Nothin' But Good Times Ahead

1994, first Vintage Books edition, "Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form by Random House, Inc., New York in 1993"
Molly Ivins
Nothin' But Good Times Ahead
Original price $12.00, purchase price $3.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+

Despite the more optimistic title, this book not only didn't make me laugh, it didn't even make me grin like her 1991 collection, Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?  This time, the approach is basically chronological (although different publications date their issues in different ways), most of the book set during the election year of 1992, with one-and-a-half Texans and an Arkansan running.  Some of her insights on politics show a lot of common sense, but I didn't feel like I was reading much new.  In fact, she repeats herself, not just from the earlier book, but within this collection.  I realize that that's one of the hazards of being a columnist, and in many venues, but couldn't it have been edited when gathered in one spot?  That said, her take on Camille Paglia was fun.

Her next collection will be in 1998, You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You: Politics in the Clinton Years....