I think you made the right decision. I generally find articles about celebrities to be rather nauseating, so I don’t have the slightest interest in Vanity Fair. And The New Yorker may be targeted at insanely rich people, but we find it make a great addition to our little one bedroom apartment–it appears you don’t have to be insanely rich to enjoy it. The journalism is top-notch and I’m always interested in NY’s handling of current events (which it can do, because it’s a bimonthly.)
Evidently a bit late now, but it might have been worth looking a bit harder for the New Yorker in newsagents. In London only a small minority of them carry it, but that still adds up to a fair number of outlets. Thus the nearest to me here in north London is only round the corner from my flat and then there’s another shop just a further five minutes walk away that also carries it. W.H. Smiths seems to only have it in its shops in major rail stations, but those very consistently do have it.
Of course, London is an exceptional case and it can be much harder to find elsewhere. But the UK branches of Borders reliably carry it - and I’m fairly sure I’ve picked up a copy in their Oxford branch in the past.
Good point, there is a Borders in Oxford (closing down soon though, I think) and a WH Smith. Problem is I’m rarely in the city centre and have to make do with my local newsagents, which do a good line in Take a Break and various celebrity-oriented magazines with single words and exclamation marks (Now!, Hello!, Oy!, You! and Git! amongst the selection), and a shop that has no less than 7 (seven) different magazine titles dedicated to the fine art of tattooing. And Scientific American which is a good read. But neither of the ones I want.
Anyway, I am quite looking forward to getting something other than junk mail in the post.
It’s the schizophrenia of VF that I just couldn’t get. They print hard-hitting journalism pieces, paired with complete celebrity worship. Here’s a Very Serious Article on Guantanamo . . . . and here’s a story on a starlet you’ve barely heard of! Let’s ask her what she likes for breakfast! Isn’t she beautiful and amazing!
I think you can be an entertainment magazine or you can be a Serious magazine, but it’s very hard to be both, because mixing things that matter with things that don’t matter confuses the reader. Or bores the reader, or both. And if you treat the unimportant with the same journalistic respect you treat the important, you devalue the one and inflate the other.
So yeah, I’d go with the New Yorker, though I do think it frequently has the mindset that the world stops at the east Jersey border. But why not? It’s a magaizine about New York! It’s even in the title! Plus the fiction is really good.
Good choice with The Economist.
My perfect world would include subscriptions to Playboy, Rolling Stone, The Economist, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest.
Update: my first copy of the New Yorker arrived this morning and is installed in my bathroom.
And I’m damn glad I didn’t go for Vanity Fair. Coincidentally my wife got given a copy a couple of weeks ago. It’s about 80% glossy advertising and a lot of celeb-wank, with about one good story thrown in. What was I thinking?
