The Week in Pictures for Jan. 25

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include a march for stricter gun-control laws, a cold spell in the city, and the approaching centennial for Grand Central Terminal.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in Sunday’s Times, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times’s Jodi Kantor, Corey Kilgannon and Michael Grynbaum, as well as Comptroller John C. iu, Fred Kaplan and Eddie Huang. Tune in at 10 p.m. Saturday or 10 a.m. Sunday on NY1 News to watch.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured daily in the main print news section of The Times. You may also browse highlights from the blog and reader comments, read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Big Ticket | $13.575 Million in a Glass Tower

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

The turnover at One Beacon Court, the glassy spike of condominiums anchored by the Bloomberg L.P. headquarters on the site of the former Alexander’s department store, has continued unabated, and so has the escalation of prices, making the $13.575 million sale of a three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath unit on the 32nd floor the most expensive transaction of the week, according to city records.

The luxuriously appointed apartment at 151 East 58th Street, No. 32A, which has a 750-square-foot terrace and a wall of windows diected toward Central Park, is on the first residential level of the tower; an elevator designated for residents runs express to its floor. Its ceilings are more than 11 feet high.

The 55-story tower, designed by César Pelli and his son Rafael, opened in 2004 and has 105 residences, most with spectacular views of the park and the East River. With its circular driveway and in-house destination restaurant, Le Cirque, the building has been popular with those looking for a high-end pied-à-terre without the high anxiety of a co-op board interrogation. Asher Alcobi of Peter Ashe Real Estate brokered the listing with Bruce Silverman of Halstead Property.

The buyers, including a foreign businessman shielded by a limited liability company, Beacon Court, and represented by John Parsegian of Halstead Property, join a relatively new upstairs neighbor, Anshu Jain, a chief executive of Deutsche Bank, who paid $7.2 million for a two-bedroom, 33rd-floor pied-à-terre in Se! ptember.

Mr. Parsegian said the buyers of No. 32A were won over by the privacy, haute amenities and distinctive views. “They were in love with the idea of this light, open, airy and happy loftlike space in an uptown apartment building,” he said, “with a unique driveway that affords a level of privacy in an intimate setting.”

The sellers of No. 32A, James and Kathleen Dahl of Tallahassee, Fla., bought the unit for $5.49 million in 2005 and listed it for $14 million in August. Mr. Dahl is the founder and former chairman of Rock Creek Capital, an investment fund. His stint on Wall Street was memorable for his decision to testify against Michael Milken, his former boss at Drexel Burnham Lambert, in 1988 after being granted immunity from criminal prosecution.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

For Sotomayor, Bronx School\'s Closing Prompts Heartache - and Memories

Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx is one of 24 schools that the Archdiocese of New York plans to close, a move that has saddened one of its graduates â€" Sonia Sotomayor, associated justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Win Mcnamee/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Imges Justice Sotomayor

The planned closing of Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx - a haven amid the housing projects in the Soundview neighborhood - has left many parents and graduates upset. That includes the valedictorian of the Class of 1968, who grew up in the projects that now bear her name: Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

“I am heartbroken,” she said Friday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where she is on tour for “My Beloved World,” her memoir. “You know how important those eight years were It’s symbolic of what it means for all our families, like my mother, who were dirt-poor. She watched what happened to my cousins in public school and worried if we went there, we might not get out. So she scrimped and saved. It was a road of opportunity for kids with no other alternative.”

Indeed, a glance at some of New York City’s most successful and i! nfluential Latino and black professionals and politicians is like a Catholic School All-Star alumni roster. It would include Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president and acting chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Nelson Roman, recently named a federal judge; Julissa Reynoso, United States ambassador to Uruguay; Jennifer Lopez and her former beau, Sean Combs.

The Roman Catholic schools that have been shuttered in impoverished neighborhoods in recent years have produced enough lawyers to staff a white-shoe firm and enough doctors for a top-tier research hospital. And those schools could make the difference between becoming a judge or appearing before one.

“The incidence of high school dropouts for kids from Catholic grammar schools is dramatically lower,” Justice Sotomayor said Friday. “The number of kids who go on to higher education is statistically higher. There are wonderful public schools in the city, but our kids don’t often live near them or they havn’t been adequately prepared for entrance to those schools.”

The New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese announced this week that it would close 24 schools, including 7 elementary schools in the Bronx, because of financial pressures.

Justice Sotomayor’s memoir, which warmly and vividly describes her life before she became a federal judge, has scenes that are instantly recognizable by any Puerto Rican striver who ever lived on Kelly Street or Southern Boulevard in the South Bronx.

Her recollection of Blessed Sacrament is unsentimental and unvarnished, reflecting the complicated feeling shared by many of that era’s graduates. She recalls how third grade left her in constant dread of running afoul of the black-robed Sisters of Charity who taught classes bursting with up to 50 students.

“Discipline,” she wrote, “was virtually an eighth sacrament.”

Justice Sotomayor recalled another incident on Friday: When she told a nun she did not want to eat a piece of rye br! ead, the ! nun invoked a familiar response. “There are starving kids in India,” the nun said.

