Tasty and meaty and chock full of interestingness, a subscription to The Believer was a great present to get for Christmas. Thanks Max!

Their Web site sells a year subscription for $45. I find that Amazon, or whoever their affiliate is, repeatedly sells magazine subscritions for more than the actual magazine itself.

Yep, pretension is the name of game here. Although it's not really pretension - its a kind of uber-pretense, a pretension so pretensive in its self-mockery that it somehow doubles back itself and actually becomes almost worthwhile.

Almost.

The cutesiness of the verbal ticks (each article, for example, is prefaced with a distinctly unnecessary list of issues which will be "discussed")are so studious in their avoidance of any level of seriousness as to be nearly embarassing. The quality of writing is, as one might imagine, mixed. The book reviews are hilariously unimformative, and yet again one suspects this is done on purpose. How gauche do we readers need to be to want to find out what a book is about from a review! Or whether not the book is worth reading! How pedestrian! Pul-ease!

All in all one walks away with the distinct impression that to spend more than 5 minutes in conversation with the Believer (or the McSweeny's) crowd would be an unavoidable prelude to a grisly murder-suicide. Simultaneously brilliant and annoying, The Believer is the sort of thing that people who like this sort of thing will certain like. And even then in small doses, I suspect.

this magazine is so great. i read it cover to cover every month. best summed up by its mission statement:

"The Believer is a monthly magazine where length is no object. There are book reviews that are not necessarily timely, and that are very often very long. There are interviews that are also very long.

We will focus on writers and books we like.

We will give people and books the benefit of the doubt. "

so awesome! no ads! always super fulfilling!

I feel like the word "magazine" nominally cheapens the value of The Believer, for it is nothing like what I've come to know as a magazine. What do I mean?

1. There are no advertisements, at all
2. There are almost no photographs, although there are many drawings
3. The story topics are seemingly disparate, yet each tends to relate itself somehow to literature
4. The cover and pages are quality paper and binding, not some flimsy, glossy mess bound with a few staples

Without a doubt, this is my favorite periodical. Each article is stimulating in its own right, even if the topic itself is not interesting.