Magazines are so luscious. I spend far too much money on them (especially as I am required to get rid of them after two months, no exceptions) but nothing quite equals the pleasure of that Friday afternoon perusal of the endless miles of glossy covers, with their tantalizing promises. Tantalizing Garlic Soup for Cold Winter Evenings! or Ten Steps to a Remarkable Life (only available here, in our magazine!). Training tips and life tips and cooking tips, all promising a better tomorrow.
And
that’s only the taglines. Often, the photos are ever so much more alluring, like 
this cover of feet and flowers on Body and Soul, or photos of still lavender gardens on the upcoming spring garden magazines. I fall in love, fall inside, and I’m lost to the promises.
Every week, I bring home two or three or four magazines. I don’t like to subscribe because that takes away some of the pleasure of going to the store and realizing the new issue of Saveur or Yoga Journal is on the shelves. (How could anyone not like Saveur, I ask you?) They fall into categories. The food magazines–Saveur and Gourmet, mainly, though I get some great recipes out of Oprah. The women’s magazines, Oprah and Body and Soul and sometimes Martha Stewart Living (for the photos of flowers. And tables.) Finally, so many fitness or spiritual magazines, like Yoga Journal and Self and Shape and Runner and Women’s Adventure, plus about two dozen others I cycle through according to what looks good that week. I take them home and sit in my big gold art deco chair with a cup of strong tea, and leaf through, tearing out photos for collages and recipes. I get my advice for the day, on skin care or meditation techniques or exercise, read some essays and mull them over, and then it’s time for next week and the new crop.
It’s relaxing. It’s like television, only a little quieter and more specific to me and my own tastes.
How about you? Are you a magazine person? What magazines are you favorites and why? I might have missed one (oh the horror!). Do you read specific features or the whole thing, front to back?
First things first-I read them all, front to back. Next, because I have drowned in them by collecting them, I have learned to tear and collect only those things (mostly recipes) that I truly want to keep and use. Having said that, I NEVER tear, nor discard two of my faves-Saveur and Herb Quarterly, which I also highly recommend. The wait between issues can become agonizing, but well worth it for a gardener/cook/herbie such as myself. I also do enjoy an occasional issue of Southern Lady (so old-fashionedly elegant) and frequently, Food and Wine.
Why, Rosalie, how surprising that you find magazines pleasing! 😉
I confess, I’ve never been a big magazine person, particularly women’s magazines. One of the major deterents for the women’s mags is the fact that most of them reek of perfume, to which I am allergic. Plus I’ve never liked to have fashion dictated to me as I usually don’t care for the latest “trends” (case in point: that entire ’70s flashback we’ve been forced to live through).
When I do buy magazines, they tend to run toward crafts. I sub to The Writer, PaperCrafts, and used to get Memory Makers as well. I also love Stampington’s quarterly “Take Ten” books, and will sometimes pick up other card or stamping magazines, depending on the subject, samples or articles inside.
Other “craft” magazines I occasionally buy are Family Tree, Nature Photographer, and Writer’s Digest. Funny, when I was in college I prefered WD, but now feel The Writer a superior magazine.
Ahhh, yes, magazines are luscious. I’ve worked for one (known as “The Magazine of Western Living”) for many years, and I continue to enjoy the monthly process of coordinating editorial and advertising content and getting it to the printer on time, and then holding the printed product in my hand, knowing that it’s reaching 5 million readers every month. It’s very fulfilling to know that our readers appreciate our effort.
While I appreciate the new technologies and internet content that have evolved, I can’t help but think that many people still value being able to hold the physical product and read at their leisure wherever they are, to tear pages out of it as they wish, etc.
That’s my take, anyway — admittedly biased. But I love the whole process.
Cynthia
Ooooh, Cynthia, I love Sunset! That’s a very, very good magazine. I’ll think of you the next time I pick it up.
My all-time favorite magazine is Victoria ~ I’m so delighted they are back in business. I have every issue! I find it almost painful to part with magazines (have almost every issue of Martha Stewart’s magazine, including an autographed copy of the very first one), but I’m getting better about that. Magazines that highlight gardening & cooking (read them like novels) tend to be on my “must buy” list. I have good intentions of sitting down and just reading the latest all the way through, but all too often they pile up next to my bed (with unread books) waiting for a spare moment.