ILL-ADVISED BOOK CLUB: LIGHT YEARS

We’ve threatened to do a Central Division book club from time to time. There were suggestions I read The Firm, but that didn’t get much traction (I couldn’t handle it). Then I saw Michael reading Light Years, James Salter’s novel about a young couple’s attractive life that gets less attractive. Despite having the two most tediously named protagonists (Nedra and Viri, not forgetting their dog Hadji), this book unfolds differently at different times in your life, one reason many people return to it (revisiting books is always a good idea).

I read it when I was younger than the couple, which meant one thing—these days it’s much more familiar. Characters fish the Test, swear by their shirtmaker and visit a certain club in Midtown. Uh oh. If Michael agrees, we’ll talk about it on the podcast in April (though knowing us it will be May).

Salter enthusiasts can read Burning the Days, his superb memoir (never has a memoir taken longer to reveal the writer has a grown family). There’s also his under-read travel book, There and Then—Salter’s non-fiction is superb.

That should keep you happily occupied. And if it’s your first time for Salter, no audiobooks please, his words should be read to be fully appreciated.

A NEW COLLABORATION: FAYAD

I’m excited about a new collaboration I did with Andre Fayad, who makes some of my favorite shirts. Andre’s based in Miami (where his shirts are made) but comes to New York for trunk shows. I’ve admired his clothes and worn them for years and included him in the FT’s best shirtmaker’s list. That was before I found out he was a fellow long-suffering Vikings fan, which took our relationship to the next level, which is, of course, shared sadness.

We worked on a small collection that’s out in the world today. It starts with a great overshirt (pictured above, by Spencer Wells), though it’s really more of a tailored chore coat, perfect for warm weather travel. I love this brown shade (pardon me, that would be kelp), but there are other colors to choose from. You choose a size and color and everything is made for you.

There’s a seersucker cabana shirt (below). It’s really the perfect seaside shirt, with subtle, lightweight Thomas Mason seersucker, with the requisite generous collar. If you’re going to smoke one cigar on the beach this year, this is the shirt to do it in.

And finally the Sawtooth Linen Shirt. A Western shirt that’s perfect under a summer suit or to the beach or anywhere you’re allowed to drink a beer in public.

Andre is an expert in the space where tropical leisure-wear meets safari clothes. So guayaberas, anything linen, with epaulets or anywhere you’re going to put something on Mr. Underhill’s tab.

I’m always looking for something to wear on the beach that is thoughtful but unfussy and I’m really happy with how this turned out. I hope you like them as much as I do.

-RECOMMENDED READING:

-Insane High-end Travel. This New York Times story about people demanding rarefied custom travel is funny and infuriating at once. If Kingsley Amis wrote that somebody covered the deck of a hired yacht with a wall-to-wall carpet because the hostess insisted on wearing stilettos (which would damage the wood) you would have thought he’d gone too far. Turns out it’s not even close.

-The Danger of Good Taste. A New Yorker story about how taste migrates and the ways we define ourselves publicly (and privately) about how we live.

-On that topic you might want to read this story I wrote a few years ago, What is Design?

-Is your car under feet of snow in New York? This man will dig it out (prices start at $119).

-MORE RECOMMENDED READING: SALTER EDITION

-Speaking of James Salter (Jimmy Horowitz to childhood friends), heres’s a wonderful remembrance he wrote after Peter Matthiessen died. He was a great chronicler of friendship, something he was often wiser about than women, (his sex scenes to be some of the worst writing set down in print).

-Here’s one he wrote about Frank Conroy and you’re not going to find anything more perfectly expressed than that.

-For a different view of Salter, this Paris Review piece by William Benton really gives you a sense of the man, both his appeal and his more difficult side.

-Finally if you’re enjoying the Winter Olympics, you might want to watch Downhill Racer, screenplay by Salter, starring Hackman and Redford—maybe you’ve heard of them.