“...normally I consider nostalgia to be a toxic impulse. It is the twinned, yearning delusion that (a) the past was better (it wasn´t) and (b) it can be recaptured (it can´t) that leads at best to bad art, movie versions of old TV shows, and sad dads watching Fox news. At worst it leads to revisionist, extremist politics, fundamentalist terrorism, and the victory-in Appalachia in particular-of a narcissist Manhattan cartoon maybe-millionaire and cramped-up city creep who, if he ever did go up to Rocky Top in real life, would never come down again.”
― Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
― Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
James’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at James’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by James
Lists liked by James













