The Next Book: Another Roadside Attraction, by Tom Robbins

Our next book: Another Roadside Attraction, by Tom Robbins (1971)

Friends and fans of the written word, I have no shame in admitting that I was the first to reply to the e-mail sent by our mutual acquaintence, Mr. Schwartz. I watched as my 'Inbox' text grew bold, and the number 1 appeared in parentheses. "I must reply NOW!" I thought to myself. Hesitation is a distant stranger to my demeanor; I did not read the e-mail and it's invitation to contest. I simply replied to it with the same message that I reply to all my e-mails with: "I win!". Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had won. Who'd of thought? Usually I get a reply from the Nigerian National Bank asking for my checking account and routing number. This time I got a reply asking for a book suggestion. Oh shit!

So, without further ado, I give you our next book: Another Roadside Attraction, by Tom Robbins. I should confess that I'm not nearly as responsible as some of you who have already suggested books. I haven't even read this book, nor have I done much background research on it. Furthermore, I only read the first 50 pages of the last Tom Robbins book that I attempted to read. So why choose "un-tested", and potentially inappropriate material? I offer two reasons in my defense:

First is comedy on a number of levels. On the surface, I simply wanted a fun, light-hearted text. I thought we could relax a little bit after the strange journies of Kafka, the constant threat of zombies and the death of Ultima. I was searching through the works of Mark Twain to satisfy this need, and was trying to choose between two pieces: Roughing It and Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Either of those would have made for an incredible literary experience, but they would require a lot of reading. I'm not referring solely to page number here, or to verbose, run-on sentences like the ones that I'm writing right now. Twain was brilliantly funny, but his humor was often subtle, indirect, and required re-reading paragraphs. It's what I like to refer to as the "Wait, what the fuck?" reaction. So, in lieu of Twain, I have chosen Robbins. I was glancing at the cover to Another Roadside and noticed a comment comparing Tom to Mark Twain. How perfect!  A shorter, and perhaps zanier experience awaits us. Some might call it trippy. 

The second part of my rationale is a love for non-linear plot lines. Some of the books that have been chosen thus far have shown hints of this style of plot. Moving from one scenario to the next, but not in any particular order, and often dissolving into a dream, or out of context altogether. I've taken this as a sign that our little club might want some more. Therefore, in serious danger of over-doing the "crazy plot" scheme, we will read Another Roadside Attraction. 

I wish I could end this note with another, smaller note like "This book changed my life, and I'm certain it will change yours". Unfortunately I can't. This book might even ruin your life. Remember two paragraphs ago, when I gave my first reason for choosing the book as "comedy on a number of levels"? If you read carefully, you noticed that I only cited the "surface" level. The underlying level of "funny" is that we're all in the same boat, and we don't know what to expect. Seriously though, I am so excited to re-read this book; I absolutely love it and I know you will too!

- Robbie

Blood Meridian: Not a typical novel, but very worthwhile

Hello friendly bloggers/followers!

     I have noticed some contention surrounding the not-so-affable writing style of Cormac McCarthy and the chosen novel, Blood Meridian.  I must say, after finishing Bless Me, Última, I immediately began the new novel because, well, I ain't got too much time to read during finals.  Now, it could be my cowboy heritage, or my love of historical-fictional, but this motha fuckin book kicks ass.  It is most definitely violent.  Get over it, life is violent.  But the descriptions and the characters and plot are !!  Great.  

     I would also like to share what I believe many of us have picked up on with our readings: the connections between novels!

1. Kafka on the Shore: Takes place in Japan, main character is from Tokyo.

2. World War Z: This may seem a superficial connection, but my two favorite characters (aside from the dog trainers) Tomonaga Ijiro & Kondo Tatsumi were Japanese badasses!  With their katanas and whatnot, shee-it. 

     Also, Z had many locations, one such as the frontiers of New Mexico, crossed by the living and the living dead...

3. Bless Me, Última takes place with dear Antonio cerca del Llano (which is the border of Texas and New Mexico along the Llano River) and throughout New Mexico.

