Very disappointing. Thought this was a novel by Tom Robbins but it's just a collection of past magazine articles etc.

Hedonistic to middling. Hit and Zen.

“[…] It’s particularly significant at a time when the population is threatened by a potentially deadly epidemic of mythological origin. The plague to which I refer is not AIDS but millennialism.”

Been reading this at work and storing it in my little cubby. Enjoyed! I think Tom Robbins is a fantastic writer.
The genius in some of his articles here is brilliant.

Tom Robbins never wrote a bad book

LOVED this book. I have been rigorously laughing out loud through a goodly portion of this book and trying (very trying-to my husband) to explain my hilarity -as he's attempting his own novel illluminations (both puns intended), burrowing into his own book! Read this book-just sit back with no preconceptions and let Tom Robbins take you on several trips of his imagination. It's like riding a roller coaster. Sometimes you don't know what to think. Other times you are snorting, because you are laughing so hard. Sometimes I was sobered by the complexity of Mr Robbins mind and Ethics. This book is FUN-with traces of philosophy, psychology, absurdity, politics, and even includes a discourse of the personalities of letters of the alphabet! Have fun!

Read this book’s introduction. If this doesn’t compel you to read it, I definitely can’t.

That said, this is not a Tom Robbins novel - and thus cannot and is not to be compared with Robbins’ novels. As happens with almost all collections of essays/short stories etc., some I loved, some I liked, some not so much. Overall, Robbins does not disappoint even in a collection of essays, tributes and critiques. His imagination is fathomless and wild, his love of language unparalleled, and his witty, sarcastic and/or nastily erotic remarks on oh so many different subjects made me smile and sometimes even laugh under my mask while reading on the tube.

Particularly loved the “Lost in Translation”, “Till Lunch do is part”, “What is art and if we know what art is, what is politics?”, “Are you ready for the new urban fragrances?”, “What is the function of metaphor?”, “Are you a realist?”, “Slipper Sipping”, “Kissing”, as well as his tributes to the Doors, Leonard Cohen, Thomas Pynchon and Debra Winger.

DNF at 60%. The descriptive writing of Robbins is still good, but I don't know if it's just his short writings or if his novels would be so strikingly sexist and pretentious if I read them again now. I'm much less likely to after trying to force my way through this book, though.

"Ο σκοπός μας είναι να εξελισσομαστε συνειδητά και σκόπιμα προς μια πιο σοφή, πιο απελευθερωμενη και πιο φωτεινή κατάσταση υπαρξης. Να επιστρέψουμε στην Εδέμ, να συμφιλιωθουμε με το φίδι και να στήσουμε τους υπολογιστές μας ανάμεσα σε άγριες μηλιές. "

Αυτό είναι ένα από τα πολλά αποφθέγματα που περιλαμβάνονται μέσα στο βιβλίο αυτό από αυτον τον τρελό τύπο που δυσκολεύεσαι να τον καταλάβεις, αλλά δε μπορείς να σταματήσεις να τον διαβάζεις.
Νομιζω πως αυτό το βιβλίο είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή εισαγωγή για κάποιον που δεν έχει ξαναδιαβάσει Ρόμπινς. Περιέχει μέσα άρθρα του που δημοσιεύτηκαν σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά, σχετικά με τις άπειρες και εξαιρετικά απίθανες ταξιδιωτικές του εμπειρίες, τα αγαπημένα του καλλιτεχνικά και όχι μόνο πρόσωπα που τον επηρέασαν, ανέκδοτα ποιήματα, ακόμη και μια ιδέα για σενάριο ταινίας!!
Είναι με λίγα λόγια ο, τι πρέπει για να μπει κανείς στην περίεργη ιδιοσυγκρασια του Ρόμπινς και να πάρει μια γεύση από το τι σημαίνει να ζεις στο μυαλό του. Απολαυστικό. 3.5 ⭐

Delightful word-play, as always, but my appreciation of many of these essays/musings/exaltations was hampered by not knowing who or what Robbins wrote about. "Slipper Sipping," "Kissing," and "Write About One of Your Favorite Things" were preferred. Two stories in particular reminded me of friends. Too many good lines bookmarked in this one to bother retyping here.

I do prefer the fiction of Robbins, but it was interesting to see these works. Most were pretty engaging and it was cool to see the range of his intellect outside of his fiction, as well as how his playfulness and insight come to bear on other topics. It shows Robbins to have more complexity than his fiction suggests, and that already suggests a great deal.

To sum up Tom Robbin's mind. In response to the request in the response section to 'write about his favourite thing', Robbins eloquently and humorously explains why the letter Z is the greatest letter in the English language. Pages on the subject are undoubtedly necessarily.

Took me a couple trys to get into this one. The travel writings are pretty far out. But this book makes me laugh out loud every time I pick it up. At this point, I’ve read a lot of the pieces a few times. So many great Tom Robbins nuggets in here.

http://okudumdanoldu.blogspot.be/2013...

Geçen gün Ursula'nın da denemelerini okuduktan sonra Tom Robbins'in denemeleri de çok iyi geldi. İnsan kitaplarını çok sevdiği bir yazarı tanırmış hissine kapılıyor ama aslında her kitapta sadece onun hayal gücünün küçük bir adasında seyahate çıkıyoruz. İş böyle olunca, Tom Robbins'in kafasına hasta bir kişi olarak seyahat yazılarından, beğendiği müzik grupları veya filozoflardan, hayattan sanattan şiirlerinden çok zevk aldım.

Yine de Tom Robbins okumaya başlamak için iyi bir kitap olmadığını düşünüyorum. Adamın kafasının içindekileri merak etmek için önce romanlarının tadına bakmak gerekir. Her ne kadar aynı alaycı ve harika metaforlu cümleleri burada olsa da pek ilgi çekmeyebilir.

60lı yılların altın çocuklarından saydığım Tom Robbins'e başlamak için Parfümün Dansı ve Dur Bir Mola Ver kitaplarını tavsiye ederim. Yazarı baş köşenize konuk ettikten sonra da bu kitabı okuyun derim.

..Pembe, kırmızının ayakkabılarını fırlatıp saçlarını saldığı zaman aldığı renktir..Sayfa40

..Burada geçmişin hapishanesinden kaçma fırsatı var, geleceğin vaatlerine aldırmamak var. Burada sadece burası var. Burada sadece Selous var. Sadece şimdiki zaman var... Selous/Tanzanya Sayfa60

..Ne de olsa asıl önemli kapılar, her iki tarafa da açılanlardır.. The Doors'la ilgili yazısından.. Sayfa65

..İnsanlık, tıpkı bugün yaptığı gibi, mitler ve dini-siyasi fanatizm kavşağında durdukça şiddet potansiyeli iyice yükselir..Sayda71

..Ama gerçek şudur ki bu sebzelerin çoğu, kendilerine bir seks objesi ve üreme fabrikası olarak bakılmasından bıkmış usanmıştır ve kalıplardan sıyrılmaki seyahat edebilmek, başkalarıyla tanışabilmek ve kendileri oldukları için takdir edilmek istemektedirler..Sayfa80