Not being a resident New Yorker, here’s my own order:
1. Admire the cover.
2. The Middle Bits.
3. The Political Scene (if there’s interesting profiles of candidates, otherwise skip).

Never been a fan of the overthink-a-plate-of-beans reviews or the unfunny cartoons.

That said, I still love and subscribe to the New Yorker. The extraordinary cover art and interesting+diverse Middle Bits articles alone make it much more worthwhile than anything else on the magazine shelves.

Posted by Patrick wang on 7 January 2008 @ 5pm

That’s almost exactly how I do it. Except I skip Shouts & Murmurs 99% of the time. In it’s place, I set aside time to read the TOC, the contributor blurbs (why do I do this?!), and the Mail, (I’m always pleasantly surprised when I actually remember the articles that people write in about).

Posted by Mark on 7 January 2008 @ 6pm

I think I’m among the slim minority who never even notices the cartoons.

Posted by josh on 7 January 2008 @ 6pm

I have to admit that I read it from cover to cover, straight through—even though some of the time, I don’t even enjoy all the sections. There’s something about having a tradition in the way you read a magazine though that compels me to do it every time. (I don’t even let myself peek at the Caption Contest until I’ve finished the entire magazine.) Even though I know the order of the sections by now, I am surprised when I turn the page. Feigned surprise perhaps, but I enjoy the tradition nonetheless.

Posted by Liz Danzico on 7 January 2008 @ 6pm

Fiction is my favorite usually, unless it is obscure and foreign.

Posted by Chris on 7 January 2008 @ 8pm

Actually, you can tell “who these folks are…” In this instance, “who” functions as a predicate nominative for the “these folks are” clause.

Posted by ignobilitor on 7 January 2008 @ 9pm

Hm. People actually read The New Yorker? I thought it was just a prize that the wannabe-cognescenti kept on their coffee tables.

To be fair, I mostly just say that because I’ve never made it though a whole “middle bit.” I get hurried out of the bookstore half-way through.

Posted by david on 7 January 2008 @ 9pm

Thanks, ignobilitor. As the editor, I blame myself.

Posted by Derek Powazek on 7 January 2008 @ 9pm

That’s how I devour my New Yorker, too. And yes, I am behind because of the holidays and traveling. I rarely read the fiction. When I get back home in a week, mad panic to see what I missed and “purging” the not-so-interesting articles begin.

Posted by Joy on 7 January 2008 @ 10pm

“predicate nominative” you say?

Fuck me running.

Posted by angelday true on 7 January 2008 @ 10pm

I recently ditched my New Yorker subscription after moving outside the U.S. and flinching at the international postage rates — although the incredibly patronising tone of the renewal nag letters certainly made the decision easier — but when I still took it, my weekly New Yorker triage went like this:

While walking from my mailbox to the front door of my apartment, inspect the cover (the breakdown per year is usually about 10% brilliance, 60% blandness, 30% downright obnoxiousness), and, if there’s time, the caption contests (Finalists first: pick the one and only funny one, which is guaranteed not to win; roll eyes at this week’s winner; ignore the new one).

Once I get to my apartment, flick through the cartoons. Wonder why I keep doing this every week.

Examine Table of Contents. Do any of the Middle Bits immediately demand to be read? If no and I’m any number of issues behind, the whole thing goes straight in the recycling. If no and I’m caught up, or if yes, it goes in my bag, where it will be read on the morning bus-ride to work, and during my lunch-breaks. Talk of the Town and the Critics I read only after the Middle Bits have been sucked dry. Shouts and Murmurs I read only if it’s written by someone I know to be funny. (This is almost never.) The fiction and the Goings On I don’t read at all.

Posted by keith b. on 7 January 2008 @ 10pm

I hate how I begin to read an article, get sucked in, but then make the mistake of peeking ahead to see just HOW MANY MORE PAGES there are to the article. I am such a sucker.

Posted by joe on 7 January 2008 @ 10pm

here’s how i do it:

1) wait got kottke to post the best articles at the end of the year
2) read them

Posted by selfish on 7 January 2008 @ 10pm

Anthony Lane should write the fiction and steer clear of film criticism.

Posted by Jessie on 8 January 2008 @ 12am

To read the New Yorker like I do, just follow these 5 easy steps:

1) Pick it up and look at the cover.
2) Go to the last page and read the Cartoon Caption contest.
3) Look at that section for about 10 minutes until you get the first joke.
4) Attempt to get the second joke and get bored or sleepy (whichever comes first).
5) Put the magazine back in the stand and walk out of the store (you can get that candy bar someplace else).

