Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut: 25 Years of P. J. O'Rourke Book

This would be a two star deal if it had been read instead of audiobooked. After years of meaning to dip into O'Rourke, because of a Troy Patterson recommendation and a thinking that his "wit" might provide me with some tidbits to steal and jam into my own conversations I finally took this on after a great experience with Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone in which HST references P.J. multiple times due to their both being writers for the magazine.

There's a personal bit in the beginning and a piece on his tenure at a socialist alt-weekly that are good, and his surf fishing, woodcock hunting, and golf pieces are interesting enough, but the wordplay didn't live up to my expectations. He's clever sure, but also very tiresome and with the exception of "drink myself blind" my smiles were restrained and always a touch queazy. Maybe his more recent stuff is better, but I didn't know where to start. The articles for Automobile Magazine are probably the low point of the book. I heard an interview on NPR with him awhile ago, and assumed he would be more "on" in the printed form but he was exactly the same so maybe try that out first. Goodness knows I try to avoid The Awl and it's ilk, but at least they and the rest of the internet have raised the benchmark for sharpish writing and deadline wit from where it was when these pieces were earning P.J. decent money.