Shelf Life

What are Vikram Vij and Molly Johnson reading? Plus, Jerry Seinfeld’s memoir

Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (Oct. 6). With his first comedy special in 23 years on Netflix this spring and Is This Anything?, his first book in 25, Seinfeld is back, baby. Ever since he appeared at the New York nightclub Catch a Rising Star as a 21-year-old college student, Seinfeld has kept his best comedy bits – which he wrote down on yellow legal pads – in a file.

“I have everything I thought was worth saving from 45 years of hacking away at this for all I was worth,” he says.

Organized by decade, the book is a hilarious and insightful overview of a comic who has always been at the top of the game, from Seinfeld to Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Is This Anything? reminds us that Seinfeld’s one-liners from a show about nothing are so legendary, they’ve crept into the pop-culture vernacular, from double dipping to Festivus to yada yada yada. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.