Posted by War Machine on 8 January 2008 @ 12am

I have a policy against reading any more of an issue of the New Yorker once the next issue arrives. That way I never become that reader who falls behind.

To those people who don’t like Anthony Lane (jg); I think that you’re just jealous that he’s a better and funnier writer than you.

Posted by Chris on 8 January 2008 @ 3am

Interesting: I’ve now seen two disparaging comments re: Anthony Lane. Personally, I peruse the TOC, and, usually, if Anthony Lane is writing, that’s where I start. Quick, punchy, and informative, in 2 pages. On the other hand, if Denby is reviewing the movies, I generally skip it. He reminds me of that Billy Madison paraphrase: “We are all dumber for having read it.”

Posted by CapnVan on 8 January 2008 @ 5am

I must admit I always started with the goings on about town despite not living in NYC. Tables for Two was always a favorite. The rest usually fell into place with the 10 easy steps.

That said, I could not keep up, and therefore let it go. If only there were a monthly that was as well written.

Posted by rob on 8 January 2008 @ 5am

Anthony Lane is one of my favorite film critics. I loved his review of Star Wars: Episode III.

And, in my opinion, the New Yorker continues to publish some of the finest short fiction and poetry being written today.

Posted by Dan Wilkinson on 8 January 2008 @ 6am

When I come across the magazine in a waiting room, I read the cartoons, ignore the rest, and then pull out the book I brought with me. I loathe the navel-gazing self-congratulatory wankfest that constitutes the rest.

Posted by Resident of UES on 8 January 2008 @ 7am

I’ve always enjoyed the New Yorker; however, my enjoyment was raised to another level entirely once I realized: I don’t -have- to read the cartoons. In the past fifteen years, I can only recall one that was worth the time it took to read it.

Posted by GregM on 8 January 2008 @ 8am

Why the hell anyone would want to read the cartoon caption entries BEFORE a winner is chosen is beyond me. You completely kill any surprise. I wish they’d just yank this stupid idea and get back to making it a different page every week.

I read from left to right, skipping any articles that don’t interest me. The cartoons ALL get read, of course.

Posted by joecab on 8 January 2008 @ 8am

I go through the issue, front to back, looking at the cartoons and checking for newsbreaks- the funniest parts of any issue. Then the articles, poetry, maybe fiction.

On a related issue, does anyone remember the caption competition contest that Punch ran back in the 70s? Consistently better captions than The New Yorker’s readers have come up with.

Posted by Stephen on 8 January 2008 @ 9am

Mine is:
1. See New Yorker in the mail.
2. Admire cover quickly before it’s snatched out of my greedy magazine-hoarding paws.
3. Admire cover from the other side of the bed while husband reads it all week long.
4. Make husband read out loud any parts he laughs about — hoping that he’ll surrender the issue out of eventual annoyance, but no. (he shares the good cartoons, at least).
5. Sometimes remember to pick it up if time permits or if husband is distracted. Due to lack of time and ever-vigilant husband, this usually involves a book light and severe lack of sleep.

Rinse and repeat – new issue! The battle begins anew.

Posted by Julie Jackson on 8 January 2008 @ 11am

My first step – really – is to rip out all the advertising pages that don’t have editorial content on the back. The extra-heavy stock are priority items but I’ll pull regular pages out too (depending on the binding). Takes about five minutes, is remarkably therapeutic, and results in a slimmer mag that can be more easily rolled up and put in my back pocket.

Posted by Marcus on 8 January 2008 @ 12pm

You left out the important first steps:

(0) Hold over trashcan and gently fan pages so blow-in cards drop out.

(0.5) Bend gently with pages fanned, locating and removing stapled-in subscription cards and cardstock advertisements.

Posted by Dirty Davey on 8 January 2008 @ 1pm

I have adopted a technique I learned from my uncle, another avid new yorker fan. Read the goings on, reviews, cartoons, and any political articles during the week it arrives, then put the magazine in a box. Then read all the fiction, poetry, and other less time-relative articles during the summer on vacation.

Posted by lorin on 8 January 2008 @ 2pm

How could you have forgotten step 3a?

