Life would be nicer if health care was free, cigars cured cancer, and the Atlantic Monthly published weekly. But let's be honest--it takes me three weeks to finish an issue, mostly because I savor the read. The July/August book is a great example of the magazine's excellence: thrilling, penentrating essays; the fantastic Lévy roadtrip; plus Schwarz's bold and pissy books section. The New Yorker may be my reading mate for life, but it's the Atlantic I lust for.