Miss Sotomayor’s reply

“Well, I’ll mail it to them.”

She was hauled up to the front of the cafeteria and slapped.

“Everyone saw me get punished for the smart mouth that I had,” she said Friday. “That was a message that doesn’t always get taught when you’re struggling to survive, that there are other people more needy than you and you have an obligation to think about them”

Looking back, Blessed Sacrament taught her an unshakable lesson.

“It taught me how to be a good person,” she said. “In the kind of world we lived in, with the drug addiction and crime and sadness that permeates the community, you needed a model of someone teaching you that being a good human being has value.”

When her father died when she was in fourth grade, her mother had to raise Sonia and her brother Juan Luis alone. Blessed Sacrament gave her mother Celina a two-for-one deal. Hermother worked hard, even as it drew the disapproval of the nuns who frowned on women working outside the home.

“Their disapproval was felt by latchkey kids,” she wrote. “The irony of course was that my mother wouldn’t have been working such long hours if not to pay for the education she believed was the key to aspirations for a better life.”

She shared those aspirations by the time she graduated from Blessed Sacrament, even if her eighth grade teacher Sister Mary Regina was somewhat puzzled.

“The girl’s ambitions, odd as they seem, are to become an attorney and someday marry,” Sister Mary Regina wrote at the time. “Hopefully, she wishes to be successful in both fields. We predict a new life of challenges in Cardinal Spellman, where she will be attending high school, we hope she will be able to meet these new challenges.”

Sister, consider your hope - and those of countless factory workers, janitors and single mothers and their children - met. And raised.

!

For Sotomayor, Bronx School\'s Closing Prompts Heartache - and Memories

Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx is one of 24 schools that the Archdiocese of New York plans to close, a move that has saddened one of its graduates â€" Sonia Sotomayor, associated justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Win Mcnamee/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Imges Justice Sotomayor

The planned closing of Blessed Sacrament School in the Bronx - a haven amid the housing projects in the Soundview neighborhood - has left many parents and graduates upset. That includes the valedictorian of the Class of 1968, who grew up in the projects that now bear her name: Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

“I am heartbroken,” she said Friday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where she is on tour for “My Beloved World,” her memoir. “You know how important those eight years were It’s symbolic of what it means for all our families, like my mother, who were dirt-poor. She watched what happened to my cousins in public school and worried if we went there, we might not get out. So she scrimped and saved. It was a road of opportunity for kids with no other alternative.”

Indeed, a glance at some of New York City’s most successful and i! nfluential Latino and black professionals and politicians is like a Catholic School All-Star alumni roster. It would include Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president and acting chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Nelson Roman, recently named a federal judge; Julissa Reynoso, United States ambassador to Uruguay; Jennifer Lopez and her former beau, Sean Combs.

The Roman Catholic schools that have been shuttered in impoverished neighborhoods in recent years have produced enough lawyers to staff a white-shoe firm and enough doctors for a top-tier research hospital. And those schools could make the difference between becoming a judge or appearing before one.

“The incidence of high school dropouts for kids from Catholic grammar schools is dramatically lower,” Justice Sotomayor said Friday. “The number of kids who go on to higher education is statistically higher. There are wonderful public schools in the city, but our kids don’t often live near them or they havn’t been adequately prepared for entrance to those schools.”

The New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese announced this week that it would close 24 schools, including 7 elementary schools in the Bronx, because of financial pressures.

Justice Sotomayor’s memoir, which warmly and vividly describes her life before she became a federal judge, has scenes that are instantly recognizable by any Puerto Rican striver who ever lived on Kelly Street or Southern Boulevard in the South Bronx.

Her recollection of Blessed Sacrament is unsentimental and unvarnished, reflecting the complicated feeling shared by many of that era’s graduates. She recalls how third grade left her in constant dread of running afoul of the black-robed Sisters of Charity who taught classes bursting with up to 50 students.

“Discipline,” she wrote, “was virtually an eighth sacrament.”

Justice Sotomayor recalled another incident on Friday: When she told a nun she did not want to eat a piece of rye br! ead, the ! nun invoked a familiar response. “There are starving kids in India,” the nun said.

Miss Sotomayor’s reply

“Well, I’ll mail it to them.”

She was hauled up to the front of the cafeteria and slapped.

“Everyone saw me get punished for the smart mouth that I had,” she said Friday. “That was a message that doesn’t always get taught when you’re struggling to survive, that there are other people more needy than you and you have an obligation to think about them”

Looking back, Blessed Sacrament taught her an unshakable lesson.

“It taught me how to be a good person,” she said. “In the kind of world we lived in, with the drug addiction and crime and sadness that permeates the community, you needed a model of someone teaching you that being a good human being has value.”

When her father died when she was in fourth grade, her mother had to raise Sonia and her brother Juan Luis alone. Blessed Sacrament gave her mother Celina a two-for-one deal. Hermother worked hard, even as it drew the disapproval of the nuns who frowned on women working outside the home.

“Their disapproval was felt by latchkey kids,” she wrote. “The irony of course was that my mother wouldn’t have been working such long hours if not to pay for the education she believed was the key to aspirations for a better life.”

