When a true genius appears...

Read a book that has been on your to-read list for an eternity and a half

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Page Count: 0/338

My father's copy of Confederacy, a fifth printing from 1980.

     I chose the first book that came to mind when I read this challenge. And I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I’ve never read this one. A Confederacy of Dunces is, after all, probably the most famous book set in my hometown of New Orleans. We even have a bronze statue of the main character on a main drag downtown! So it seems only appropriate to start this blogging adventure off with such a classic.
     From some sneaky Wikipedia sleuthing, I discovered that Confederacy was actually published 11 years after it was written, and thus after John Kennedy Toole’s suicide at the age of 31. Toole had tried to publish the book before but multiple editors rejected it. After his death, his mother badgered author Walker Percy until eventually Percy published the novel. Smart choice too - Toole ended up winning the Pulitzer for fiction posthumously in 1981 and Confederacy became a major hit.
     The novel tells the story of a 30-something man - Ignatius J. Reilly - who is unemployed, still lives with his mother and is an all-around slob. After a series of rather unfortunate events he is forced to search for a job, and thus his adventure through the seedy underworld of New Orleans – and specifically the French Quarter (ha!) – begins.
     Confederacy is supposed to be an extremely humorous novel, which makes this even more of a challenge for me. I don’t usually find books funny per se. Sad? Yes. Enlightening? Sure. Uplifting? Why not? But laugh-out-loud funny? Not often. That just means I’m looking forward to really getting into this book. Hopefully my new neighbors will be hearing some giggling soon.