Books like Rabbit at Rest

While the average person may have been conducting online searches for holiday recipes this week, I was doing my own Google search. . .which type of cigarettes did John Updike smoke? (My poor, poor children. No Waldorf salad or candied yams for you).That query provided me with information that I already knew, that Mr. Updike died from lung cancer, as a result of his nasty smoking habit, but my actual question wasn't answered.Which kind of cigarettes did he smoke??Do you know? I don't. But I want to know. And I think about it. . . an unnatural amount. Almost every photo ever taken of John Updike features a burning cigarette drooping casually from his mouth or held loosely between his two fingers.And, though I loathe cigarette smoking, I find myself thinking of that mischievous smile and that stupid cigarette hanging from his mouth, and the next thing you know, I'm Olivia Newton-John in Grease, pulling that damn thing slowly from his mouth, throwing it to the ground to crush under my black heel, and whispering (real close like to his face), “Tell me about it, stud.” What follows from there is none of your damn business.WHAT KIND OF A REVIEW IS THIS???This is my kind of review. My way of informing you that I've read more John Updike than, say, 98% of the population, and, though I am not an “Updike expert,” I've gone so far as to having elaborate couch fantasies with him as well.And, having inappropriately written all of that, I want you to know that you can trust me when I suggest to you that you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD read the Rabbit series (his most famous work), but just quit at Rabbit #3, Rabbit is Rich and call it a day.Despite what Rabbit himself advises his grandson, Roy, in this book, when little Roy explains that he left the movie theatre early because the Dumbo movie had upset him: “If you don't stay to the end the sadness sticks with you," I respectfully disagree. It wasn't worth it to stay to the end. The ended sucked. This novel was an overly wordy, overly written, tiresome slog. Rabbit and John should have both quit while they were ahead.But, don't worry, John. This one may not have worked for me, but I've got a bad case of the feels for you. I've got a hard stack of your work, hovering close to my bed, waiting for my attention.Was it Pall Malls? Marlboros?