don’t want your interviewer to be distracted by your bright red lips or your side-swept bangs that keep getting in your face. When building a beauty closet, what are some helpful tips to remember? Consider your skin type and buy products that work for your particular needs.  Someone with overly dry skin is  going to need different beauty products than someone who is dealing with constant breakouts. I would spend more money on things that I’d use more often and save on things that are just nice to have. At what age should you start using anti-aging products? Anti-aging products tend to be thicker and richer. That’s not necessarily bad for twenty-something skin, but if your dealing with oily skin, this might be too hydrating. You don’t want to use products that have an instant tightening effect, but otherwise, there’s not any damage in using anti-aging products. What are some of the products you’d like to warn readers against? Definitely consider your skin issues and what your putting on your skin. If you have highly congested skin, you don’t want to keep clogging your pores with makeup and other products. In this case you’d want to use some sort of mask or treatment to help unclog pores and minimize the amount of stuff your put on your face. If you have dry skin, you don’t want to use harsh soaps that are going to dry out your skin even more and you can skip toners that usually have drying effects. College students tend to be known for their laziness.  What is a simple skincare routine that would be easy for students to stick to? Wash your face when you wake up and before you go to bed and always apply some sort of moisturizer after you wash.  That’s as basic as it gets.

As a college student, read flat broke, I find it hard to justify the expense of beauty products when I can barely afford Ramen.  That said,  I also understand just what a major role beauty plays in our everyday lives and… well, really- who doesn’t just want to look good?  So, I’ve called in a beauty expert to help us with our beauty closet.  Even if you only have $100,  Kaitlyn Dreyling (Beauty Editor at BeautyBlitz.com.) can help you look your best.  Read on to learn the secrets of a beauty pro:

If you could only buy one beauty product what would it be?

Definitely Envision Beauty’s The Solution.

This skincare product is a serum, moisturizer, night cream, eye cream all in one.  I truly believe that you can’t look your best without beautiful skin first.  I love this product because it combines the best of eco-skincare with the best in technology.

If you had $100 to spend and not one beauty product to your name, what would buy?

I love love love cleansing oils!  I feel like they get every last bit of dirt, grime and waterproof makeup off my skin without leaving it taut and dried out. Even if you’re concerned about oily skin or pimples, there’s a Shu Uemura cleansing oil for acne-prone skin.

You  definitely need a moisturizer, and I think this one is a classic and it doesn’t break the bank.

I love this foundation.  It’s a powder, yet you get flawless coverage, so no need for liquid foundation (which I think can be clogging).  The name is no lie-you will definitely look airbrushed!

Considering that you need to replace your mascara often, I wouldn’t empty my wallet on an expensive one. I love the volume, definition and waterproofness of this new cult classic.

To add that last bit of color, I’d opt for this blush.

What beauty products are worth the investment and which ones can you skimp on?

I definitely would spend my money on a little nicer skincare, but that’s just my philosophy. I totally support eco-friendly skincare. Not just because it’s better for the Earth, but because I want to put natural ingredients on my skin that get absorbed into my body.  Boscia and Aveda are great options that don’t hurt your wallet too much.

I would skimp more on my makeup if I had to choose between my skincare and my cosmetics. I definitely think your skincare will benefit you more in the long run, and it benefits your health more than slapping on makeup.

Also, you could find a few standout cosmetics and splurge on them, and then save money on other items.  I definitely think that you can find great drugstore brand mascaras, and since you have to buy that more frequently, you don’t want to invest in something that goes bad more quickly.

When going on an interview, what would be the perfect look?

You’re trying to impress a future employer with your skills, experience and professionalism.  The last thing you want is to look unkempt or overly made up.  So it’s definitely about finding that happy medium. You definitely want your personality to come out, but you don’t want to look too wild.  I would opt for a natural look and simple hair.  You don’t want your look to overwhelm your presence. Definitely look nice, but I think keep it simple. You don’t want your interviewer to be distracted by your bright red lips or your side-swept bangs that keep getting in your face.

When building a beauty closet, what are some helpful tips to remember?

Consider your skin type and buy products that work for your particular needs.  Someone with overly dry skin is  going to need different beauty products than someone who is dealing with constant breakouts. I would spend more money on things that I’d use more often and save on things that are just nice to have.

At what age should you start using anti-aging products?

Anti-aging products tend to be thicker and richer. That’s not necessarily bad for twenty-something skin, but if your dealing with oily skin, this might be too hydrating. You don’t want to use products that have an instant tightening effect, but otherwise, there’s not any damage in using anti-aging products.

What are some of the products you’d like to warn readers against?

Definitely consider your skin issues and what your putting on your skin. If you have highly congested skin, you don’t want to keep clogging your pores with makeup and other products. In this case you’d want to use some sort of mask or treatment to help unclog pores and minimize the amount of stuff your put on your face. If you have dry skin, you don’t want to use harsh soaps that are going to dry out your skin even more and you can skip toners that usually have drying effects.