- Scan the endnote of every article in “the middle bits” to look for Constabulary Notes from All Over, We Don’t Want to Know More About It Dept., Block That Metaphor!, and other little excerpts from the lives of publications that aren’t the New Yorker and people who don’t read it.

Posted by cdespinosa on 8 January 2008 @ 3pm

I can’t begin to describe how much time I’ve saved by reading only those parts of the New Yorker that now are posted online. Since I’m a devotee of Shouts and Murmurs, this works for me. I admit, from time to time when some good content isn’t online, I reconsider my non-subscriber status, and fondly recall how, in college my friend and I looked up back issues to read un-re-published stories by J.D.Salinger. Yes, a glorious past. Future???

Posted by Mae on 8 January 2008 @ 5pm

Frequently “Shouts and Murmurs” can be very humorous.It is often worth the while it takes to check it out to decide whether it is good enough to read in its entirety. Then, too,the movie reviews are most interesting,while sometimes the non-fiction articles seem interminable. The article on the assassination of the chief UN representative is a recent exception to that opinion..

Posted by Bob , on 8 January 2008 @ 7pm

Admire the cover
Go page by page and read every single cartoon
Laugh . . . out loud

Posted by Tom on 9 January 2008 @ 4am

@keith: When I lived in Germany for a few months, Conde Nast graciously forwarded the middle section of my two-year U.S. subscription at no extra cost. YMMV!

And if you’re among the 25% or so of New Yorkers who spends an average of one hour commuting by train each weekday, getting through this mag in a week should be no problem. Plus, the columnar layout, stiffness of stock and light weight make it ideal straphanging literature.

Posted by Steven on 9 January 2008 @ 8am

After the caption contest, generally, I review the TOC and dog ear articles for future reading as often, my New Yorkers get saved up for flying.

New Yorkers are the best weight/content ratio that I have found (thinking about a Kindle, though).On short flights, it might be the only thing I bring with me. On longer flights or vacation, a stack of New Yorkers are always in my carry on.

One month’s worth of New Yorkers saved my mind while on a two week trip on a fishing boat on Lake Baikal being one of two native English speakers when the other native fell ill for a few days. I’d never been in a situation where I couldn’t talk to people and it was pretty isolating.

I read every word of all four issues, even the ads.

Cheers,
Randy

Posted by Randy Stewart on 9 January 2008 @ 8am

Oh, one question for you all. What day of the week do you get your New Yorker?

I live in Seattle and I get mine at best on Thursday, worst on Friday. When I lived in San Francisco, I got them on Thursday.

I’ve always found this irritating as this seems to be much later than the local bookstores and certainly later than my East Coast friends.

Cheers,
Randy

Posted by Randy Stewart on 9 January 2008 @ 9am

Nice methodology. Mine is similar with the following exceptions: I do (sometimes) read the fiction and I always skip Shouts and Murmurs, though I sometimes give it a sideways glance to see if it’s still as unfunny as I have found it to be.

Oh, and I believe Anthony Lane tops his review of “Phantom” with his review of Star Wars: Episode III.

Choice quote: “…what’s with the screwy syntax? Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. “I hope right you are.” Break me a fucking give.”

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/05/23/050523crci_cinema

Posted by Omar on 9 January 2008 @ 9am

I usually tiptoe through the letters to the editor, only skim the listings of things going on around town, utterly devour the Talk of the Town, luxuriate in the big long Profile or other non-fiction piece in the middle, and skip the fiction. Then I take a deep breath (this is where Shouts and Murmurs would ideally go — you need a breather in the middle of the magazine, something like the perfect natural pause between the Peace and the Great Thanksgiving in the Episcopal liturgy) and plunge into the reviews (hoping that it’s a Sasha Frere-Jones, Nancy Franklin, and/or Anthony Lane week) before the after-dinner mint that is the Cartoon Caption Contest.

Posted by Vidiot on 9 January 2008 @ 10am

My methodology is all about the byline. I’m partial to Jerome Groopman, Oliver Sacks, Jeffrey Toobin, Calvin Trillin, Malcolm Gladwell, and Steve Martin.
Ix-nay on Sasha Frere Jones and although Seymour Hersh is good for you like broccoli, I have a hard time digesting him.

Posted by Lori Compton on 9 January 2008 @ 5pm

This seems as good of a place as any to say that I am totally enjoying the piece on the oldest building in NYC (Jan 7 issue). Its got all the great New Yorker features – NYC characters, NYC history and probably more. As soon a sI send this off, I’ll go and finish it.

