The Bonfire of the Vanities

I've had this book on my shelves for a very long time–more than 30 years, I'd say–and finally took it down. It's hard to imagine what I might have made of it when it first came out, but now it feels completely like a satire of the go-go years. Or, at least, a caricature of the Wall Street/Park Avenue milieu, not to mention the Bronx. Still, it's not hard to spot some lessons about greed and abuses of privilege and power that remain valid now. The deep dive into the annoying thoughts of annoying people, though, that's pretty hard to take in a book that runs on (and on and on).