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"Before you know it as the years go by, you're just like other people you have seen, with all those peculiar human ailments. Just another vehicle for temper and vanity and rashness and all the rest. Who wants it? Who needs it? These things occupy the place where a man's soul should be." -- Henderson the Rain King

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Call of the Weird

Book #10 was The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures by Louis Theroux.

In Call of the Weird Theroux revisits former subjects of his weekly BBC documentary Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. The titles of some of the episodes should give you a good idea of what you're getting into: UFOs, Porn, Swingers, Wrestling, Gangsta Rap, Televangelists and Religious Cults, Head For The Hills, Infomercials, Black Nationalism, Demolition Derby, Off-Off Broadway, Hypnosis, Body Building, etc. Some of the stories are interesting and he meets some interesting people (including Ike Turner!) but on the whole it feels like a retread of several other books, eg. US Guys.

Washington Post review
International Herald Tribune review

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posted by Jamie at 12:28 AM