(And I never read the fiction and all the poetry is unexciting, even with the new editor.)

Posted by Kevin on 9 January 2008 @ 7pm

1. look at cover.
2. glance at back page. feel slightly over it.
3. read the current cinema.
4. flip quickly through from back to front, checking out this and that (cartoons, pictures, article titles, etc).
5. read table for two.
6. table of contents.
7. read the first sentence or two of the fiction.
8. book reviews/anything by joan acocella.
9. talk of the town.
10. the rest.

Posted by Ms. Keough on 10 January 2008 @ 2pm

Don’t forget the photographs!

The photo slot above “Goings On About Town” is always one of my first looks – love that Gus Powell…

Posted by Andy Adams on 21 January 2008 @ 5pm

Ah, all these great comments and only one mention of the poetry… perhaps if someone at the New Yorker is paying attention, this is a hint – please print a more diverse selection than “New Yorker poetry”

And yes, the cards go into the recycle first for me too.

Posted by Marit Saltrones on 22 January 2008 @ 7am

Don’t forget to rip out the “glossy” and “cardboard” full-page ads that make you lose your place because they are thicker than the content pages.

Posted by JohnY on 22 January 2008 @ 7am

I avoid the table of contents so that every page can be a surprise. On the day it arrives, there’s a skim of the About Town, with special attention for Tables for Two. Then, as the week progresses, I page through in order, sampling at least a paragraph of everything except the Shouts and Murmurs (which are generally unfunny) and the fiction (which usually isn’t to my taste). Anything that grabs attention in the first few paragraphs–like that fantastic recent paleovirology article–gets read. Anything else just gets mined for cartoons. The criticism is the best part, so it gets saved for last.

I absolutely despise the Cartoon Caption Contest. It’s so insipid and just a waste of time. I wish they’d bring back the old rotating content, especially the 100 day quizzes.

Posted by KC on 23 January 2008 @ 2am

I find it interesting that only one of the 42 commenteers indicated that, like myself, he reads the New Yorker online.

For some four years now, I have read not only the New Yorker, but dozens of other magazines and newspapers absolutely free of cost online. Sticking to the New Yorker for the moment, here are some of the advantages of accessing what I consider to be one of my top three magazines via the internet:

*When I get up Monday mornings, I have the New Yorker literally at my fingertips (more accurately, my mouse) and I can browse the TOC and pick off what I choose to read on screen — usually lighter stuff less than a couple of pages in length — or print off for leisurely enjoyment while in my recliner.

*Quite often there are referred articles mentioned in a piece that can be easily accessed and expand the experience.

*There are many online only features and options each week that would otherwise be unavailable.

*It’s free.

Of course, there are disadvantages in limiting the reading of the New Yorker via computer:

*Every week there are articles and features that are only available to subscribers or newstand purchasing, the saddest of which are the cartoons. If there is a blocked article or must-have-the-mag reason, such as the annual cartoon issues, I will by the magazine in store.

I have been reading the New Yorker avidly since the early 1960’s (I’m 67 now) and have never considered subscribing by mail, despite the significant savings to be had. I always insisted that my copy had to be pristine, unsullied by another’s eyetracks, always plucked from the middle of the stack.

Over the years, in my visits to old magazine/comic shops, ephemera expos and such, I accumulated many issues going back as far as the mid-1930’s. I did this not only with the New Yorker, but with my other favourite publications, such as Esquire and Vanity Fair.

Interestingly, I still buy both of these latter titles faithfully each month as soon as they arrive at the newsstand, principally because the graphics, photos and ad content are as essential to me as the writing. With the New Yorker, it’s the writing. By the way, I do look up Vanity Fair and Esquire online as well because, again, there are many features that are only available there.

The New Yorker is a perennial contender as my favourite magazine because it is a weekly (for the most part) and has a reliable line-up and structure.

I always read the reviews first, often printing them out for later re-reading (if it’s Anthony Lane or John Lahr), rarely printing out David Denby. I pretty much complete my online visit to the New Yorker in about 30 minutes each Monday, but savour the print-outs through the week.

