Pun Salad

I've been a fan of my fellow Granite Stater, P.J. O'Rourke, since the 1970s, when he wrote insanely funny stuff for the old National Lampoon. Now he's older, cut down on the drugs, ramped up on the cigars and whiskey, and got libertarian/conservative. Hey, just like me. Except for the drugs, cigars, and whiskey.

The title of this book is a takeoff on his 1988 book, Holidays in Hell, where he recounted visits to various world hotspots. Things are calmer now, and nobody is shooting at him, at least not on purpose. P.J. checks out a Lindblad cruise to the Galapagos; the WW2 Memorial and other touristy attractions in Washington D.C.; Kabul; mainland China; Kyrgyzstan on horseback; (unfortunately) the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon NH; and many other places.

P.J.'s very observant, very cynical, very opinionated, and very funny. Every page has a chuckle or unexpected insight. He's rarely in awe, so when he is (on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, or in the Three Gorges area in China), one pays attention.

It would be fun to tag along with him as a buddy. Unfortunately, he has a million friends, and if I were a hundred times more interesting, I'd still be "the boring one". Hey, P.J., I promise: I'll just sit out of the way in any convenient corner quietly and chuckle. Next time you go to Kyrgyzstan…