The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People by Susan Orleans is a excellent book to pick up and put down and pick up again. She explores the life of all sorts of interesting people. The book starts with an "average" boy - aged 10. And it is pretty funny how she devotes her time to hanging out with him and discovering what he is about. It ends with the female bullfighter performing her tasks.
Her subjects include, among others, an Ashanti king (an American one who gets elected), a small town newspaper reporter who almost writes all the articles in the paper, three Bulgarian tennis pro sisters, Maui surfer girls (which later became the basis for the movie Blue Crush), the Shaggs, and a man who has been selling fans his whole life.
Orleans, who is a regular contributor to the New Yorker, has a wonderful way of describing a person and bringing out the dignity in her subjects. It doesn't matter what social class or economic status they are. She manages to make them fascinating. Orleans is such a good author that I will read any of her works. With her talent, it is easy to follow her down what ever path she has taken this time. A very good read.
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