She shared those aspirations by the time she graduated from Blessed Sacrament, even if her eighth grade teacher Sister Mary Regina was somewhat puzzled.

“The girl’s ambitions, odd as they seem, are to become an attorney and someday marry,” Sister Mary Regina wrote at the time. “Hopefully, she wishes to be successful in both fields. We predict a new life of challenges in Cardinal Spellman, where she will be attending high school, we hope she will be able to meet these new challenges.”

Sister, consider your hope - and those of countless factory workers, janitors and single mothers and their children - met. And raised.

!

A 17th-Century Masterpiece Discovered at the Ritz in Paris

PARIS - The Hôtel Ritz Paris, famous for its bar, its swimming pool and its assignations, had a treasure hiding in plain sight, an exceptional painting that had been hanging on a wall for decades without anyone paying it the least attention.

Christie’s Images Ltd. 2012 Charles Le Brun’s (1619-1690) The Sacrifice of Polycena, 1647.

With the hotel shut for renovation, the auction house Christie’s announced this week that art experts had decided that the long-ignored canvas was by Charles Le Brun, one of the masters of 17th-century French painting, and that it would be put it up for auction.

The painting, called “Le Sacrifice de Polyx¨ne” (“The sacrifice of Polyxena”), dates from 1647. It hung above a desk in the hotel suite where Coco Chanel lived for more than 30 years, and was only discovered to be important last summer, when the hotel shut for a 27-month renovation in the face of stiff competition from newer hotels.

Christie’s Images Ltd. 2012 Charles Le Brun’s The Sacrifice of Polycena hanging in the Ritz Suite.

“It is a magical discovery,” said Cécile Bernard, a Christie’s expert. “The painting must have been there for at least 50 years.”

The painting depicts the killing of Polyxena, the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy, who according to myth revealed the weakness of! Achilles’s heel and thus led to his death. It will be shown at Christie’s in New York from Jan. 26 to 29 and auctioned on April 15.

Christie’s said it authenticated the painting after it was discovered by two art experts hired by the hotel, and estimates that it will sell for up to 500,000 euros ($665,000).

“Le Sacrifice de Polyxene” is an early work of Le Brun (1619-1690), whose monumental paintings adorn the gallery of Apollo in the Louvre and the Great Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Experts say that the painting, which bears the painter’s initials, was done for a private collector before Le Brun was made “first painter to the king” by Louis XIV, who called him “the greatest French painter of all time.’’

Derelict 19th-Century Building Continues Its Decline

Benjamin Norman for The New York Times The collapse of a wall at 502 Canal Street, at the corner of Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan, has been called “demolition by neglect.”

“Down on its luck” was how John M. Weiss, the deputy counsel for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, described the derelict hulk of 502 Canal Street in Lower Manhattan in November after flooding from Hurricane Sandy prompted the Buildings Department to bar entry.

Two months later, its luck is running out.

The nearly 200-year-old, thee-story building has deteriorated even more, despite the landlord’s promise to make repairs as required by the commission.

This month, a wall collapsed, spilling a metal roll-down gate onto the sidewalk and prompting complaints from neighbors and preservationists, among them George Calderaro of the Historic Districts Council, who called the situation “demolition by neglect.”

In 2003, the building appears to have been bought for over $3 million by an owner connected to the Ponte family, which is also affiliated with the restaurant F. Illi Ponte around the corner (a yellow sign on the second floor of 502 Canal beckons prospective diners there). A phone call to the owner was not returned.

On Nov. 19, the landmarks commission issued a permit for shoring and bracing work on the building. The city says the owner plans to stabilize it, remove the Canal Street facade by hand and then restore it with the original bricks.

George Condo, On View In and Outside the Metropolitan Opera House

A large black-and-white banner featuring a court jester by the artist George Condo is currently up on the façade of the Metropolitan Opera House. The image advertises the Met’s new production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,’’ which opens there on Monday, and also an art show, “George Condo’s Jesters,’’ also opening on Monday, at Gallery Met, the seven-year-old space in the south lobby of the opera house.

Mr. Condo, whose paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints were the subject of a survey show at the New Museum last year, is known for his outlandish figurative images. For Gallery Met, he has created nine new ink-on-paper drawings of jesters to coincide with the production of Rigoletto, which tells the story of a court jester whose life unravels after his insults go a bit too far. “I’ve been painting clowns since 1985 - my favorite archetypal American hero-loser,’’ Mr. Condo said in a statement describing the drawings.

The show is on view through May 11th.

Bill Pullman to Join Cast of \'The Other Place\'

Bill Pullman (now starring at the president in NBC's "1600 Penn") is joining the cast of "The Other Place" beginning February 5, the Manhattan Theater Club has announced. Mr. Pullman will take over the role of Ian from Daniel Stern, whose final performance in that role will be February 3. Mr. Stern is taking an [...]

