This October we here at Mulaney Reads continued on the theme of Cold War insanity.
Last month we featured Charles McCary’s Tears of Autumn. This month a nonfiction and fiction choice.
The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro and America’s Doomed Invasion of the Bay of Pigs by Jim scale history and almost minute by minute account of the maddening, sad, and yes doomed Bay of Pigs invasion. It’s terribly depressing and wild to watch so many people get so many things wrong and then at the last minute, when they can course correct, get them so wrong again.
And then there is The Book Of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. I have been a big fan of Doctorow since high school, but Book of Daniel is the one I think about the most. In short it’s a novel about what might have happened to the children of (a fictionalized) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. But it’s more a look at rebels of the radical 1960’s facing down the buttoned up but equally radical 1950’s subversives. And who did more for their cause: the people trying to fit the suit and tie mold or those who threw it all out a decade later.
Read both of these and then call my landline to tell me what you think.
Last month we featured Charles McCary’s Tears of Autumn. This month a nonfiction and fiction choice.
The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro and America’s Doomed Invasion of the Bay of Pigs by Jim scale history and almost minute by minute account of the maddening, sad, and yes doomed Bay of Pigs invasion. It’s terribly depressing and wild to watch so many people get so many things wrong and then at the last minute, when they can course correct, get them so wrong again.
And then there is The Book Of Daniel by E.L. Doctorow. I have been a big fan of Doctorow since high school, but Book of Daniel is the one I think about the most. In short it’s a novel about what might have happened to the children of (a fictionalized) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. But it’s more a look at rebels of the radical 1960’s facing down the buttoned up but equally radical 1950’s subversives. And who did more for their cause: the people trying to fit the suit and tie mold or those who threw it all out a decade later.
Read both of these and then call my landline to tell me what you think.
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Tickets on sale now for Mulaney Takes Manhattan, January 11 at The Music Box Theatre. Tickets at johnmulaney.com and Telecharge.com
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John Mulaney retweeted
Watch BIG BIZ on YouTube with new client @mulaney only on the BIG FUN NETWORK.
youtu.be/N4J8oguA6B8?is…
youtu.be/N4J8oguA6B8?is…
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Instructions for Mulaney Reads September 2026.
Start with Tears of Autumn by Charles McCary. Paul Christopher is a CIA agent working in Saigon the month President Diem and President Kennedy are killed. Christopher is one of the deepest, most detached, most interesting spy read. Tears of Autumn is a riveting story written in such spare, perfect language.
When you’re done with it read any other novel in the Paul Christopher series. I didn’t go in order, I jumped right to The Last Supper next.
I think you will have to find a lot of these as e-books. But that should change. The whole series should be re-released in paperback and I should get a cut of the profits. Ya know, because of this post.
Happy Wednesday,
John
Start with Tears of Autumn by Charles McCary. Paul Christopher is a CIA agent working in Saigon the month President Diem and President Kennedy are killed. Christopher is one of the deepest, most detached, most interesting spy read. Tears of Autumn is a riveting story written in such spare, perfect language.
When you’re done with it read any other novel in the Paul Christopher series. I didn’t go in order, I jumped right to The Last Supper next.
I think you will have to find a lot of these as e-books. But that should change. The whole series should be re-released in paperback and I should get a cut of the profits. Ya know, because of this post.
Happy Wednesday,
John
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Los Angeles, see you Dec. 30 & Dec. 31 at @TheWiltern. Get tickets this Wednesday at 10 AM local time at johnmulaney.com with code: MISTER.
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August Mulaney Reads! Every book by @jordan_harper. Get them wherever you buy books!
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Any and all Mulaney Reads-ers.
“North Sun or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” is my July must must must read. This book is so batshit. Funny, bizarre, violent reckless, and very moving.
I haven’t read “Moby Dick” because whatever but Ethan Rutherford’s description of ling to catch a whale is one of the most visceral things I have ever absorbed. We are back in “Fatal Shore” or “Feast of Snakes” territory where things get brutal. But it can’t all be Michelangelo and sunsets and so forth.
This is also ANOTHER recommendation from J. Michaels Books in Eugene, Oregon making it perhaps the most successful single day haul I have had in years. I suggest you pay them a visit.
Buy “North Sun or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” at your local bookseller.
Very carsick on way to Saratoga,
John
“North Sun or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” is my July must must must read. This book is so batshit. Funny, bizarre, violent reckless, and very moving.
I haven’t read “Moby Dick” because whatever but Ethan Rutherford’s description of ling to catch a whale is one of the most visceral things I have ever absorbed. We are back in “Fatal Shore” or “Feast of Snakes” territory where things get brutal. But it can’t all be Michelangelo and sunsets and so forth.
This is also ANOTHER recommendation from J. Michaels Books in Eugene, Oregon making it perhaps the most successful single day haul I have had in years. I suggest you pay them a visit.
Buy “North Sun or the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” at your local bookseller.
Very carsick on way to Saratoga,
John
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Mulaney Takes Manhattan. For nine nights I will perform at nine iconic New York City venues, January 7- 15, 2027. 9 in a row kiddos.
Each show will feature special guests and each one will have a whole lot of different. Going to all 9 might seem extreme but I bet you’d enjoy l of them myself albeit for my own reasons.
Go to johnmulaney.com to sign up for first access to presale information for these pretty damn neat shows.
Each show will feature special guests and each one will have a whole lot of different. Going to all 9 might seem extreme but I bet you’d enjoy l of them myself albeit for my own reasons.
Go to johnmulaney.com to sign up for first access to presale information for these pretty damn neat shows.
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#MULANEYREADS in June: Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Énard.
A small, perfect book. Michelangelo, angry at the Pope, takes a bad gig for good money in Constantinople. It reads like a beautiful 16th-century detective story. It’s short and wild.
This makes ommendations from J. Michaels Books in Eugene, Oregon. First was Chaim Soutine by Celeste Marcus (a great biography and a great book about creativity in general), then Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper.
Go there in person and buy anything they tell you to.
A small, perfect book. Michelangelo, angry at the Pope, takes a bad gig for good money in Constantinople. It reads like a beautiful 16th-century detective story. It’s short and wild.
This makes ommendations from J. Michaels Books in Eugene, Oregon. First was Chaim Soutine by Celeste Marcus (a great biography and a great book about creativity in general), then Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper.
Go there in person and buy anything they tell you to.
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