Böcker av George Singleton

"George Singleton is a very funny man. He could write about a tootsie roll and keep me reading," says Abigail Thomas, author of Safekeeping and A Three Dog Life, about Singleton's new collection of personal essays. Readers of his celebrated short story collections (The Half-Mammals of Dixie, You Want More, and The Curious Lives of Non-Profit Martyrs, among others) know just what a master storyteller Singleton can be. Yet in this collection of essays, readers will discover Singleton's best kept secret: he also has a keen eye for the well-told and hilarious truth.His subjects range widely: dogs, food, restaurants, jobs, music, family, and the benefits and challenges of, as he puts it, "a questionable upbringing." ¿Frequently published in magazines like Oxford American and Garden and Gun, Singleton explains in these essays how he came to be a writer (he blames barbecue), why he still writes his first draft by hand (someone stole his typewriter), and why he ran marathons (his father gave him beer.) He also will tell you why Aristotle would have been a failed philosopher had he grown up in South Carolina, how Laugh-In's Henry Gibson is to blame for his education in literature, and what was in the most delicious soup he has ever eaten. Readers are invited to join George Singleton as he gets his dogs to promise they won't use his new garden as a Porta-Potty, learns about his not so famous relations, and generally charms anyone sensible enough to read this delightful book.

Set in the town of Gruel, South Carolina, this first novel by George Singleton, master of the comic short story, is the tale of a young man named Novel (his brother's name is James; his sister's is Joyce), a professional snake handler who stumbles across strange doings while he sits in a motel room writing his autobiography. As he struggles to recount his life story, he uncovers-and finds himself starring in-a decades-old town secret, one that can blow him and his fellow citizens sky-high. Funny as only George Singleton can be, full of Southern mischief and wit, Novel is a crazed and crazy fictional whirlwind of drinking, motel-living, art-forgery-committing, pool-playing redneck charm.

Acclaimed short-story master George Singleton follows the lives and schemes of the citizens of fictitious Gruel, South Carolina, in search of glory, seclusion, money, revenge, and a meaningful existence. In these nineteen tales, young Gruelites learn lessons when confronted with neighbors who might not be as blind as they appear, dermatologists intent on eradicating birthmarks, and fathers prone to driving on half-inflated tires in order to flirt with cashiers. Meanwhile, the town's older citizens try to make sense out of dogs that heal wounds, lawn-mowing dead men, wives who don't appreciate gas masks for Valentine's Day, and children who mix their mother's ashes with housepaint. Hilarious and tragic, George Singleton's unforgettable characters try to overcome their limitations as best they can.