Graphic Books Best Sellers: \'Persepolis\' Tops the Paperback List

There is activity on each of our graphic books best-seller lists this week. At No. 1 on the manga list is volume 2 of “Missions of Love,” a romance series. On the hardcover list, at No. 3, is “Dark Tower: The Gunslinger â€" The Man in Black,” the latest adaption of Stephen King’s epic, published by Marvel Entertainment. At No. 4 is volume 2 of “Wonder Woman,” part of the “New 52” initiative by DC Comics that reintroduced all the company’s heroes. Wonder Woman has always been tied to Greek mythology and this version is making great use of those mischievous gods and goddesses.

From “Persepolis”

On the paperback list at No. 7 is another “New 52” series: “Animal Man,” which has been one of the best-received revivals. In ths volume, Animal Man’s struggle to protect his family, particularly his daughter, who has inherited his powers, heightens. At No. 1 on the list is “Persepolis,” by Marjane Satrapi, about the author’s life in Iran during its 1979 revolution and its war with Iraq. The Beat, the news blog of comics culture, notes that Ms. Satrapi will have the first showing of her paintings next week at a gallery in Paris.

As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.

Book Review Podcast: Joe Queenan on a Lifetime of Reading

Illustration by Josue Evilla. Photographs: Adam Ferguson for The New York Times (Petraeus); Mary Evans Picture Library (Huns); SZ Photo/The Image Works (Vietnam); Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images (Afghanistan); Ed Darack/Science Faction â€" Getty Images (helicopter)

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Ligaya Mishan reviews Joe Queenan’s “One for the Books,” a memoir about life as a voracious reader. Ms. Mishan says that Mr. Queenan, a “famously dyspeptic humorist,” is in this book “mostly in celebratory mode, writing of his love of literature.” Ms. Mishan writes:

Fortunately, given Queenan’s particular skill set, he finds plenty in the book world to sneer at, too. On the cheapskates who frequent secondhand bookshops: “People should consider it an honor to pay full price for a book by Don DeLillo or Margaret Atwood.” On reviews containing the adjective “luminous”: “I prefer books that go off li! ke a Roman candle.” On the futility of book clubs: “Good books do not invite unanimity. They invite discord, mayhem, knife fights, blood feuds.” He refuses to read novels in which the protagonist attends private school (so long, Harry Potter), or books written by fans of the Yankees, a group that turns out to include Salman Rushdie. And he reserves particular scorn for readers of e-books, who, he argues, “have purged all the authentic, nonelectronic magic and mystery from their lives.”

This week, Mr. Queenan talks about his reading habits; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; J. D. Biersdorfer discusses new apps about famous wars; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

The Week in Culture Pictures, Jan. 25

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times Utrecht String Quartet performing the music of Verhulst, Mendelssohn and Sibelius at the Frick Collection.

More photographs.

A slide show of photographs of cultural highlights from this week.

Living in His Own Tiny Home, Before He Was a Billionaire Mayor

Illustration: The New York Times; Bloomberg: Associated Press Been there, done that.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may now be one of the wealthiest men in the world, with gracious estates scattered across the globe from Bermuda to London, but it was not always so.

Discussing the city’s recent contest to pick a developer for a new “micro-apartment” building on his Friday morning radio show, the mayor fondly recalled his own humble start in New York City, saying he is no stranger to living in small spaces.

“It’s bigger than the apartment I lived in for 10 years, or roughly the same size,” Mr. Bloomberg said of the model micro-apartment on display at the Museum of the City of New York. “For 10 years, thank you very much,” he added for emphasis.

The only difference, he said, is the new apartments are “spectacular.”

He offered praise for the often derided Murphy bed, saying it was a better alternative to a couch, which is where he rested his head in his salad days.

“I used to sleep on a couch sometimes, where you’d open the couch up and it was a pain to take the pillows off and everything and then open it up and make the bed,” he said.

He spoke of cooking meals in a small kitchen and shopping at The Door Store for cheap furnishings. To save money, he took hammer and nail in hand and built himself a shelf - albeit a defective one.

“I made my own shelves and then I stained them and then the shelves! warped,” he said. “For 10 years, my books rocked back and forth. I was so annoyed with myself. I should have thought of that.”

On a more serious note, he said he hoped that the success of the micro-apartment project would lead to a broader reform of zoning laws to allow more similar developments.

There are 1.8 million families of one and two people, most in Manhattan, he said. But there are only one million studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Without a change in zoning to allow people to develop small apartments, people will take matters into their own hands, he said.

“If you don’t do this, what they keep doing is breaking up apartments illegally,” he said. And that can create dangerous conditions.

Living in His Own Tiny Home, Before He Was a Billionaire Mayor

Illustration: The New York Times; Bloomberg: Associated Press Been there, done that.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may now be one of the wealthiest men in the world, with gracious estates scattered across the globe from Bermuda to London, but it was not always so.

Discussing the city’s recent contest to pick a developer for a new “micro-apartment” building on his Friday morning radio show, the mayor fondly recalled his own humble start in New York City, saying he is no stranger to living in small spaces.

“It’s bigger than the apartment I lived in for 10 years, or roughly the same size,” Mr. Bloomberg said of the model micro-apartment on display at the Museum of the City of New York. “For 10 years, thank you very much,” he added for emphasis.

