current reading

I know, I know. I am certainly the last person in America to read this now-20-year old novel, but I am. Why? Because I found it on the sidewalk on my street. Yep. It was just lying there, as if to say, "Pick me up and take me home, Katie. You should have read me back in my 80s heyday..."

But anyway, I did pick it up and took it home and am about 2/3 through it now. The first thing that I noticed about it is that it contains frequent references to Knoxville, as the place one of the protagonists believes he SHOULD be living to escape the excess and greed on 80s Manhattan. Who knew 'Bonfire of the Vanities' had a Knoxville connection?

I am not a huge Tom Wolfe fan. I find his writing a bit much a lot of the time, although I love his plots. But I feel like my hands are dripping with sticky testosterone whenever I put a Tom Wolfe novel down. There's too much verbal chest beating, especially with the dialogue.

But I guess I'll plow on through now. As I said, his plots are fab and this one is no exception.