Roy Blount Jr., Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans (New York: Random House, 2005)

Before you pick up the book, take a look at the copyright date. It was written before Hurricane Katrina. That is an important detail. Now that you know, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book.

“Betcha I can tell ya / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Betchadollar, / Betchadollar, / Where ya / Got them shoooes. / Got your shoes on your feet, / Got your feet on the street, / And the street’s in Noo / Awlins, Loo- / Eez-ee-anna. Where I, for my part, first ate a live oyster and first saw a naked woman with the lights on. . . . Every time I go to New Orleans I am startled by something.”

This is a wonderful exploration of a unique culture - a unique part of our country, and what better guide could we have than Roy Blount, Jr. A southerner, whose accent we know from National Public Radio and other sources.

This is a good, easy, read, suitable for a short trip or a lazy afternoon.