The Hose Book Club: Summer Reading Edition

I am reading several books simultaneously. Let me tell you about them.


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I just finished reading A Prayer for the City by Buzz Bissinger. Buzz, who is a humorless mega d*uchebag, is a gifted writer who is wholly committed to his craft. The man who moved his entire young family to East Nowhere Texas just so he could write Friday Night Lights had a unique opportunity to follow Ed Rendell during his first term as the Mayor of Philadelphia in the mid 90s. Sure Rendell, is a compelling figure but what makes this book work is Bissinger's approach. His focus is on the plight of modern urban America, with Philly as its best example. Well written, exciting and insightful I really can't recommend this book enough.


First, an admission - I am a huge Jay McInerney fan. I have read most of it. I thought The Good Life was awesome and I might be sort of alone there. So far this book is great. It's a collection of short stories from the last 25 years of Jay's writing life. Long time fans will note the short stories that were the inspiration for later novels like Bright Lights, Big City and even Model Behavior. All the stories find a familiar pattern. We have a hero, and he is terribly broken. He drinks/smokes/whores entirely too much, forever losing the battle between his true self and his inner urbanite. The urbanite always wins and every protagonist's better angel always loses. Good stuff. Sometimes lighter than pop corn but that's not a reason to not like it.

I have not read this yet, but I loved Carter Beats the Devil. The jumping off point for the novel is a day in 1916 when Charlie Chaplin is seen simultaneously in 800 places. What follows is probably a very detailed novel that intertwines the lives of several individuals (both real and fictional) to tell a story that will probably make everyone a littl sad for a world that no longer exists. I can't wait.