.I first read this in 1981, and it's still my all-time favorite book. It's set in (pre-Katrina, of course) New Orleans in the early 1960's, and it has local color to burn. The entire book grows out of the worldview of Ignatius Reilly, the protagonist. His worldview (which he explicitly refers to many times) really defies description in 25 words or less, but let's say that "eccentric" doesn't begin to describe it. Every week he goes to the movies and then bellows into the dark about how terrible the film is, i.e., "The food is terrible, and the portions are too small." And that's just scratching the surface. He's thoroughly obnoxious, and I wouldn't want to get within 100 feet of him in real life, but as a literary character, he's hilarious!

Trust me, I couldn't have devised the plot of this book in my wildest dreams, but I'm sure glad the author did! When a new character (and there are quite a few of them) is introduced, you haven't seen the last of him or her. And there are several interlocking subplots that come together at the end in a very satisfying way.

Sample line: "Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs." Trust me, there's more where this came from! A tour de force.

The story behind the book is fascinating in its own right--see the foreword. It's tragic that the author committed suicide at age 32 after writing only The Neon Bible (when he was 16) and this.