The only difference, he said, is the new apartments are “spectacular.”

He offered praise for the often derided Murphy bed, saying it was a better alternative to a couch, which is where he rested his head in his salad days.

“I used to sleep on a couch sometimes, where you’d open the couch up and it was a pain to take the pillows off and everything and then open it up and make the bed,” he said.

He spoke of cooking meals in a small kitchen and shopping at The Door Store for cheap furnishings. To save money, he took hammer and nail in hand and built himself a shelf - albeit a defective one.

“I made my own shelves and then I stained them and then the shelves! warped,” he said. “For 10 years, my books rocked back and forth. I was so annoyed with myself. I should have thought of that.”

On a more serious note, he said he hoped that the success of the micro-apartment project would lead to a broader reform of zoning laws to allow more similar developments.

There are 1.8 million families of one and two people, most in Manhattan, he said. But there are only one million studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Without a change in zoning to allow people to develop small apartments, people will take matters into their own hands, he said.

“If you don’t do this, what they keep doing is breaking up apartments illegally,” he said. And that can create dangerous conditions.

Trouble on Tuesday Nights

ABC's Tuesday-night comedy block has run into ratings difficulties.

Book Review Podcast: Joe Queenan on a Lifetime of Reading

Illustration by Josue Evilla. Photographs: Adam Ferguson for The New York Times (Petraeus); Mary Evans Picture Library (Huns); SZ Photo/The Image Works (Vietnam); Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images (Afghanistan); Ed Darack/Science Faction â€" Getty Images (helicopter)

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Ligaya Mishan reviews Joe Queenan’s “One for the Books,” a memoir about life as a voracious reader. Ms. Mishan says that Mr. Queenan, a “famously dyspeptic humorist,” is in this book “mostly in celebratory mode, writing of his love of literature.” Ms. Mishan writes:

Fortunately, given Queenan’s particular skill set, he finds plenty in the book world to sneer at, too. On the cheapskates who frequent secondhand bookshops: “People should consider it an honor to pay full price for a book by Don DeLillo or Margaret Atwood.” On reviews containing the adjective “luminous”: “I prefer books that go off li! ke a Roman candle.” On the futility of book clubs: “Good books do not invite unanimity. They invite discord, mayhem, knife fights, blood feuds.” He refuses to read novels in which the protagonist attends private school (so long, Harry Potter), or books written by fans of the Yankees, a group that turns out to include Salman Rushdie. And he reserves particular scorn for readers of e-books, who, he argues, “have purged all the authentic, nonelectronic magic and mystery from their lives.”

This week, Mr. Queenan talks about his reading habits; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; J. D. Biersdorfer discusses new apps about famous wars; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Book Review Podcast: Joe Queenan on a Lifetime of Reading

Illustration by Josue Evilla. Photographs: Adam Ferguson for The New York Times (Petraeus); Mary Evans Picture Library (Huns); SZ Photo/The Image Works (Vietnam); Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images (Afghanistan); Ed Darack/Science Faction â€" Getty Images (helicopter)

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Ligaya Mishan reviews Joe Queenan’s “One for the Books,” a memoir about life as a voracious reader. Ms. Mishan says that Mr. Queenan, a “famously dyspeptic humorist,” is in this book “mostly in celebratory mode, writing of his love of literature.” Ms. Mishan writes:

Fortunately, given Queenan’s particular skill set, he finds plenty in the book world to sneer at, too. On the cheapskates who frequent secondhand bookshops: “People should consider it an honor to pay full price for a book by Don DeLillo or Margaret Atwood.” On reviews containing the adjective “luminous”: “I prefer books that go off li! ke a Roman candle.” On the futility of book clubs: “Good books do not invite unanimity. They invite discord, mayhem, knife fights, blood feuds.” He refuses to read novels in which the protagonist attends private school (so long, Harry Potter), or books written by fans of the Yankees, a group that turns out to include Salman Rushdie. And he reserves particular scorn for readers of e-books, who, he argues, “have purged all the authentic, nonelectronic magic and mystery from their lives.”

This week, Mr. Queenan talks about his reading habits; Leslie Kaufman has notes from the field; J. D. Biersdorfer discusses new apps about famous wars; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Sam Tanenhaus is the host.

Bill Pullman Joins Cast of \'The Other Place\'

Bill Pullman (now starring at the president in NBC’s “1600 Penn”) is joining the cast of “The Other Place” beginning February 5, the Manhattan Theater Club has announced. Mr. Pullman will take over the role of Ian from Daniel Stern, whose final performance in that role will be February 3. Mr. Stern is taking an early leave from the production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater because of family matters in California, according to a press release from the Manhattan Theater Club. The new drama by Sharr White stars Laurie Metcalf as Juliana Smithton, a businesswoman beset by a medical crisis and is directed by Joe Mantello (“Other Desert Cities:). It was recently extended through March 3, fter opening last March at the Lucille Lortel Theater.

HBO Orders Third Season of \'Girls\'

Jessica Miglio/HBO Lena Dunham, the creator and star of the HBO comedy “Girls.”

