Books You Really Should Have Read By Now — "A Confederacy of Dunces"

So I (and by extension, this column) vanished for a couple of weeks. Sorry about that — I got busy with a bunch of other book stuff, but I’m back now. At least it had to do with books, right?

This week’s book you really should have read by now is an author’s masterwork (and winner of the Pulitzer Prize), sadly published 11 years after author John Kennedy Toole committed suicide. It follows one of the most unique characters I’ve ever read in any book, Ignatius J. Reilly, around the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Hmm. Seems normal enough.

Reilly is. . . well, he’s like no one you’ve ever met, coupled with every geek you’ve ever met. He’s 30 and lives with his mother; he’s educated, creative, and almost brilliant to the point of insanity. He contradicts himself often, quotes the work of Boethius, eats like mad, and never leaves his hometown of New Orleans (except once, as described hilariously in his own words in the book).

This isn’t a work you read for plot, or to see what happens next. This is a book you read for the outstanding characters — to get inside their heads, to see how they view the world, and through them (though outlandish and extreme) gain some understanding of the human condition, and of yourself.

Point of shame: my wife suggested this book to me a couple of years back. I read the first couple of pages and responded with an unenthusiastic “meh.” I finally got into it a few months later, though, and wanted to travel back in time and kick myself in the junk for ever doubting this book. Seriously, it’s that good.