Well, having read what you all have to say about John Kennedy Toole's
"Confederacy of Dunces", I'm definitely going to read it.
On the subject of humorous books, one that is, IMHO, definitely worth
reading is Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop". The central character is William Boot, a
naive, nature columnist , who is mistakenly given a major overseas
assignment covering an African war for a major newspaper called the Daily
Beast. When he gets to Africa, he has no idea what he is supposed to do, but
when the seasoned overseas correspondents dump him, he inadvertently
stumbles across the big story.
For those of you looking for a series of books to read, I can heartily
recommend Charles Ray Willeford's four Hoke Moseley novels: "Miami Blues",
"New Hope for the Dead", "Sideswipe" and "The Way We Die Now". For me,
anyway, Hoke Moseley is one of the great comic characters of modern fiction.
Finally, one that never fails to cheer me up, if I'm feeling a bit down, is
Laurie Lee's "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning". It is a true account
of the author's trip, on foot, across Spain, busking for a few pesetas a
day. It is one of the great life-affirming books. I've read it TWELVE
times!
None of the above books is "heavy", but every one is guaranteed to blow
those blues away :)
Of course, I've got a feeling, quite a few of you have read some of these
books already.
Finally, I wonder if anyone can help me remember the title of a book that I
read about 30 years ago. The central character is an American who goes on a
business trip to Japan and falls in love with a geisha girl. He makes a
series of appointments to see her, without realizing that his Japanese
business hosts are reluctantly footing the bill. I would love to read that
book again.
Ian
