James Leer

"The overcoat was a trademark of his. It was an impermeable thrift-shop special with a plaid flannel lining and wide lapels, and it looked as though it had been trying for many years to keep the rain off the stooped shoulders of a long series of hard cases, drifters, and ordinary bums. It emitted an odor of bus station so desolate that just standing next to him you could feel your luck changing for the worse."

Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys


I think I owned this trench coat in college. I was on a plane when I read this, and I laughed so hard the people one aisle over started to look uneasy.

Wonder Boys