A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole
Buy the book: $22.01

"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once." So enters one of the most memorable characters in recent American fiction.

I was intrigued and puzzled enough by this book to look it up at Amazon. The "customer review" section seemed to consist of two camps: people who adore this book and think it a comedy classic, and those who are appalled that the thing won a Pulitzer Prize. Having listened through five six-minute samplings of this book, I can't say which camp I would end up in, but I think the comment at Amazon that hits the nail on the head is from a review from AudioFile: "As good as Whitener (the narrator) is, this is a book that yields its treasures best on the printed page." After five days of hearing Barret Whitener gallantly declaim the posturings of Ignatius J. Reilly, I'll have to agree; it's just a bit wearing. Actually, I think I'd like to know more about the relationship of the author and his mother, truth really being stranger than fiction...

I, too, looked up this book and read an excerpt - asked my good friend if she had ever heard of it - she said YES and thought it was hilarious - in my searchings I found the only other book he ever wrote was at the age of 16 which was finally also published after this one - he died at the young age of 32 I believe, of suicide, two years after finishing his book without finding a publisher - seems there are so many authors I am finding lately suffering the same fate - so sad - He died in /69 before his book was finally published many years later due to the persistence of his mother in finding a publisher and was awarded the prize posthumously in /81 I believe -

Can't think of the title of first book but it looks to be of interest as well - but they do have at my library and read an excerpt of that where I also found all the above info -