During all the years before my switch to online access, I would stack my weekly/monthly magazine purchases chairside, which would drive my wife or girlfriend of the moment a little mad and our relationship a little closer to the inevitable rift. Because I never, ever throw out a magazine, but after due digestion consign the copy to each place alongside its foregoers. By 1996, when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver, some 10,000 magazines were forcing me to a decision, not to mention the 7,000 books lining every wall in my house (except the bathrooms).

I pulled the plug and disposed of the lot, either through selling them (I had a lot of first edition books) or donating them to rest homes, hospitals, etc. I moved to Vancouver with just two books: “Aztec” by Gary Jennings and James Clavell’s “Shogun”, both long, meandering, transporting reads to times and places long gone. I’ve been to both Mexico and Japan and have sought out a site or two to enrich the pleasure these two books have given me, re-reading each every five years or so.

I moved back to Toronto in 2001, forced into retirement by a chronic, but not life-threatening, affliction. And those two books are still with me, along with several hundred more and just as many magazines.

The internet has been a salvation for me in helping me kick the must-buy habits of a lifetime. Still, I find myself printing out some 1,500 pages each month. But these are easier to toss out.

As a news and print junkie, I spend about four hours as day online. I do not blog, do not care to read blogs, but visit my three favourites: Arts & Letters Daily, Bookforum, and GreenCineDaily. Through these I tour the world of print, reading newspapers from the London Times to the Los Angeles Times, and every magazine that has New York as party of its masthead.

Yet, every Monday the New Yorker comes first. The movie reviews come first, always, going back to the Mighty Kael, then Terence Rafferty, a grudging acceptance of David Denby and great affection for Anthony Lane.

John Lahr is also a must read, legitimized not only by his keen writing, but his two letters of transit: his dad was the incomparable Bert Lahr and his wife is Connie Booth, co-author of the best sitcom ever made, Fawlty Towers, along with her then husband, John Cleese.

I also recommend purchasing the complete New Yorker on CD-ROM and the complete New Yorker Cartoon Collection also on CD-ROM. For a pittance, one can own more than 75 years of the best in consistent magazine excellence. And your significant other will not be frustrated by burgeoning bundles.

One last recommendation for reading online, especially if you’re an accumulator like me: you’ll avoid the fate that befell the infamous Collyer Brothers.

Posted by Bob Miller on 23 January 2008 @ 5am

Hey, just read the cartoons. And then, after the chuckling has ended, toss the New Yorker aside and read conservative magazines.

Posted by Rowena S. in Baton Rouge on 23 January 2008 @ 12pm

I always remove the ad inserts before I read the issue.
Don’t forget to ignore anything that Woody Allen writes. He should stick to movies. I always look forward to reading Seymour Hersh. My wife enjoys reading Jerome Groopman, Oliver Sacks, and Atul Gawande. Sometimes
the finalists for the caption contest are just not funny.

Posted by Bryan Campbell on 23 January 2008 @ 1pm

I recently realized that I’ve been a New Yorker subscriber over half my life, thanks to being a really pompous 15 year old.

Staying current has become a breeze for me since starting my current job. We are not allowed to eat at our desks. As a result, I spend every lunch our in the cafeteria, reading the current issue. It usually takes four lunches per issue. Downside is now I never know what to read on airplanes.

I’ve always been compelled to read straight through, and read it all. No matter how dull. (This is less of an issue than it was in the 80s with those dissertations on corn.) I do look at the caption contest first, however. And I do read those contributor blurbs. They’re good for letting you know when a regular contributor has a book coming out, for example.

Even though I’ve never lived anywhere near New York, some of the Goings On About Town are still useful and/or interesting. The movie blurbs, of course. The theatre ones, in case I want to try a soundtrack or to keep an eye out for a touring company. The rock concerts for iTunes ideas. And the restaurant reviews just for fun.

I’ve never noticed the day of the week it arrives.

Posted by Kristen on 23 January 2008 @ 1pm

Finally I see who Tina Brown had in mind as the ideal reader. I even get to see how she reads it. The New Yorker used to be the magazine which set the agenda for discussion that week. “Did you read in the New Yorker where–” During Brown, that must-read magazine became the Atlantic Monthly. Brown turned the New Yorker into something more profitable, a woman’s magazine, a kind of Cosmopolitan for the educated woman. And now I get to watch her reading what’s left of the New Yorker.