College students tend to be known for their laziness.  What is a simple skincare routine that would be easy for students to stick to?

Wash your face when you wake up and before you go to bed and always apply some sort of moisturizer after you wash.  That’s as basic as it gets.

--Tagged under: Beauty Blitz--

--Tagged under: Beauty essentials--

--Tagged under: Kaitlyn Dreyling--

--Tagged under: beauty expert--

--Tagged under: expert--

Now, if you’re like me, this may very well be your favorite expert interview.  Not only are we talking about books, but we’re talking with Time Magazine’s book critic about books.  Does it get better than that?  Whether you’re looking for some good book re-commendations or you just want to see what literary genius, Lev Grossman, likes to read, you’re sure to love this post! Name: Lev Grossman Age: 40 Official job title: Book Critic Company: Time Magazine Kate:  Hi Lev.  Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us and talk about literature.  I’m so excited to have you, so let’s get started…What is your favorite book of all time? Lev:  Now that is not an easy question. I’ll just be honest: Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh. Kate:  Classic.  As the book critic for Time, I’m sure you spend a lot of time reading.  What is your favorite thing about literature? Lev:  That you can say things in novels, important things, that you could never express in conversation. Or in any other medium for that matter. Kate:  And what is your favorite genre of literature? Lev:  Literary fiction. Kate:  And what are five fiction books that everybody should read before they graduate? Lev: 1. Virginia Woolf, MRS. DALLOWAY 2. Ernest Hemingway, THE SUN ALSO RISES 3. Gustave Flaubert, MADAME BOVARY 4. Leo Tolstoy, WAR AND PEACE 5. George Orwell, 1984 Kate:  Do you have a favorite bookstore? Lev:  There is no bookstore in my neighborhood, which is a terrible shame. I’d have to say that my Newtonville Books, in Newtonville, Mass., is my favorite. Kate:  That is a shame.  What are five non-fiction books that everybody should read before they graduate? Lev:  I pick these books not because they are the five greatest books ever written, or the most important — you’d have to be insane to think that — but because these are great books that people will actually finish, and subsequently remember, and be transformed by, and reread. 1. Douglas Hofstadter’s GODEL ESCHER BACH 2. Tom Wolfe, THE RIGHT STUFF 3. Vladimir Nabokov, SPEAK, MEMORY 4. Ernest Hemingway,  A MOVEABLE FEAST 5. George Orwell, HOMAGE TO CATALONIA Kate:  What types of literature do you feel are most important to be reading in your twenties? Lev:  Long books. The classics. When you’re older you won’t have the time or the patience to finish them. Trust me on this. Kate:  Which books do you feel have taught you the most? Lev:  Personally? I can’t overstate how much I learned from Douglas Hofstadter’s GODEL ESCHER BACH, which I read before I was old enough to really understand it, but somehow that didn’t matter. (I’m probably still not old enough to understand it.) T.H. White’s THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING is a book I’ve probably read more times than any other, and it still shapes the way I use language, and think about the past. Beyond that it’s the modernists: Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY, Hemingway’s THE SUN ALSO RISES, Joyce’s ULYSSES. I read those books at a deeply formative moment in my life, and fell in love with them permanently the way one does with books only a few times in one’s life. Even when I’m not thinking about them, I’m thinking about them. Kate:  If you could recommend one book to recent graduates, what would it be? Lev:  You know what I’m reading right now? Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes. Terrible title, but it’s actually the most exciting book I’ve read in years. It’s about science in the Romantic period, at the end of the 18th century, when no one knew what they were doing, and people would try anything, and in the end history was made by a bunch of misfits and nobodies who trusted their own instincts. That’s something I wish I’d done as a recent graduate: trusted my own instincts. Kate:  I’m so intrigued.  One problem I run into with reading is the expense of books.  Have you learned any tips along the way about how to save money on books, without simply going to the public library? Lev:  Buy them used? Borrow them? That’s about all you can do. But it’s worth it. My tip is to save money on something else. Kate:  That’s about all I’ve come up with myself.  Any other words of wisdom about literature that you think is important for us youngins’ to know? Lev:  There are two things I wish I’d known as a recent graduate. 1.      Nobody thought I was the best writer around when I was in college. People thought I was clever, and had some talent, but I wasn’t one of the real stars. But I wound up making a career as a writer — and some of the real stars didn’t — because I kept at it. I refused to quit. I finished articles and books and turned them in and kept on writing. That’s what made the difference: I wasn’t smarter, or more talented, I just refused to give up. 2.      I’m a professional journalist, and a reasonably successful one, but I didn’t write a word of journalism till I was 30. Plenty of my friends found their careers right out of college. While I temped, and interned, and went to grad school, and dropped out of grad school, and sweated through some really lousy, uninteresting jobs for years and years, they were getting promoted and buying houses. I thought I was finished. But eventually — 9 years after college — I got a job that I liked. And now that I’m 40, it doesn’t matter about those lost years, particularly. We’re all doing fine. I guess the lesson there is: don’t panic. You have way more time than you think you do.

