Somehow I missed this collection of Kinky Friedman's essays when it came out a couple of years ago. Regular readers of this blog know that I like the Kinkster's books. (I have to get around to reading his novels one of these days.)
However, this is probably my least favorite of his books that I've read. It's mostly about various singers, politicians, and other celebrities that Friedman knows, and I didn't find those essays as interesting as the ones he's written about more ordinary people. There are some highlights, though, including a piece about Kinky's trip to the Australian Outback and a memoir about his father, Tom Friedman. (A similar but even better essay about Friedman's parents and the children's camp they ran for years on the Medina River can be found in the collection TEXAS HOLD 'EM.)
So, while I found this book somewhat disappointing, it's still worth reading.
3 comments:
I have kind of mixed feelings about Kinky as a writer. I've read 2 or 3 of his novels and the first one was a hoot, the second one felt like it was a regurgitated hoot and the third one for me suggested the regurgitated hoot had been sitting out in the sun and rotting for a while.
He's definitely funny, but his schtick seems kind of limited. I think this affects almost all writers who rely on comedy--Janet Evanovich is good at what she does, but the jokes are starting to seem repetitious after a dozen books.
On the other hand, Kinky can surprise, I guess. I don't live in Texas so I won't have to make a choice about whether to vote for him for governor (I'm in Michigan so I got Granholm versus Devos, the guy who owns Amway), but I was quite amused when he indicated that at his age he was too young for Medicare and too old for women to care, so why not become governor?
There's a specific type of mind at work there and at least in government, it's sort of refreshing.
Best,
Mark Terry
www.markterrybooks.com
And, today, Friedman marks one more year closer to Medicare...(says the man relocating from where Santorum will probably lose to Casey, to the state where Menendez will probably beat Kean but by less).
At this point it looks like Kinky has almost zero chance of winning the election, which is probably for the best. I'm glad he ran, though, since he demonstrated by sheer contrast what stiffs and doofuses the professional politicians are. I'm fond of the bumper sticker that appeared during a particularly sleazy campaign of years past: "Does Texas Really NEED a Governor?"
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