Posted by Atlantic reader on 23 January 2008 @ 4pm

The New Yorker is still a great magazine, though I miss the pre-Tina Brown glory days (she almost wrecked that beautiful magazine, but it was saved by her leaving). In those days, 1991 and before, it stood firm against all the clichés and mannerisms of contemporary magazines, being always (except for the cartoons) fundamentally about words, and not images, or shiny surfaces. You’d start to read a piece about rock climbing, for example, little knowing that the article would stretch to 50 pages or so, and only at the very finish would you see who the author was, in italics, no photo or profile, and you’d often be surprised to find the author was someone really famous (in the rock climbing case, A Alvarez). There was no cult of celebrity, no artifice (except in the glossy ads, which appealed to the rich and rarified tastes of the supposed reader), no garbage — just brilliant and precise writing.
It was sheer readers’ delight in those days!

Posted by Rick Hawkins on 23 January 2008 @ 5pm

I also admire the cover then go right to the cartoon caption contest, then leaf through to read the cartoons and the Constabulary Notes etc. I have never lived in New York and now completely skip the goings on. I read parts of “Talk of the Town” (esp. Hendrik Hertzberg) and James Suroweicki, usually skip “Shouts and Murmers” AND the political articles, read the middle bits about half the time, almost always read the fiction, never even look at the poetry, and read the reviews about half the time, too, especially if they’re by Nancy Franklin. This reading schedule keeps me roughly six weeks behind, unless I get more behind (I abandon the current one when the next one comes and let them pile up by my bed until there’s about a dozen). I tried to unsubscribe once and it just didn’t stick (I’m going to 16 years now), but I throw them all out every time I move (every one to two years) and start over. I live in San Diego now and the New Yorker comes on Monday!

Posted by Amy on 23 January 2008 @ 5pm

All of the above! Actually, being retired, I try to read it cover to cover, but find myself skipping to the critical pieces at the end, the cartoon contest, going through and reading all the cartoons, reading the letters and short pieces, and then finally reading the long articles and fiction. Unless one of the long articles is by John McPhee, Oliver Sacks or someone similar.

Due to living in the extreme boonies and perhaps to being the only subscriber in my zipcode, I receive my magazines very late, sometimes two or more weeks late and often in a bunch. I wish they would start sealing them in plastic again. [Not as bad as my Fortean Times which come in opaque envelopes and go missing every other month.]

Would someone like two years’ worth of the New Yorker? I am getting short of space and almost never reread them. I can’t get any of the local libraries to take them–too high falutin’, I guess. Can deliver in the Midwest.

Posted by Shelley on 23 January 2008 @ 6pm

First Roger, my husband, reads it, it’s his subscription after all.
When he’s done I start from the beginning reading EVERYTHING, including some part of the Going On about Town (Art, movies especially and Table for Two).
I sometime skip articles on political issues, because I don’t come out a better person.
How can you not read the fiction? After a fiction piece I read the Contributors list to see if the story is part of a book and many of the books we buy are written by writers we first read in TNY. Which brings me to the tragic fact that I am one of those sad people who has a tall pile of magazines on her bed stand. This happens when I read a book (rarely because of my commitment to the magazine). I even have a box of magazines (we have them all from 1986 when we started subscribing) for the year when – somehow -I got so behind I eventually threw my arms in the air and stopped reading back issues.
Once I am done with the reading I’ll eventually skim them again to find the useful earmarked tidbits and insert them in my ever going lists: movies to be seen; books to be bought and read; cartoons or photos to be scanned and kept; articles I want to copy and send to friends.
This is time consuming.
I get all my information on current issues in the magazine (Newspapers suck especially in Italy) so I can’t miss anything.
I have a TNY problem, it’s clear!

Posted by niki in italy on 24 January 2008 @ 1am

“After a fiction piece I read the Contributors list to see if the story is part of a book and many of the books we buy are written by writers we first read in TNY.”

I forgot that part!

My observation (although I’m not very observant) has been that they frequently don’t tell you whether a short story is actually part of an upcoming novel. So I just periodically read a book review and think ‘well that’s familiar.’

I’ve bought a lot of novels that way. Short story collections too.

It has also helped me know to avoid some things that the critics are raving about.

Posted by Kristen on 24 January 2008 @ 6am

I’ve been a subscriber since my first year in graduate school – that’s more than 50 years! The New Yorker has always been my escape from reading obligations I had from study or work and, after all that time, I am so addicted that I could not stop when I retired. I have some of my favorite covers framed and lining a staircase. As a member of a self-directed lifelong learning program, I have suggested a workshop for next fall – “Reading the New Yorker” which I hope will attract other addicts.

