Just Finished...

Letters from New Orleans by Rob Walker, a New York Times columnist who moved to the Big Easy for three years with a friend... These brief letters, written between 2000-2003, were originally emails intended to chronicle their adventures. The letters possess a chatty narrative style that reflects the charm and affection the city, with all of its problems, evokes. Some sections seem prescient... mentions of the mayoral elections, the threat of flooding, the poverty of long-neglected housing projects, racial issues. Mardi Gras, jazz funerals, local celebrities and eccentricities, etc. are described in an entertaining fashion. The collage that results from this juxtaposition of the fabled and the flawed presents just the type of book I like to read about a travel destination... a little inside information, creating an impressionist portrait of sorts.

A copy has been ordered for the Reading Room and should be available soon.