{"product_id":"lost-property-isbn-9781681374222","title":"Lost Property","description":"\u003cb\u003eA smart and hilarious memoir of privilege and excess told by the son of a powerful, seductive member of the New York elite.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBen Sonnenberg grew up in the great house on Gramercy Park in New York City that his father, the inventor of modern public relations and the owner of a fine collection of art, built to celebrate his rise from the poverty of the Jewish Lower East Side to a life of riches and power. His son could have what he wanted, except perhaps what he wanted most: to get away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLost Property\u003c\/i\u003e, a book of memoirs and confessions, is a tale of youthful riot and rebellion. Sonnenberg recounts his aesthetic, sexual, and political education, and a sometimes absurd flight into “anarchy and sabotage,” in which he reports to both the CIA and East German intelligence during the Cold War and, cultivating a dandy’s nonchalance, pursues a life of sexual adventure in 1960s London and New York. The cast of characters includes Orson Welles, Glenn Gould, and Sylvia Plath; among the subjects are marriage, children, infidelity, debt, divorce, literature, and multiple sclerosis. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe end is surprisingly happy.\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003eConfessions of a bad boy turned great magazine editor.\" —Michael Dirda, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, List of 66 Favorite Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Lost Property\u003c\/i\u003e stands up to comparison with the great romantic autobiographies, with Stendhal’s \u003ci\u003eLife of Henry Brulard\u003c\/i\u003e and Musset’s \u003ci\u003eConfessions of a Child of the Century\u003c\/i\u003e, with Cyril Connolly’s aphoristic \u003ci\u003eThe Unquiet Grave\u003c\/i\u003e and J.R. Ackerley’s delicious \u003ci\u003eHindoo Holiday\u003c\/i\u003e. Its style is just right: darting, anecdotal, slightly bemused, possessing a lilting irony that makes for compulsive readability. There is also something funny, sexy, or shocking on every page.\" —Michael Dirda, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In this wry, clever memoir, . . . Sonnenberg unabashedly chronicles a childhood of spoils coupled with an absence of familial affection, a psychological wound he salved with clothes, books and women. . . . his cleverness shines brightest in self-deprecating jabs.” —Connor Goodwin, \u003ci\u003eInsideHook\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Here is the story . . . of Sonnenberg’s passage from sometimes wicked child of privilege to sexual and intellectual errant to bold editor of one of the great journals of our time, \u003ci\u003eGrand Street\u003c\/i\u003e . . . [Sonnenberg] remains the magical center, the touchstone of what in many ways is the tale of a lover’s progress, with its shames and virtues.\" —JoAnn Wypijewski, \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Lost Property\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the seductions and failures of a self-proclaimed poseur, a brilliant aesthete, and a son who was capable of living his life only after his father’s death . . . Sonnenberg’s voice is self-deprecating and proud, viciously funny and pained.\" —Jane Mendelsohn, \u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Lost Property\u003c\/i\u003e reads like a Henry James novel rewritten by Nabokov. Sonnenberg is acutely conscious of his rarity value as a Croesus-rich man of letters and uses his wealth and wealth of reading to indulge his taste for posing.\" —Susannah Herbert, \u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eBen Sonnenberg\u003c\/b\u003e (1936-2010) was a playwright, poet, and publisher. In 1981, he started the literary magazine \u003ci\u003eGrand Street\u003c\/i\u003e, which he edited for nine years. He lived in New York City with his wife, the writer Dorothy Gallagher. In 1994, Sonnenberg was named an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaria Margaronis \u003c\/b\u003eis a writer, translator, and broadcaster. A former associate literary editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e and longtime writer for the magazine, her work has appeared in many other publications, including \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGrand Street\u003c\/i\u003e. She reports and presents radio documentaries for the BBC, and divides her time between London and Greece.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"NYRB Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44886317433061,"sku":"NP9781681374222","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781681374222.jpg?v=1767731834","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/lost-property-isbn-9781681374222","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}