"How is it possible that Franz Stangl, a kindly, unassuming, mild-mannered family man and policeman from the small Austrian city of Linz became the commandant of the Nazi death camp Treblinka, where he wore white riding breaches to oversee mass murders of Jews? Gitta Sereny conducts her months of interviews of him in prison—as well as interviews with his wife and acquaintances—with her customary decorum, intelligence, and respect. One of her many outstanding strengths as a journalist is that she is entirely committed to understanding her subjects rather than demonstrating that she and her readers are unassailably superior."

"The nonfictional account of Mary McCarthy's idyllic childhood, cut short by the death of her parents. McCarthy was orphaned by the influenza epidemic that followed WWI; both of her parents died in a flash. She was then raised by her grandparents in Seattle. The wonderful thing she does in the book is to tell what happened, and then to write about what might have happened. It takes 'memoir' to a whole other level. It gives you a shot of adrenaline; it makes you ask yourself, 'What was the transformational moment in my life when my story really begins?'"

"His new album is called Carrie & Lowell, and I love it. I love all his albums, but that one is on another level because from start to finish it’s brilliant songwriting and some of the best production I’ve ever heard. The song 'Death With Dignity' has got that acoustic guitar in and out, left and right side, it’s just brilliant. It sounds so lame but every time I hear that song, it just beats the shit out of me. It just bruises my whole body. It’s one of those ones that’s even hard to talk about because it’s so good."