BOOKS THREAD

I started re-reading "Confederacy of Dunces" this week, which is set in New Orleans. Just reminded me what a great, original, laugh-out-loud funny character Ignatius J. Reilly is. ... I can't help but wonder how Ignatius and his mother would have handled the hurricane.

 

Ignatius would have refused to evacuate.

 

Hell, they probably couldn't have moved him.

Among my five favorite books of all time.

 

I think he would have rather drowned than take another trip on a Greyhound bus...

 

Just started this one. She wrote the great Nickel and Dimed and this is basically a sequel. Ehrenreich tries to do the same thing in the white-collar world that she did in the blue-collar world of Nickel and Dimed, namely work "undercover" and write about the travails of the common man in the working world today.

Bait & Switch isn't nearly as meaty as Nickel & Dimed and it's a bit more whimsical. But it's a fun read!

 

I've always been a huge Barbara Ehrenrich fan.

Her book on the Reagan years--a collection of essays called "The Worst Years of Our Lives" was my intro to her.

 

Right now I'm reading Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography. Very interesting look at the history of the drug. Just now getting to the Pablo Escobar stuff.

Speaking of Escobar, check out Killing Pablo if you want to know how ruthless a kingpin can be.

 

Is this career research reading?

 

LET'S GO TO A SMART BAR!

 

No, I got out of that racket years ago. This is just stuff I find interesting.

 

"The Tender Bar: A Memoir" by J.R. Moehringer

I'm a lurker, don't usually post much, but must urge all to read this. Fantastic.

Often sad but balanced by pure barfly hilarity. Very personal memoir. Losing virginity around page 137 might be the funniest recanting of the issue ever written. Good stuff on the frustrations of breaking into the newspaper business. The settings evoke wonderful tales: Gilgo Beach, the ramshackle home, various apartments, the track, Shea, etc. And of course the bar: Publicans. I am lucky to say I visited a half dozen times (and yes, a real good bar). There's good stuff about life as an overmatched Ivy Leaguer, which really hit home for me. He pours all his emotions out and arcs the story well with a concluding epilogue. Gonna be a big hit of a book.

 

I've been dying to read this. Thanks for the kick in the butt.