The Song Was Better Than The Book

Dubya read a book! And what a book. Can't you just imagine how this came about:

Laura: George, you are not going to sit in front of the TV all summer. Read something!

Dubya: All right, all right, Miss Fancy Pants Librarian. How about somethin' about killin' A-rabs?

I have never actually read The Stranger. It was on the syllabus for one of my lit classes back in college, but I was too busy drinking Jolt Cola to pick it up. Instead, I crammed by listening to the Cure song Killing An Arab on the way to the test. Got a B.

But this is not the most bizarre and unexpected thing I've seen someone read, or pretend to read, while on vacation. Recently, I was browsing through Bass Pro Shop, letting the little princesses look at the stuffed bears and live fish and stoned rock climbers and whatnot. We were checking out the tents when I noticed a cheap little vinyl sun shelter thing. Here's the picture on the box:

The model on the left is reading some sort of chick magazine. The one on the right is reading ... Atlas Shrugged. (It's tough to see in this picture, but it's clear on the box.) Looks like she's just about finished, too. Yep, just a little light beach reading.

Has there ever been a song based on Atlas Shrugged? I don't know, but there was an Irish band called The Fountainhead back in the late 1980s. They had a semi-hit called The Rhythm Method.

Meanwhile, I'm reading Gravity's Rainbow. It's tough going. Laurie Anderson did a song called Gravity's Angel, and even dedicated it to Pynchon.