Steve, My Wolfe was Look Homeward, Angel, which I read in the library at John Marshall. The librarian, Miss Dierdorf, was my mother's librarian on the forties. The book was on some list of things college-bound students should read. Same anti-nostalgia nostalgia, but the whorehouse stuff about jelly roll taught me that librarians didn't know what they were pushing. Have you watched the film Genius about Wolfe and Perkins?
You met Richard Bradford? Damn. An important book for me as well. And Leaving Cheyenne and The Last Picture Show. I just finished the fine McMurtry bio by Tracy Daugherty. Great writer, McMurtry, but an unsavory character. Hunter Thompson, vital to my education. I saw him in New Orleans--he was late, drunk, and boring. I missed True Grit in your list. One of the best American novels. Cool that we were cutting our teeth on the same books.
Yes, my ex-wife worked with Bradford when she had this job transcribing doctors ‘ notes in the early 90s. I haven’t seen that Wolfe movie. I never saw Thompson speak (though I’ve had other friends who had similar descriptions of his shows.
Steve, My Wolfe was Look Homeward, Angel, which I read in the library at John Marshall. The librarian, Miss Dierdorf, was my mother's librarian on the forties. The book was on some list of things college-bound students should read. Same anti-nostalgia nostalgia, but the whorehouse stuff about jelly roll taught me that librarians didn't know what they were pushing. Have you watched the film Genius about Wolfe and Perkins?
You met Richard Bradford? Damn. An important book for me as well. And Leaving Cheyenne and The Last Picture Show. I just finished the fine McMurtry bio by Tracy Daugherty. Great writer, McMurtry, but an unsavory character. Hunter Thompson, vital to my education. I saw him in New Orleans--he was late, drunk, and boring. I missed True Grit in your list. One of the best American novels. Cool that we were cutting our teeth on the same books.
Yes, my ex-wife worked with Bradford when she had this job transcribing doctors ‘ notes in the early 90s. I haven’t seen that Wolfe movie. I never saw Thompson speak (though I’ve had other friends who had similar descriptions of his shows.
Beary thoughtful blog! I’ve realized I actually prefer books that take me elsewhere, away from “home.”