Bonfire on the Mall

DCist had a fun post this afternoon about the lack of a novel that encapsulates D.C. It's timely, as I just finished reading Bonfire of the Vanities, the novel of New York. Well, the novel of New York in 1987. I loved the descriptions of the stylish women's very large shoulder pads. It was a good read, once I realized that Wolfe was going for a Dickensian feel. And by "Dickensian," I don't mean "mid-19th century London"; I mean "written in installments and deliberately evokative of a certain time and place." Wolfe has a tendency to go off on tangents (I don't need descriptions of everything, thanks), but it makes more sense in context. And the story itself is pretty interesting; touches on a lot of sensitive topics. The New York Times did a retrospective on the 20th anniversary of the book that's worth checking out.

Anyway. Nothing like that for D.C. It's a hard balance, because a lot of books set in D.C. concentrate solely on the politics side of the city. While obviously the government is a huge part of the city, just because it's here, and just because some of us may work for it, doesn't make it the primary force of our lives.

And if the author goes with the idea suggested in DCist, who wouldn't want to read that?