An affecting memoir from one of America's most provocative humorists Over the past two decades, Joe Queenan has established himself as a scourge of everything that is half-baked, half-witted, and halfhearted in American culture. In Closing Time, Queenan turns his sights on a more serious and a more personal topic: his childhood in a Philadelphia housing project in the early 1960s. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Closing Time recounts Queenan's Irish Catholic upbringing in a family dominated by his erratic, alcoholic father, and his long flight away from the dismal confines of his neighborhood into the greater, wide world. A story about salvation and escape, Closing Time has at its heart the makings of a classic American autobiography.

Closing Time: A Memoir

Biographies & Memoirs

Queenan, Joe

Arts & Literature

Penguin??Books

An absolute must-read for anyone who loves books In Closing Time, Joe Queenan shared how he became a voracious reader to escape a joyless childhood. Now, like many bibliophiles, he fears for the books that once saved him. In One for the Books, Queenan examines the entire culture of reading and what books really mean in people’s lives today. What does it suggest if a person has no books displayed in his living room? Can an obsession with reading prove detrimental to one’s well being? How useful are covers in selling books? Queenan’s many fans—as well as anyone who loves books and reading—will want to join him on his unforgettably funny and moving journey.

One for the Books

From the bestselling author of Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon comes a vintage Queenan tirade chronicling the evolution of his own Baby Boomer Generation. How did a generation that started out at Woodstock and Monterey end up at Crate &amp; Barrel? How did a generation that promised to "teach its children well" end up with a progeny so evil they could give Damien from The Omen a run for his money? And what is so fascinating about porcini mushrooms? Professional iconoclast Queenan shows how a generation with so much promise lost its way by confusing pop culture with culture and mistaking lifestyle for life.
Queenan on The Sixties: "Baby Boomers who never saw Hendrix, did drugs, locked or loaded an AK-47 in country or bedded down with a girl named Radiance now all pretend they did. It's like those Civil War reenactment buffs who have drunk so much Wild Turkey they actually think they were at Chickamauga."
Queenan on Death: "A generation whose primary cultural artifact is the Filofax has enormous difficulty shoehorning death into its schedule: it's inconvenient, time-consuming and stressful. 'We don't have time to die this afternoon; Caitlin has ballet.'"

Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Picador

Why do fans live and die with their teams? For Yankee, Cowboy, and Laker fans the answer is fairly clear: the return on investment is relatively high. But why do people root so passionately for tragically inept teams like the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the Philadelphia Phillies? Why do people organize their emotional lives around lackluster franchises such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Diego Padres, and the Phoenix Suns, none of whom have ever won a single championship in their entire history? Is it pure tribalism? An attempt to maintain contact with one's vanished childhood?
In True Believers, humorist and lifelong Philly fan Joe Queenan answers these and many other questions, shedding light on--and reveling in--the culture and psychology of his countless fellow fans.

True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans

One semitropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken vindaloo in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression, coupled with dread of the fearsome Christmas pudding that awaited him for dessert, that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain.
Freed from the obligation to visit his wife's relations, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the limey heart of darkness. The result is a very funny, picaresque adventure that will appeal to anglophile and anglophobe alike.

Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country

This witty and withering look at the Vice Presidency looks at the man who might one day sit in the White House. The author looks at other least-loved Deputy Commanders-in-Chief, profiles the tribulations of the long-suffering "Second Lady" Marilyn Quayle, rounds up and runs down a list of the ten stupidest people in Washington after Dan Quayle, and speculates on why Dan Quayle is actually the best possible candidate for President.

Imperial Caddy: The Rise of Dan Quayle in America and the Decline and Fall of Practically Everything Else

Pan/Macmillan

Now in paperback--the hilarious and scandalous book that skewered Hollywood. Infamous Tinsel Town journalist-"hatchetman" Joe Queenan presents the interviews and essays that made him persona non grata among Hollywood's stars and movie moguls.

If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must be in Trouble

Reference

Picador/Pan Books

My Goodness: a Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthood

Professionals & Academics

Hyperion

Picador USA

One semi-tropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken vindaloo in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain. Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally figured out what made the British tick. Crisscrossing Old Blighty, Queenan finally came to terms with the choochiness, squiffiness, ponciness and sticky wicketness that lies at the heart of the British character. Here he is trying to find out whose idea it was to impale King Edward II on a red-hot poker -- and what this says about English sexual politics. Here he is in an Edinburgh pub foolishly trying to defend Paul McCartney's "Ebony and Ivory" while "The Mull of Kintire" blares away on the TV. And here he is, trapped in a concert hall with a Coventry-based all-Brit Eagles Tribute Band named Talon who resent that they are nowhere near as famous as their evil nemeses, the Illegal Eagles. At the end of his epic adventure, the author returns chastened, wiser and happier, encouraged that his wife is as sane as she is, all things considered.

Queenan Country

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Queenan, Joe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Queenan, Joe

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Queenan, Joe. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Closing Time: A Memoir

One for the Books

Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation

True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans

Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country

Imperial Caddy: The Rise of Dan Quayle in America and the Decline and Fall of Practically Everything Else

If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must be in Trouble

My Goodness: a Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthood

Closing Time: A Memoir

Queenan Country