Balsamic Dreams by Joe Queenan

[will vine]

I am not well read. It takes a heavy cold or a bout of flu to lay me low before I pick up a book these days, so it is rather pushing my luck to recommend reading material to you all, but this book struck a real chord with me.
Whilst celebrating with you all on this website the whole diversity and abundance of roots/world music material now available, and the marvellous guiding light of Charlie Gillett in particular, you may have noticed in some of my contributions a certain reticence to appraise, study, and accumulate too much of it...Haven't we all got too many records ? etc.. I can't put into words as well as Joe Queenan does why this I feel this way, but if I could be sure you'd all go out and read this book I'd never have to contribute to this site again for you would all pretty much know me. He fills a lot of pages not saying so very much, overstating his case, making sweeping generalisations, and showing off his knowledge of history, but if you're a baby-boomer (born between 1944 and 1960) you'll probably enjoy the cultural references in his impressionistic look at what became of "My Generation".

Balsamic Dreams......Joe Queenan....Picador Books www.picador.com