Girls run the world â€" not only in Beyoncé’s song lyrics but on HBO’s schedule, too. The cable channel announced on Friday that it was picking up a third season of “Girls,” its hit comedy created by Lena Dunham and starring her as the foremost of a group of Brooklyn-based friends learning to navigate their young lives.

Ms. Dunham, the much-discussed actor, director and writer, won a Golden Globe award earlier this month for her lead performance on the show. “Girls” itslf won the Golden Globe for best comedy series, edging out network rivals like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Modern Family.”

Speaking to Alec Baldwin on his WNYC podcast “Here’s the Thing” earlier this week, Ms. Dunham said that HBO had renewed “Girls” for a third season, with production planned to begin on new episodes in March.

HBO confirmed the “Girls” renewal on Friday in a news release, adding that it was ordering 12 new episodes of the series. It said the season-two premiere episode of “Girls,” which was first broadcast on Jan. 13, has been watched by a total audience of more than 3.8 million viewers across multiple showings.

Living in His Own Tiny Home, Before He Was a Billionaire Mayor

Illustration: The New York Times; Bloomberg: Associated Press Been there, done that.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may now be one of the wealthiest men in the world, with gracious estates scattered across the globe from Bermuda to London, but it was not always so.

Discussing the city’s recent contest to pick a developer for a new “micro-apartment” building on his Friday morning radio show, the mayor fondly recalled his own humble start in New York City, saying he is no stranger to living in small spaces.

“It’s bigger than the apartment I lived in for 10 years, or roughly the same size,” Mr. Bloomberg said of the model micro-apartment on display at the Museum of the City of New York. “For 10 years, thank you very much,” he added for emphasis.

The only difference, he said, is the new apartments are “spectacular.”

He offered praise for the often derided Murphy bed, saying it was a better alternative to a couch, which is where he rested his head in his salad days.

“I used to sleep on a couch sometimes, where you’d open the couch up and it was a pain to take the pillows off and everything and then open it up and make the bed,” he said.

He spoke of cooking meals in a small kitchen and shopping at The Door Store for cheap furnishings. To save money, he took hammer and nail in hand and built himself a shelf - albeit a defective one.

“I made my own shelves and then I stained them and then the shelves! warped,” he said. “For 10 years, my books rocked back and forth. I was so annoyed with myself. I should have thought of that.”

On a more serious note, he said he hoped that the success of the micro-apartment project would lead to a broader reform of zoning laws to allow more similar developments.

There are 1.8 million families of one and two people, most in Manhattan, he said. But there are only one million studio and one-bedroom apartments.

Without a change in zoning to allow people to develop small apartments, people will take matters into their own hands, he said.

“If you don’t do this, what they keep doing is breaking up apartments illegally,” he said. And that can create dangerous conditions.

The Sweet Spot: Jan. 25

A hoax is a hoax, of course, of course … or is it In this week’s video, A. O. Scott and David Carr talk about some recent doozies.

Con Ed Seeks Rate Increase

For Consolidated Edison, the pause after the storm in asking for utility rate increases is over.

On Friday, Con Edison asked state regulators to allow it to collect about $400 million more from customers next year. The increase, if approved, would translate to about $3 more per month for the typical electric customer and more than $2.50 per month for homes that receive gas from the company.

Con Edison delayed asking for the rate increase after Hurricane Sandy left hundreds of thousands of the company’s customers without power, many of them for as long as two weeks. Along with the rate increase, the company asked the state Public Service Commission for permission to spend $1 billion over the next four years to protect its equipment from another storm like Sandy.

Most of that money â€" $800 million - would go toward making parts of the electricity-distribution system submersible, to raising some equipment off the ground or surrounding it with higher floodgates and to burying some ovehead wires, the company said. The request is subject to a review by the commission that could last until the end of the year.

Hurricane Victims Granted Extension to Apply for Federal Aid

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times Cleaning up in Seagate, Brooklyn, in November.

New Yorkers whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy have been granted a 30-day extension to apply for federal assistance for home repairs and other needs and to the Small Business Administration for loans, officials announced Friday.

The Transitional Sheltering Assistance program will also be extended an additional two weeks, allowing those who were forced from their homes to continue staying in participating hotels or motels. The Federal Emergency Management Agency grantedthe extensions at the request of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

“We remain committed to assisting all victims of Hurricane Sandy, ensuring that they have the shelter they need, especially in this cold weather,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement. “The Transitional Sheltering Assistance program will continue to provide shelter to those New Yorkers who do not have homes to return and help others with critically needed funding to rebuild.”

To be eligible for FEMA programs, people must first apply for federal assistance through FEMA by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov; registering via smartphone or tablet by using the FEMA app or going to m.fema.gov; or calling 800-621-FEMA (3362).

Popcast: ASAP Rocky Arrives

Chad Batka for The New York Times The major label debut of ASAP Rocky topped the Billboard album chart this week.

The young Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky recently topped the Billboard album chart with the release of his major label debut album, “Long.Live.ASAP.” On this week’s Popcast, the host Ben Ratliff talks to Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The Times, about the album, what it means to be post-regional in a genre so obsessed with place, and what trends in hip-hop Rocky’s success might augur.

