Happy New Year: the perfect hangover book
On its book blog, The Guardian asks its “gentle” readers what book they prefer to read on New Year’s Day while downing Advil and swearing off the booze for at least a week.
Many of the responses are dubious at best, with Finnegan’s Wake and Dante’s Divine Comedy making the list. More honest is the reader who picks Bridget Jones’ Diary, pointing out that “nothing makes you feel better about drunken embarrassment and general incompetence than reading about someone who makes it into an art form. Plus the print’s nice and big and you definitely need a paperback for minimal lifting effort.”
Also worthy of note is the reader who replies with only “Winnie The Pooh?!”
BONUS A quick poll of Q&Q’s own offices yielded these New Year’s Day hangover reads:
- Pink Triangle and Yellow Star by Gore Vidal
- Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
- Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
- A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles by Marianne Williamson
- Native Tongue by Carl Hiassen
- The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
- Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge by Tom Bowers
So, a comic book, some sappy self-help, a breezy summer caper story, a YA novel, a muckraking biography, and a bit of highbrow material for the office poindexters — sounds about right.
Related links:
Hangover reads at The Guardian
