Goddam you, my friend

If Joe Queenan is to be believed I have brought untold woe and misery upon my friends' heads. They shake their fists and curse my name. What have I done to earn this opprobrium? Given scads of books as Christmas gifts. He is really railing against poor book selection or pressing favorite books upon people who don't share your tastes. Fair enough. Remember that Queenan is a professional curmudgeon. On his book covers he looks pretty sullen. Check this, and this. Here he is smiling, but that is because he is about to laugh at you. If he were writing a column about giving money to help Rwandan mountain gorillas, he'd come out with "That's nice man, that's really nice, but where were you when the Hutus were killing the Tutsis in Rwanda, where were you then?"