Doree's 100

I've written about my husband from time to time, that husband of mine. I was surprised to open the Observer to the article about Brooklyn's Literary 100 and see that he was one of the two entrees for Windsor Terrace. I pointed it out and he looked astonished and said "I know." We joked that the illustration at the bottom was a picture of him, as he likes to wear sweater vests, had recently grown a beard, and on occasion from far away he appears to have very small feet. And do they have any idea he's married to a random illiterate Brooklyn blogger? It's for good reason that I've kept my lip buttoned.

He wasn't the only one on list who hasn't published a novel - in fact the majority are agents and editors. Who's 100 is this? A writer's bread and butter 100. If it weren't packed with potential employers, there would be room for writers like Gabriel Cohen, or as my husband suggested, Nica Lalli and Felicia Sullivan. And who could leave out David Grand and Brooklyn writer turned comedian and Daily Show regular John Kellogg Hodgman?

I also wonder why Darin Strauss, who I often see pushing his double stroller (HE HAD TWINS!)around Windsor Terrace with a pleasantly surprised look on his face, was listed as a Park Slope author. Perhaps like me he prefers the Vanderbilt Playground.

Doree Shafrir apologizes for her "necessarily arbitrary" list. My husband seems to have been included because some view him, as she writes, as a "comer" within the magazine publishing world. Can I please never hear that expression again! I'm not so impressed with this cliquey party-throwing literary world of Doree's if "comers" is a word they like.

What an irresistable temptation, to judge judges. I feel better now.