If you love good writing

Several years ago, while writing for Apple's early webzine iReview, I had the temerity to review the New York Review of Books website. Somewhat to our surprise, it was one of the most fluid, transparent, and user-friendly sites around. After the review was published, we received a short and very pleasant note from their director of electronic publishing thanking us for the mention.

I visited the website today (still a paragon of clarity) to read the obituary of NYRB's co-editor and co-founder, Barbara Epstein.

If you've glanced at NYRB on the newstand, and dismissed it as overly intellectual and arcane, this is a good occasion to take another look. I found the topics timely and the writing incisive. Yes, the content verges on the esoteric and even the precious, but the writing is simply superb. Jason Epstein (Barbara Epstein's co-editor and husband) nails' Bill Buford's memoir about his mid-life plunge into cooking in the kitchen of Mario ("Molto Mario") Batali with the line:

Heat is the story of a one-sided culinary love affair pursued with only occasional, restrained sniping by Buford at Batali's unequal response.

Wonderful summer reading, lots of it free and online. And there's an RSS feed.