Surprise du Jour

Anytime over the last 15 years I've had to talk about A Confederacy of Dunces I've done it through clenched teeth of eye-rolling hatred, claiming I hated the book and in particular the main character, with his stupid hat and valve.

I thought this was Gospel, locked in the books, that I felt this way about the book. But now I see this:

While a bit overblown in its "CLASSIC MASTERPIECE!!" hype, it is thoroughly entertaining with a uniquely freewheeling style. Tho I can't help but think of Ignatius as a souped-up Dwight Schrute in a Seinfeld script, what with all the plot points and characters in all corners somehow converging upon each other. 

What? I....liked it? Dafuck? Previously, I'd always thought the only good thing about it was that there's a few scenes in which it took me into to my beloved Greenpoint Tavern - and this was back when I only lived blocks from it - which I seem to tend to do with the books I enjoy the most, which as it turns out has its own set of problems:

But apparently I’ve officially run out of places from my youth and am now using the same scenic backgrounds for different books, like theaters do for plays; or cartoons used to for background cells. I read The Metamorphisis a few weeks ago, and now I’m reading Crime and Punishment and they both take place in the same room - my childhood neighbor Shelly’s bedroom. Wtf?