That’s followed by a discussion about ASAP Yams, the behind-the-scenes guru who has helped mold Rocky for the last few years, helping him become the star he is now. Caramanica spoke with Yams as part of his ongoing Hitmakers series, ! about influential music industry figures who operate in the shadows.

Listen above, download the MP3 here, or subscribe in iTunes.

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SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

potify users can find tracks by ASAP Rocky here.

A Father\'s Grief, and the Toll of His Gun Control Crusade

David Gonzalez/The New York Times

FOR SALE BY OWNER declares a sign on the porch of Al Valentin’s house on Ellis Avenue in the Bronx. Inside the spotless brick home, he shows off the place like the seasoned real estate pro that he is. Soft light. Solid floors. And not only one basement level, but two - and all done according to code. In the back, where a pool once was, a barbecue pit.

“I was doing pretty well before,” said Mr. Valentin, 69, who at one time had an office on Castle Hill Avenue where more than a dozen brokers and salespeople worked for him. “I wanted to make my home look like Long Island, but in the Bronx. I did all this before my son died. Then I lost my desire.”

A portrait of that boy on the verge of manhood hang on the living room wall. Below it, his diploma from Iona Prep, dated 1995. It’s an honorary one. He was killed right before starting his senior year, when an argument over a girl turned deadly, and he was shot to death along with his friend Heith Simmonds. He was 17.

The memory never goes away. And in recent months, it has been ever more vivid after the Newtown shootings and the debate on strengthening state and federal gun laws. For years after his son’s 1994 murder, Mr. Valentin was active with New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and other groups working for stricter laws. He is glad New York State passed tougher laws - finally.

But his advocacy work, at news conferences, marches and lobbying sessions, took a toll on him, too. And he wonders if the public, despite their initial outrage at the murder of innocents, realizes the price.

“It’s hard to be an advocate,” he said. “You have to support them. The proble! m is that people get motivated for a while, and then they forget after a few months. And the other problem is people don’t think it will happen to them.”

Whatever illusion he had of that was shattered on Aug. 8, 1994. Looking for a way to channel his grief, he threw himself into the role of advocate. It felt good, he said, to glean some meaning from his son Derek’s death. But it got harder over the years, when politicians dodged the hard questions he and others raised about a society that was awash in guns and blood.

“I started getting emotional again,” Mr. Valentin said. “I started to feel the pain all over again. When you do so much and don’t see results, it affects you.”

Not just emotionally, but financially. Having spent so much time on gun control, he had neglected his business. Realizing retirement was on the horizon - as well as wanting to provide for his grandchildren - he got back into selling real estate.

Not that Mr. Valentin has forsaken his crusade. He wa encouraged by the passage of the New York law. But he remains doubtful about any real change on the federal level. The National Rifle Association, he said, has too much sway over politicians, even though he doesn’t think the group is as tough as it would like people to think. His advice: whenever an episode of gun violence happens, call your elected officials. (He knows the numbers of everyone from his state senator to the White House.)

“To combat the N.R.A., people have to have their politician’s phone numbers,” he said. “If they hear enough voices, they won’t be afraid to act.”

The Newtown shooting may shock. But then what

“Because of the ages of the kids, it hit a sore spot with people to do something,” he said. “We may make progress. But it will happen again.”

Around the very time he was saying that on Tuesday, three people were wounded in a shooting at a Ho! uston col! lege. Inside the Valentin home, it was quiet, His wife, Nellie, was in the kitchen, reading on her iPad. When asked how old Derek would have been, Mr. Valentin shouted out to his wife.

“Thirty six,” she replied. “How the years pass. Oh my God, the kids catch up with the parents. He’s going to be 36.”

Going. Not would have been. Ever present.

The For Sale sign is a nod to her. Ms. Valentin would like to move to Florida to be near their two other children. Mr. Valentin prefers the Bronx. He likes the change of seasons. Besides, Derek is buried only minutes away at Saint Raymond’s Cemetery. The Valentins go there often - usually every Sunday after Mass, and even when they’re in the neighborhood running errands.

“I drop by, say a prayer and keep on,” he said. “You know, if we move to Florida, we’re taking him with us. They have a beautiful cemetery there.”

Woman Fatally Struck by a Bus in Canarsie

A woman was struck and killed by a private charter bus while crossing a street in Canarsie, Brooklyn, on Friday morning, the police said. No charges were filed against the driver, the police said. The woman, whose name was not released, was hit while crossing East 105th Street near Avenue K around 7:15 a.m. She is in her 40s, the police said. Her husband told NBC 4 New York that she was crossing the street to catch a city bus when the private bus turned left off Avenue K and struck her.

This Week\'s Movies: Jan. 25

In this week’s video, Times critics offer their thoughts on the action film “Parker” with Jason Statham, the Israeli drama “Yossi” and Im Sang-soo’s “Taste of Money.” Find all of this week’s reviews here.