Posted by Lisa on 24 January 2008 @ 7am

I read it back to front. It just seems that most of the “good stuff” is in the back. I don’t appreciate how political the Talk of the Town has become. I’ve never lived in New York so the Goings On are of no interest to me. I love the reviews, the fiction and the long pieces. And the cartoons are still fun. The New Yorker isn’t what it used to be but I can’t imagine being without it.

Posted by Margaret Flanigan on 24 January 2008 @ 7am

My favorite story was “Pet Milk”. After focusing on the cover, I look next at the list of contributors for fiction
I savour big fat fiction issues–great beach and airplane reading.
I remember reading “The Fate of the Earh” buy Jonathan
Schell, in the New Yorker before it grew into a book.

Old covers are great garage wallpaper!

Posted by Jan Watkins on 24 January 2008 @ 10am

I devour everything (from the “Talk of the Town” onward the night I get it. A middle-bit article may not be finished if it’s exceedingly un-interesting, but it has to be pretty bad for that. I let my subscription lapse for a while, in a spurt of budget-consciousness which I got over, but the withdraw symptoms were too much for me. The cards are too irritating for words. I hate them

Posted by Sandy See on 24 January 2008 @ 6pm

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34949

Posted by bob on 25 January 2008 @ 8am

Like other longtime readers, I go through each issue in a fairly regular fashion. I turn at once to the Table of Contents, a recent addition, to learn who the writers are and on what subject they have written. Then I proceed, page by page, through the entire issue for the first time, reviewing the Talk of the Town, the cartoons, the poems, occasional side-bars, and the ads, especially the little ones which appear in column format toward the end of the issue. After a suitable period of restraint, I commence reading a fair amount of each issue.

I have been doing this, with very few exceptions, for at least forty years. Recently I have begun to wonder about the cumulative impact of this experience. How has this steady diet of reading The New Yorker influenced the life I lead or the work I do? Granted, this is a difficult question; I’m not sure it can ever be answered. Yet, in a way, isn’t it the kind of question we might ask of any aesthetic or intellectual experience? How do the films we see, the books we read, or the theatrical events we attend influence us? These questions have always been difficult to answer.

Posted by Richard on 26 January 2008 @ 9am

That’s almost the way I do it too; with these changes:
I always admire the cover.
I scan the table of contents.
I read the blurbs on the authors.
I skip the GoingsOn…stopping for Tables for Two.
I read the Talk of the Town completely.
I read the Financial Page.
I always skip Shouts and Murmurs….stupid-stuff.
I next scan the articles; turning the corners for revisiting.
I read every cartoon on the way through.
I, too, skip the fiction, poetry and all ads.
I then get to the Cartoon contest, which I enter and/or vote.
Having come to the end I return whence I came and begin to read. My goal is also to be finished in a week.

Posted by TampaJim on 26 January 2008 @ 11am

As a faithful subscriber to NYorker for many, many years thorough different marriages and countires. I carry my latest one in my bag and sip it like afine nectar. I have felt it was my graduate school for the universe. I love it and the cartoons just get better and better. Do I care w hat is going on in N Y. Not really, but it is somuch more.

Posted by Vera Vasudevan on 27 January 2008 @ 7am

wow!!!! thanks for sharing everyone. so fascinating to read about how others read a magazine!!!! i’ve always wondered i f i was weird for not reading in sequential order. now i know that i’m not!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you thank you thank you for sharing. :)

Posted by john on 27 January 2008 @ 4pm

Yup, that’s about how I do it, except I usually read Shouts and Murmurs early on. I enjoy the cartoons for the most part, and I go through and read them first, otherwise they distract me when I’m reading the “meat” if I’m discovering them. “Finish the paragraph or read the cartoon?” I can’t deal with that.

Posted by dpocius on 28 January 2008 @ 8am

In the words of a member of our discussion group, “Pulling The New Yorker out of my mailbox every week is like getting a bouquet of civilization.” Amen.

Posted by TalkTNY on 28 January 2008 @ 9am

The New Yorker? Poor thing, it’s a shadow of its former self. Tina Brown destroyed it, and David Remnick can’t bring it back. The magazine once was an oasis from popular culture, but now it IS popular culture. The articles are short, for today’s short attention spans; it’s been years since I’ve discovered a good poem; only the rare cartoon is funny; and the cartoon contest is the dopiest thing in the world. Hendrik Hertzberg should take a long walk off a short pier.

