Today’s fave is Tom Wolfe, the author of non-fiction pieces, like The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, the amazing book, The Right Stuff (which was highly influential to me, and I’ve read it four or five times), novels Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, I Am Charlotte Simmons, etc. 

Truly a writer with a unique and crazy style, he punches it up with crazy run-ons, exclamations, and funky witticisms. In fact, John Updike once said Wolfe’s novels weren’t literature at all, but flashy journalism. Well, I disagree. I find his work captivating, even if it’s taking time to describe the lugie that a prisoner has spat on a window. Aside from the language, the stories themselves are well-woven with characters that you care about, neither all good nor all bad. 

I would recommend two books for the Wolfe neophyte: The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities. By the way, the original film, The Right Stuff, did a good job capturing the spirit and funkiness of the book. The TV series a few years back did not. It was junk. 

Go get ‘em!