Here are two rave blogger reviews from Monday night’s talk with Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Architecture of Happiness, and Michael Kimmelman, New York Times chief art critic and author.

Excerpts from Scatteredpaper:

I went to the Alain de Botton and Michael Kimmelman talk last night at the 92nd Street Y. I went alone as none of my friends would join me and they missed out on a fantastic evening...I have never been more in love with a writer than I am with Alain. I think his witty and intelligent discussion assured that there is futility in my ever dating again as the odds of coming across a second person in the world as articulate and engaging are rather slim...He really was fantastically charming and funny in his presentation of his book...Of course, he gave a slide show which was well-received by the audience.

Liz Lopatto of The Kenyon Review reports:

I saw Alain de Botton and Michael Kimmelman last night at the 92nd Street Y, and both gentlemen were quite impressive. I know almost nothing about architecture, so I was rather expecting to be left in the dark for significant portions of the talk, but de Botton was successfully funny and engaging enough to override my weaknesses. All in all, a lovely talk. A few highlights:

· de Botton: “I don’t think it’s silly at all to break up with somebody because you don’t like their taste in sofas.”

· Kimmelman on Andrew Wyeth: “I did his obituary a while ago; you know, he’s not dead but he eventually will be.”

· de Botton: “We’re very used to, these days, thinking of the natural as beautiful and the man-made as ugly, thanks, mostly, to property developers.”

Explore related events from Art & Design to the Unterberg Poetry Center’s Reading Series.