Book Beginnings: 8/19/11

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by A Few More Pages.

I’m finally reading John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces! It’s part of my Pulitzer Project, but it’s also a book that I’ve been wanting to read for about seven years, ever since it was referenced in Sideways (love that movie!). This is from the first paragraph:

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. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank in to little folds with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly’s supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress.

I’m almost halfway through and I’m enjoying the book so far. It’s funny and smartly written, and considering all the nonfiction I’m currently reading, it’s a welcome break from all that heavier stuff.