Yes, I give Just Kids a big thumbs up. Nice to see you enjoying something, Mike, and thanks for saving me the price of Neil Young's book.
I'm reading Brothers by David Talbot, a very absorbing book about John and Bobby Kennedy from JFK's White House years up until Bobby's assassination. Begins in medias res with the JFK assassination and Bobby's response to it, which is immediately to doubt the lone-gunman theory and suspect some combination of Cuban exiles, Mafia, and rogue Intelligence agents; then goes back to the beginning of JFK's administration to trace the history of the Kennedys' poisonous relations with all of those groups. Man, JFK really navigated some choppy fuckin' waters. My respect for him is increased. If you think The Crazy have a stranglehold on American politics now, this book will give you a longer view.
I turned to this book in search of some greater substance after reading Stephen King's JFK book which Tom has talked about. It started out fine and became quite compelling in the last 200 pages. I even choked up a bit at the conclusion. But arrggh, I hated hated hated the long middle wherein the hero spends a few years teaching in small-town early-60s Texas. Sentimental, drippy paean to small towns, high school, dances, football games, rah rah, I'm gonna puke now, and a looooonnnng excruciating love story. This book made me feel something I've never felt before: the wish to hurry the fuck up and get to Dallas.