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February 2008
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Your humble books editor is sipping a cup of French Market coffee with chicory, longing for a plate of properly made beignets, and wishing everyone a happy Fat Tuesday. As you might guess, the topic of the day is a solicitation of favorite New Orleans literary experiences. For someone who spent some youthful years in a suburb of Nawlins (Abney Elementary, class of '77, or maybe '78 -- go Spartans, or was it Trojans?), I'm shamefully underread on the state's classics, aside from a long-ago reading of "All The King's Men." Which, as I recall, helped me understand those bullet holes they maintain as a sort of shrine to Huey Long at the capitol in Baton Rouge. So I'll put in my plug for a bio that's not really about the city, but its most famous citizen. Laurence Bergreen's "Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life" contains some vivid descriptions of life in turn-of-the-century Storyville. You get the hard, ugly reality of the city's poverty and its most glorious hero all wrapped up in one package. (It should also lead you to invest heavily in his recordings, which, frankly, make life worth living.) I would hardly present it as the last word on the subject, though. I'm sure you have your own thoughts. Throw me some ideas, mister. (Lacking ideas, you are free to suggest where to find a plate of beignets or a king cake.) |
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Comments
Posted by Michael Merschel @ 2:02 PM Tue, Feb 05, 2008
Now that the coffee has kicked in, maybe I can make that entry more useful by adding this link to an all-encompassing PBS site on New Orleans literature: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/neworleans/sfeature/literature.html
Posted by L. A. Starks @ 5:17 AM Wed, Feb 06, 2008
New Orleans is so wonderfully weird, it's a challenge for authors even as a setting. Notable books include A Confederacy of Dunces (which I didn't like), Tony Fennelly's novels, and The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. A shameless plug for 13 DAYS; as a Tulane alum, I donate a percentage of the book's revenues to a New Orleans rebuilding fund.
Posted by Bill M. @ 12:04 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008
For a fascinating look at Old New Orleans, I recommend George Washington Cable's "The Grandissimes"
Posted by Joy Tipping @ 9:37 PM Sun, Feb 10, 2008
Anne Rice's books really use New Orleans as a character. Start with "Interview With the Vampire," "The Witching Hour" and "The Feast of All Saints," and you'll get a great feel for the city from the 18th century through modern times.
For post-Katrina New Orleans, you can't beat Chris Rose's "1 Dead in Attic."