Talking of Michelangelo

In this third volume of memories, the author depicts some of the people he's met along the way. These anecdotal sketches illuminate some famous folks, to be sure—encounters with writers like Walter Tevis (The Hustler), Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men), and Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road), even sidelong glances at historical giants like Abe Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, as well as a sad tale of ill-fated Manhattan socialite Irene Silverman, who was the victim of notorious grifters Sante and Kenneth Kimes. But mostly we read of ordinary people—like the student who encountered aliens from outer space or the young man lost in a mental hospital on New Year's Eve or the Cuban émigré who got lost in a snowstorm. There's even a misguided account of a visit to the Soviet Union back in 1976. Some chronicles are sad stories, while others are funny, but all of them reflect the author's fascination with the people around him.