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Tom Chaney No. R719. Review of A Heckuva Job Of Writers and Their Books, A review of Calvin Trillin's Heckuva a Job First printed 16 July 2006. The next earlier Tom Chaney Of Writers and Their Books column,Robert Worth Bingham By Tom Chaney A Heckuva Job One of the differences between a used book store and a library is that the book monger gets to select the category that he thinks best fits a book without regard to the intent of either author or publisher. Should you come looking for a book in our shop, you might find a book by Dan Quayle in the section on 'bird hunting.' Certain political autobiographies are classified in Horror. And certain eschatological novels are surely in the realm of fantasy. Calvin Trillin is firmly and irrevocably in the Kentucky section although he is a native of Kansas City, a graduate of Yale, and a denizen of New York City. But when it comes to the Bookstore, he's a Kentuckian.This classification comes about because of his perspicacity in selecting some Kentucky topics for his major work. In Alice, Let's Eat he records his 1977 trip he made with missionary zeal to rescue the culinary reputation of the Commonwealth from the clutches of Colonel Sanders. With help from serious Hart County eaters, he found Mrs. Porter's country ham in Sulphur Well; Lee Davis' fine fried chicken at the Mammoth Cave hotel; and barbecue in Owensboro. The Orwellian year of 1984 found Trillin back in Hart County to chronicle the misadventures of a noble band of brothers who sought to expand the agricultural offerings of Cave Country and to report on the quality of storytelling in these parts. That account may be found in his American Stories. Later on he chronicled the saga of the computer mouse at Horse Cave City Hall. The mouse had squoze in a crack in the case of the computer and left both liquid and solid calling cards behind -- causing much consternation on the part of the city clerk.Alas, Mr. Trillin has not returned to these parts for some time. That does not mean that he has been silent. He writes for The New Yorker, Time, and The Nation. He frequently is heard on National Public Radio. Over the past several years Trillin has become the poetic voice pillorying the current administration -- whosoever it may be. "I've said that each presidential administration makes me nostalgic for the administration that preceded it." His latest book, a HECKUVA job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme (Random House, 2006) follows his earlier volume Obliviously On He Sails. Trillin comments philosophically about the earlier attempt, "We weren't going to know whether you could bring down a presidency with iambic pentameter until somebody tried it." Bush is still in the White House despite rhyming couplets. The title a HECKUVA job refers to President Bush's phrase in praise of Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Hurricane Katrina debacle, who had risen "to the challenge . . . [with] stunning ineptitude." "Perhaps the only federal official more dilatory than the President himself." On the idea that the problem is government: 'Cause government's the problem, lads.And in support of the decision to go to war: Then terrorists could count on what we'd do.The war must be continued: Iraq is coming right along.To insure the promise of democracy in Iraq: Democracy is on the way.And "The short history of someone who failed to get into the champagne unit of the Texas Air National Guard in 1968" Historians may not recallSatire is fierce. It is intended to make us uncomfortable. Trillin is a witty thorn in the nation's side. Tom Chaney can be found telling stories, planning his next meal, and occasionally selling books at THE BOOKSTORE Box 73 / 111 Water Street Horse Cave, Kentucky 42749. Phone (270) 786-3084. email: Tom Chaney bookstore@scrtc.com The BOOKSTOREe This story was posted on 2011-07-17 06:17:23
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Tom Chaney: Of Writers and Their Books:
Tom Chaney No. R718: Robert Worth Bingham Tom Chaney: R717: Wm. Ellis, The Kentucky River, a review Tom Chaney: No. R716: A Grisham Addiction Tom Chaney: No. R715- Summertime reading Tom Chaney R714: The Bookman as Detective Tom Chaney: R713 - Memory of Old Jack, Wendell Berry Tom Chaney: R717 - The catalpa's white week Tom Chaney: Rumpole and the Primrose Path Tom Chaney: The Unseen Savage of the White Man's Heart Tom Chaney No. R709: War: sex, and money View even more articles in topic Tom Chaney: Of Writers and Their Books |
 
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