Now, if you’re like me, this may very well be your favorite expert interview.  Not only are we talking about books, but we’re talking with Time Magazine’s book critic about books.  Does it get better than that?  Whether you’re looking for some good book re-commendations or you just want to see what literary genius, Lev Grossman, likes to read, you’re sure to love this post!

Name: Lev Grossman

Age: 40

Official job title: Book Critic

Company: Time Magazine

Kate:  Hi Lev.  Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us and talk about literature.  I’m so excited to have you, so let’s get started…What is your favorite book of all time?

Lev:  Now that is not an easy question. I’ll just be honest: Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh.

Kate:  Classic.  As the book critic for Time, I’m sure you spend a lot of time reading.  What is your favorite thing about literature?

Lev:  That you can say things in novels, important things, that you could never express in conversation. Or in any other medium for that matter.

Kate:  And what is your favorite genre of literature?

Lev:  Literary fiction.

Kate:  And what are five fiction books that everybody should read before they graduate?

Lev:

1. Virginia Woolf, MRS. DALLOWAY

2. Ernest Hemingway, THE SUN ALSO RISES

3. Gustave Flaubert, MADAME BOVARY

4. Leo Tolstoy, WAR AND PEACE

5. George Orwell, 1984

Kate:  Do you have a favorite bookstore?

Lev:  There is no bookstore in my neighborhood, which is a terrible shame. I’d have to say that my Newtonville Books, in Newtonville, Mass., is my favorite.

Kate:  That is a shame.  What are five non-fiction books that everybody should read before they graduate?

Lev:  I pick these books not because they are the five greatest books ever written, or the most important — you’d have to be insane to think that — but because these are great books that people will actually finish, and subsequently remember, and be transformed by, and reread.

1. Douglas Hofstadter’s GODEL ESCHER BACH

2. Tom Wolfe, THE RIGHT STUFF

3. Vladimir Nabokov, SPEAK, MEMORY

4. Ernest Hemingway,  A MOVEABLE FEAST

5. George Orwell, HOMAGE TO CATALONIA

Kate:  What types of literature do you feel are most important to be reading in your twenties?

Lev:  Long books. The classics. When you’re older you won’t have the time or the patience to finish them. Trust me on this.

Kate:  Which books do you feel have taught you the most?

Lev:  Personally? I can’t overstate how much I learned from Douglas Hofstadter’s GODEL ESCHER BACH, which I read before I was old enough to really understand it, but somehow that didn’t matter. (I’m probably still not old enough to understand it.) T.H. White’s THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING is a book I’ve probably read more times than any other, and it still shapes the way I use language, and think about the past. Beyond that it’s the modernists: Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY, Hemingway’s THE SUN ALSO RISES, Joyce’s ULYSSES. I read those books at a deeply formative moment in my life, and fell in love with them permanently the way one does with books only a few times in one’s life. Even when I’m not thinking about them, I’m thinking about them.

Kate:  If you could recommend one book to recent graduates, what would it be?

Lev:  You know what I’m reading right now? Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes. Terrible title, but it’s actually the most exciting book I’ve read in years. It’s about science in the Romantic period, at the end of the 18th century, when no one knew what they were doing, and people would try anything, and in the end history was made by a bunch of misfits and nobodies who trusted their own instincts. That’s something I wish I’d done as a recent graduate: trusted my own instincts.

Kate:  I’m so intrigued.  One problem I run into with reading is the expense of books.  Have you learned any tips along the way about how to save money on books, without simply going to the public library?

Lev:  Buy them used? Borrow them? That’s about all you can do. But it’s worth it. My tip is to save money on something else.

Kate:  That’s about all I’ve come up with myself.  Any other words of wisdom about literature that you think is important for us youngins’ to know?

Lev:  There are two things I wish I’d known as a recent graduate.

1.      Nobody thought I was the best writer around when I was in college. People thought I was clever, and had some talent, but I wasn’t one of the real stars. But I wound up making a career as a writer — and some of the real stars didn’t — because I kept at it. I refused to quit. I finished articles and books and turned them in and kept on writing. That’s what made the difference: I wasn’t smarter, or more talented, I just refused to give up.

2.      I’m a professional journalist, and a reasonably successful one, but I didn’t write a word of journalism till I was 30. Plenty of my friends found their careers right out of college. While I temped, and interned, and went to grad school, and dropped out of grad school, and sweated through some really lousy, uninteresting jobs for years and years, they were getting promoted and buying houses. I thought I was finished. But eventually — 9 years after college — I got a job that I liked. And now that I’m 40, it doesn’t matter about those lost years, particularly. We’re all doing fine. I guess the lesson there is: don’t panic. You have way more time than you think you do.


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