classic literature

All The King's Men

If I were to venture a guess, I would have to say that the single most defining literary work describing this city, and even the state of Louisiana, would be Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer-prize-winning All The King's Men, a loosely-fictionalized retelling of our own governor Huey Long's epic rise to power and eventual doom. It's no surprise the man became poet laureate of the United States; the prose will keep you up at night. Get the "restored edition" if possible. The text has been made into two films, once in 1949 and again in 2006. The latter production was filmed in Baton Rouge; the former won Best Picture.

(Three decades later, reporters Bernstein and Woodward made reference to Warren's masterpiece in the title of their book All The President's Men, which chronicles Watergate and the downfall of Richard Nixon.)

Confederacy of Dunces

A Lesson Before Dying

contemporary literature

The Levee: A Novel of Baton Rouge, Malcolm Shuman's latest work (published November 2008), is a fictionalization of a true crime that took place in Baton Rouge.

New Stories from the South, 2008 edited by ZZ Packer, an anthology of short stories either set in the South or by writers with a Southern voice. Stories vary in quality and "South-ness", but many are worthwhile.

on the radio

book stores

Independent book stores in Baton Rouge selling both new and used books appear to be few and far between. So far I know of only:

For new books from corporate purveyers, there are the usual big-box suspects (which you can find yourself); one such outfit exists in the LSU student union.

local authors

  • Malcolm Shuman is a prolific author of mysteries and true crime novels (If he made film I'd call it film noir)

Comments

2009-01-14 20:57:31   Consider it Netflixed. —Rosanne

2009-01-14 20:57:53   (and Middletonned) —Rosanne

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