This Week\'s Movies: Jan. 25

In this week’s video, Times critics offer their thoughts on the action film “Parker” with Jason Statham, the Israeli drama “Yossi” and Im Sang-soo’s “Taste of Money.” Find all of this week’s reviews here.

After Mayoral Forum, Bloomberg Says Candidates \'Sound Ridiculous\'

It could be a long year for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

A day after his policies (and his knowledge of mold) came under attack from several mayoral candidates at a forum in East New York, Mr. Bloomberg hit back on Friday, saying the critics “had no idea what they’re talking about.”

“They just sound ridiculous,” Mr. Bloomberg said on his Friday morning radio show, referring to several Democratic candidates, including John C. Liu, the city comptroller, and Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, who were deeply critical of Mr. Bloomberg’s responsiveness to Hurricane Sandy, among other issues.

Th mayor suggested that the candidates had offered “no solutions” and that all of the criticism would be a deterrent toward recruiting talented workers to take prominent roles in public service. “Why would anybody want to come and take those jobs again” Mr. Bloomberg asked.

But the mayor offered amnesty to one would-be successor: Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and a frequent political ally of the Bloomberg administration.

“The one aspirant who really hasn’t engaged in most of this foolishness is Quinn,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “She’s much more rational and understands there’s no simple solution to complex problems.”

The mayor’s remarks came after a feisty gathering on Thursday evening of six candidates in the 2013 mayoral race, held at a Baptist church in East New York, Broo! klyn. The mere mention of Mr. Bloomberg’s name was enough to earn loud jeers from the overwhelmingly Democratic audience, and the candidates did not hesitate to deliver.

William C. Thompson, a former city comptroller, said the Bloomberg administration “failed the people of this city” in its response to Hurricane Sandy, noting the mayor wanted to run the New York City Marathon while “bodies were still being found.” (Mr. Bloomberg later decided to cancel the marathon.)

Mr. de Blasio compared Mr. Bloomberg to President George W. Bush and suggested the mayor did not care about public housing. “There’s an old, colorful Sicilian saying that says: the fish stinks from the head,” Mr. de Blasio said, to much laughter and applause. Mr. Liu wondered if the mayor was familiar with mold, which has affected homes damaged by the hurricane.

Even Joseph J. Lhota, the former transit chief and a Republican candidate who is well-liked by the city’s business sector, weighed in against Mr. Blomberg, criticizing the city for not tailoring its hurricane relief efforts by neighborhood.

On Friday morning, Mr. Bloomberg at first sounded reluctant to discuss the attacks, and then said he would not address them point-by-point. With political candidates, he said, “I think there’s always rhetoric that has nothing to do with what they would do in office.”

Still, the mayor appeared to be wavering on a pledge he made in October, when he told reporters he would no longer publicly discuss the race for his successor.

“I’m not going to spend the next year answering ‘what do you think’ of every potential candidate’s ideas, whether they’re good, bad, whether I agree with them or not,” Mr. Bloomberg said at the time, adding, “I’m going to spend my time being mayor.”

Coachella Headliners Include Stone Roses, Blur and Red Hot Chili Peppers

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival A poster announcing the 2013 lineup for the Coachella festival.

No Rolling Stones will gather this year in the grassy fields of Indio, Calif., where the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is held. But concertgoers will get the Stone Roses, as well as fellow British rockers like Blur and bands including Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vampire Weekend, the Wu-Tang Clan, its organizers said.

Coachella, the annual celebration of rock, rap, dance and blistering California heat, will run for two three-day weekends this year, from April 12 through 14 and April 19 through 21. Despite earlier rumblings that the Rolling Stones might appear at the festival as part f the band’s 50th anniversary tour, that group did not materialize on the official lineup. (But maybe you’ll still see Mick and Keith swigging from precious water bottles as guests in the V.I.P. section.)

In the meantime, attendees can enjoy acts like the reconstituted Stone Roses, Blur, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Lou Reed and Johnny Marr (at the Friday dates); Phoenix, the xx, the newly reunited Postal Service, Sigur Ros, New Order, Hot Chip, Grizzly Bear and 2 Chainz (Saturday shows); and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Social Distortion, Wu-Tang Clan, the Lumineers and Dinosaur Jr. (Sunday performances).

More information about ticket sales, travel and camping at the festival can be found online at coachella.com.

A Long Island Accent in London

Dear Diary:

I had just moved to London and was volunteering at a soup kitchen in the Victoria neighborhood. We served all sorts of strange English things there â€" smoked salmon sandwiches, mince pies, all sorts of pies. One afternoon, I was manning the counter when a homeless man approached. I said hello, gave him a pie, and he looked at me funny.

“Where are you from” he asked. He spoke with an American accent.

“New York,” I answered.

“I know you’re from New York,” he said. “Where in New York”

I thought I had lost my New York accent. Apparently not. “Queens, originally, and then Long Island.” After years in Flushing and Breezy Point, my family had settled in Wantagh, by Jones Beach.

“I know you’re from Long Island. You’re from the South Shore. I can tell.” He cast his head back and delivered the following in the richest of baritones:

“Baldwin, Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Amityville, opiague, Lindenhurst and Babylon!”

And he took his pork pie and disappeared.

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