false 170309 2 When Rob Walker and his girlfriend relocated to New Orleans in 2000, Walker (a regular contributor to <i>The New York Times Magazine</i>) started filling his friends' email inboxes with tales of adventures from his new home. Those stories--capturing the simple, everyday, and often unbelievable moments that regularly transpired in the Crescent City--are the basis for the fascinating <i>Letters from New Orleans</i>. Here, the author describes the parades and jazz funerals not as a tourist would see them, but from behind the scenes, amidst the personalities. Over the course of 20 or so vignettes, Walker finds himself in dive bars that should probably be condemned; bicycling through an improvised community park that happens to exist directly below a busy freeway overpass; and mulling the consequences of random, celebratory gun firings that appear to be a regular occurrence in New Orleans. Throughout, Walker is the perfect fly on the wall; he's equal parts journalist, anthropologist, and tour guide. He devotes his energy equally to the beautiful, the downtrodden, and the wacky, but these are clearly love letters to the unique people of New Orleans. Walker is, quite simply, infatuated with his adopted city. With the 2005 flooding of Hurricane Katrina happening just months after the publishing of this book, these pieces serve as even more poignant snapshots; some of Walker's favorite landmarks may be gone forever. With that in mind, the author is devoting the proceeds from this wonderful effort to Katrina victims. <i>--Jason Verlinde</i> 164453 6 2005 Letters from New Orleans total:71|5:31|4:25|3:12|2:3|1:0| 71 297 107 10 4 1 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Sep 05 15:08:15 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 07 18:40:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 14 08:53:32 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 08:58:02 -0700 2009 I loved the way he describes first moving to New Orleans and the comments about New Orleanians being ' so completely unselfconscious '. He had m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 21:49:24 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 21:49:52 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 21:34:43 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 08:50:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 21 20:02:42 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 21:16:16 -0700 2008
my one criticism would be that it felt thin. Not in pages, in details. If all "chapters" would have been like "St. James Infirm...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 26 09:16:58 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 09:18:17 -0700 2008 ]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 18 18:39:05 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 07:28:31 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 17:12:19 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 11 06:33:54 -0700 2008 toni morrison exchange idea- i think we should get it started.]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 01 18:09:50 -0800 2009 Mon Apr 13 05:26:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Dec 28 20:17:24 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 28 20:18:20 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 21:32:22 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 21:32:22 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 12 03:18:56 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 03:19:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 07 11:48:18 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 11:48:18 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 10 18:26:37 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 15:57:04 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 18:26:37 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 06 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Aug 19 08:25:10 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 08:25:10 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 15 08:35:15 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 08:35:15 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 13:19:35 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 13:19:48 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Aug 04 19:11:13 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 19:11:13 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jul 20 13:21:06 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 13:21:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 17 02:08:54 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 02:08:54 -0700 2009