Jack and Carl

There must be something about this week in March that makes my bookshelves in the hallway a good place to be. Yesterday we celebrated Douglas Adams's birthday and today it's the turn of two American's that, whilst wildly different in their style, have an amazing way at examining and picking apart the minutiae of everyday life and the world we live in.

Jack Kerouac and Carl Hiaasen are two of my favourite authors for very different reasons. Kerouac is of course legendary, probably more so in death than he ever was in life. His legacy as a 'beat poet' and his bohemian lifestyle, not to mention hard living, puts him in the pantheon of great american authors. It could be argued that no other 20th century writer so vividly portrayed counter-culture and youthful rebellion. The tragedy is that he could have been even better, had the demon drink not claimed his life. Alas we'll never know.

In my eyes Hiaasen's up there with the greats too - not only due to his acerbic wit and wonderful characterisation of the 'colourful' fringes of society (think clumsy criminals and bent politicians, weasel-like PR men and profligate tycoons) but also due to his enquiring journalist mind, always weaving subtext and asking the bigger questions, particularly regarding the fragile ecology of his native Florida. Like Douglas Adams, he is a funny man who is deadly serious about mankind's impact on the planet.

So today I raise a glass (single malt) to Carl and Jack. Although I'm sure, somewhere out there, Jack is already doing that surrounded by much better company....