Susan Orlean's writing career would be impossible to replicate today: 'I have always been ready to be lucky'

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“I think asking the question ‘who cares?’ is part of any writing project,” Susan Orlean says over coffee on the Valley side of the Hollywood Hills. In her delightfully written new memoir, “Joyride” — personal stories with a bit of writing advice — she admits that charming people into reading about esoteric subjects is essential to her work. It’s also one of the larger projects of journalism — finding overlooked stories and telling them well.

Orlean is one of the New Yorker’s most high-profile writers, having been portrayed by Meryl Streep in “Adaptation,” a heavily fictionalized version of her book “The Orchid Thief.” She’s been on staff at the magazine since 1992, logging articles