All great things die, and the New Yorker died when Brown got her miserable paws into it.

Posted by Henri Noddnsock on 29 January 2008 @ 8am

I read pretty much front-to-back, but I tend to skip Goings On; it’s just a very long List Of Stuff to me. Unless I finish this week’s before next week’s comes, and then I go back and start in on what I skipped. Unsatisfying, and probably symptomatic of larger personal issues; like eating crumbs when the cake’s already been devoured.

It bugs that the week’s content goes online before I get it in the mail. It bugs more when I go to click on a link to something interesting on someone’s weblog and then discover it’s to TNY. I have to back out of the click, lest I feel I’m cheating myself out of full enjoyment of my paid subscription. Kottke, why do you want to ruin my fun?

Posted by Michelle on 29 January 2008 @ 10am

English is not my first language. But reading the New Yorker was and is the best English lesson I could ever imagine – o.k. H. Herzberg remains the biggest language challenge I ever encountered.
My life started again when the Archive came out, finally I did not have to research in the library for articles that I found referred to in other readings. Too bad that printing out of the Archive is so difficult. For example the short story that served the basis for the movie Brokeback Mountain – what a superb story!! Or that >50page “short story”, Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”.
I’m happy that several more people highlighted James Surowiecki’s Financial Page. So often does the author tackle obvious or less obvious topics in such creative and entertaining fashion.
How do I read the New Yorker: I don’t follow a strict order. Rather I go for titles or pictures that attract my attention; or I start reading the article that my husband has started to read and left the magazine opened.

Posted by Katja on 30 January 2008 @ 2am

Reply to Henri Noddnsock: Ironic that the destroyer of The New Yorker was a Pommie (as we call the British here in Australia), given the usual snobbery of the Anglophile against American culture. Brown dragged the NY into the world of celebrity obsession (before that, there were lengthy profiles of people, but they’d as often as not, be some obscure art gallery director or clown), low attention span, surface instead of depth, gloss, pictures over words, etc. But did she completely destroy it? I think it’s better now than it was when she ran it, though it’s sad to see the fold-over that telegraphs the articles (even though you can remove it) rather than just the cover that revealed nothing about the contents inside except that you knew they’d be good because it was the NY.
It’s interesting though, that some great writers weren’t featured that much in the NY – not sure if Gore Vidal was ever a regular (maybe they couldn’t cope with his idiosyncratic style?) and many writers (who probably had their work rejected by the NY) have railed against its fastidiousness.
Long may it exist, though I can’t afford to buy it anymore and few libraries in Australia stock it nowadays. I’ve still got 5 or 6 years’ worth in my library, all catalogued (by me) by subject!

Posted by Rick Hawkins on 30 January 2008 @ 5pm

I like the examples of meaningful mistakes from other publications that sometimes fill in space at the end of articles.

Posted by Erik on 6 February 2008 @ 7am

I’ve been reading the NY since 1947 when it was passed on to us by emigree White Russian friends in ChCh. My favourite bits were by Perelman. Since then I’ve had occasional subscriptions and don’t have any particular plan of attack. Being a speed reader, I can get through it quite quickly although trying to fathom the significance of the cartoons can often slow me down. Seymour Hersh is a writer to be savoured for his ability to beat the rest of the pack and the film reviews are always worthwhile. Constabulary Notes are also excellent value.

Posted by John Laing on 8 February 2008 @ 5pm

Ive been reading the New Yorker for over 50 years, even had a subscription when I was overseas in the Army. My favorite book as a child was New Yorker Cartoons 1925 -1950 because I thought it gave a great history lesson about those years, much mysterious to me. I don’t find the recent cartoons funny much less explicative of the culture Gahan Wilson belongs in Playboy or maybe Hustler. Hendrik Hertzberg has absolutely nothing to do with the The Talk of the Town unless that talk is from a Reform Democratic Club – spare me the earnestness. Will we ever see the deftness of “Notes From a Long Winded Lady” again?But I read it weekly, cover to cover hoping to once again read something comparable to Capote’s reporting from Kansas about the Clutter killings, you just couldn’t get the next installment quick enough – the finesrt magazine piece bar none. Until then William Trevor entertains.

Posted by ROB on 13 February 2008 @ 12pm