The interview, edited and condensed for clarity and space, begins after Queenan concludes a lengthy list of the books he’s reading or has read, including a recent, not-so-hot novel about the 1960s (Aria Beth Sloss’ Autobiography of Us] and a sub-par effort from Tom McCarthy. He spent nearly two hours enthusiastically answering my questions. And Philadelphia, a city he loves even though it has low self-esteem. Queenan, who has authored ten previous books and has written for just about every major publication, was more than happy to talk about books. “The presence of books in my hands, my home, my pockets, my life will never cease to be essential to my happiness,” he writes. We remember where we were when we bought them. The overall theme of One for the Books makes it indispensible: Books-actual books with spines and pages and dust jackets-represent a life and feed it. A voracious reader-by his estimate, he’s read between 6,000 and 8,000 books-Queenan, 62, shares his astute observations on the reading life: how bookstores and libraries beat Kindles, the value of awful books, how a bad cover can deter us from reading a book.
Those wonderful, mystical objects take center stage in One for the Books ($24.95, Viking), available for sale now. The renowned humorist’s stunning 2009 memoir, Closing Time, detailed his tumultuous Philadelphia childhood with an unreliable, alcoholic father and an emotionally numb mother.īooks served as a way to elevate Queenan from a dead-end life.
After years of writing shrewdly, eloquently, and viciously about popular culture in books such as Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon, Joe Queenan is making it personal.
0 kommentar(er)
