JasonFleischer's Journal: Book-ish

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon --- We always knew that California was freaking weird, but in many ways Pynchon's version is actually tamer than the real thing. His weirdness has a Hollywood/Disneyland ease-of-categorization to it that makes it feel friendly. YMMV, but in my opinion the real deal is a whole lot scarier. A funny book with some witty social commentary, as you would expect. Thumbs up.

Wise Blood by Flannery O'Conner --- Small-town religion and revival preachers are my idea of American Gothic. The protagonist of this book is an Ichabod-Crane-like figure who upon returning from the war, rebels at his starchy-upbringing and begins to preach The Church of Christ Without Jesus (i.e., atheism or really anti-theism); the problem is is that for all his intellectual rebellion, deep down he still has faith, and so he is continually mortifying himself to pay for all his sins. Billed as comedy, but in my opinion is anything but. So sharp, it was hard to read (at least for me). Thumbs up.

No Amazon links here to these books: they're old so go find them in your local used bookstore like I did.