The Contender

1 week ago | thecontender.substack.com | David Coggins

This comes to you from a beloved seaside French town where the highest building is two stories tall. Everyday lunch (and sometimes a second lunch) is at one of the cabanes, casual outdoor places right on the water run by the oyster farmers. Each restaurant, such as it is, is almost an afterthought. The menu is always the same: oysters (right from the bay), shrimp with aioli, snails (if you’re feeling sinister) and a jar of pâté. There’s one white and one rosé Bordeaux.

2 weeks ago | thecontender.substack.com | David Coggins

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4 weeks ago | thecontender.substack.com | David Coggins

It’s intimidating to visit a tailor. Whether in London, Naples or New York you’re entering a world where you have to be measured, make decisions and part with serious money. You’re usually doing this in a well-appointed room talking to a well-dressed man who knows more about these matters than you do. And soon enough he will know the slope of your unbalanced shoulders down to the centimeter. I’ve written about buying suits, wearing suits and demystifying suits. But it’s still hard.

1 month ago | thecontender.substack.com | David Coggins

You don’t need me to tell you to read Pride & Prejudice and War & Peace (two classics with an ampersand). So here’s a list of beloved books that are well-known but not too well-known. No Henry James or F. Scott Fitzgerald, no Turgenev or Evelyn Waugh. Sorry lads! Your estates are doing fine without us. These are novels (you remember novels), biographies and travel. Also: letters, journals and memoirs. Yes, there’s some fishing, but it’s hidden in a few places and not too much.

1 month ago | thecontender.substack.com | David Coggins

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