The Brooklyn Follies, by Paul Auster. Funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Read it on the plane ride home and loved every second of it - one of those books that you're sad to see end - though I admit that part of the reason I loved it so much is because it took place in the neighborhood I grew up in - hell, the front cover pic was taken a block away from my elementary school (which is why I noticed the book in the first place) - reading it was like visiting home - every place, school, restaurant, etc. he mentioned, I have been to and have warm memories of. Auster clearly loves Brooklyn as much as I do, so it was kinda like reading something from an old friend.
Still, you don't need to know Brooklyn to enjoy this - great characters and moving without being sappy. Auster has an acerbic sense of humor. Good, fast read.
Dear, sweet Harley Kwink...I'm madly in love with you. Marry me! We can go to Canadia. Or Boston or something. It'll be grand...You know the cookies are a given. They are ALWAYS a given. You could dump me tomorrow and you'd still get the cookies. Boston..shit, wherever dyke weddings were legalized. And where better to rub their little piggie noses in how bad they suck than right on their doorstep? What are they gonna do? Be jealous of you? Stare furiously at your tah-tahs? Not willingly give you cookies, but instead begrudgingly give you their cookies? Woman, time to wake up to the powers you wield - Uschi
