Over 150 people, only one a friend, came to the mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library the other night to hear the story of Rogues’ Gallery — so many that doors had to be opened to a second conference room to fit them all in. Readers of this blog will understand why it was a deeply satisfying way to end the seven roller-coaster months since the book was published and the four years since I began researching it. Walking to the library, I passed its main building (read Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York on the subject of the research library’s name here) with its two couchant lions out front, Patience and Fortitude. Words to live by, you might say. Happy holidays to all the readers of gripebox. Now, bring on 2010.