Friday Flashback: Rec. #126: The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: The subtitle of Susan Orlean's The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup is "My Encounters with Extraordinary People." Among the extraordinary people Orlean profiles are: a "typical" ten-year-old boy, a female matador, Hawaiian surfer girls, designer Bill Blass, and a taxi driver who's also an Ashanti king. For each essay, Orlean's opening hooks are irresistibly hook-y (see Representative Quotes below), but it's the sense that she is genuinely interested in her subjects that keeps you reading.

Comparable to: Orlean writes with a distinctive New Yorker style, so it's easy to see similarities between her writing and that of other New Yorker writers like Adam Gopnik.

Representative quote: "Of all the guys who are standing around bus shelters in Manhattan dressed in nothing but their underpants, Marky Mark is undeniably the most polite."

Bonus representative quote: "If I were a bitch, I'd be in love with Biff Truesdale."

You might not like it if: You just don't care for Orlean's style.

How to get it: Look for that bright yellow cover online, in bookstores, or at your library. Also Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Susan Orlean's first major essay collection was Saturday Night (Rec. #15).

[Originally posted 5/15/11.]