Daily Office: Friday

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¶ Matins: Martin Schneider’s account of a conversation between New Yorker editor David Remnick and Ta-Nehisi Coates is interesting all round, not least for its extended peroration on the question (raised in the conversation) whether Barack Obama’s political career would have been more difficult if he had married a white woman. (Emdashes)

¶ Lauds: Jonathan Glancey visits the new Pompidou Metz museum. (Guardian; via Arts Journal)

¶ Prime: Simon Johnson puts his finger on exactly why we must not allow the development of banks that are “too big to fail.” (The Baseline Scenario; via Abnormal Returns)

¶ Tierce: We wrap up our week of hymns to the iPad with John Gruber’s exhaustive (and enthusiastic) review. (via Felix Salmon)

¶ Sext: The Editor, who is known as “Doodad” to his grandson, was delighted to find that Will’s mother is a devoted follower of Free-Range Kids, a blog kept by author (and Mom) Lenore Skenazy.

¶ Nones: A report from Moscow on events occurring very far away, in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan. Distance may explain why Clifford Levy’s account of the revolution is long on press releases.  (NYT)

¶ Vespers: A sample of Ian McEwan’s “British deadpan,” sparked by the publication of his new novel, Solar. (Speakeasy)

¶ Compline: A long, long read from New York magazine about the diva that 91st Street alum (who knew?) Stefani Joanne Germanotta has grown up to become. Vanessa Grigoriadis figures that you can make your own artistic assessment of Lady GaGa’s oeuvre; she supplies the bildung. (via kottke.org)