4. Blood Meridian begins in Tennessee but ends up taking place for the majority along the US/Mexico border, right near where our little Tony lived!  His dad is probably a descendant of some of these psychos.  Also, one of the prisoners in Chihuahua City tells, "I know of one old boy up on the Llano near the Dutch settlements, the caught him, took his horse..." (p.77)

Again, it may be a bit superficial, but I can't help but enjoy the connections.  Thanks to all who have chosen, and I look forward to our discussion this weekend and for our new book!

-----Much Love from Oakland, CA 

-----Obi-Wan Kenobi aka the Dan from Durango

Authors

I have decided that if you have selected a book, you can now post on the blog. SHAZAM

and he said, "Let it be so"

Blood Meridian

I chose this book, because it is about the Southwest, which is better than the other -Wests and the Easts, and the other Souths, even the dirty South. Yes, its even better than the dirty south.

I wanted to read something by Cormac Mccarthy, this guy got a fucking genius grant to write this. Its probably violent, I know. But hopefully not too bad. Also, it has an amazing title. I love you.

MAYbe

That is kind of a pun, you know MAY is coming up, and I put MAYbe. you get it.

Lets see, business as usual, after a delightful April and terrifying March, we are finally moving into our FOURTH book. Wow, thats maturity, thats beauty. We need to schedule discussions, if we have one about this book how does APril 25th sound? Send me some emails for a time. Or I will harass you about it. So we will talk about stuff and enjoy our time doing so, I look forward to these type of things.

The Onion A.V. Club decided to fuck us, and start a Book Club of their own, fucking copiers. Anyway, they are reading a book called Geek Love, sounds pretty good. But we ain's readin it. NO no no, unless you want to on your own time. We are reading whatever the fuck I want you to read, because I won the gosh darn voting, that 4 1/2 people participated in! What is this, NAU student senate elections! I should say that people do read the books, and we talk, a few of us do, but man you are one apathetic bunch. I don't mean to get all billy bob thorton on you but lets see a little action, a little involvement. Comment on these stupid blogs, write a blog post, send me naked pictures, I don't care. I'll photoshop them.

So, my book choice this month for the Month starting April 20th (4/20, I know robbie won't be starting any books on that day) and ending MAY 20th will be:

Blood Meridian
or an Evening Redness in the West

by Cormac McCarthy

I will write up a blurb, quickly


with it,

Andrew

Hoping you're still alive

I know those of us now informed are keeping one eye open, and practicing our melee ability. But for those who decided to skip this last month's read please I implore you to check this book out. If not for your enjoyment, than for your health.

1. Look out for signs of weird diseases and government coverups
2. Practice your physcial skills
3. Know your surroundings and have an escape route.
4. Remember, Axes don't need to reload

Moving along, I was hoping we could coordinate a meetup this weekend, please call me and lets talk about this book. I am also going to announce the Next Book!! This one was picked out by one of my favorite best friends Alison K. Philips.
The Book is called, "BLESS ME, ULTIMA" by Rudolfo Anaya


Please enjoy. This book is a bit shorter than some of the others we have read, Sooooo I am thinking, please be done by April 10th instead of the 20th. Then we can start another one earlier. We should all have pleeenty of time during this joyous spring break.

Expect an update, soon!!

With it,

Andrew

Only the strong survive

Readers,

Hope everyone is almost done. And we can get on with discussing this wild-ride that was, "Kafka on the Shore"
When we are done, I hope some can attend the discussion. But I think we should change one of the days. Feel free to make suggestions, but I think we will still have the discussion on SUNDAY the 22nd, but now, instead of Saturday it will be on Thursday instead. PLEASE email me and we can come to a consensus on the days. How is 6 to 8 pm on Thursday and 4 to 6pm on Saturday. These are both Pacific time. So call someone and tell them to get on the Skype or the Gmail or the phone or whatever and Talk about this god forsaken book. Speaking of God Forsaken. The next book seems to be just that.





HERE IS CORINNE'S little BLURB on WORLD WAR Z

World War Z - An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks

So I have never read this book before, nor much science fiction for that matter. I'm loving Kafka on the Shore so much that I realize its a hard act to follow. Upon discussing my book chooser of the month role with a friend, she recommended this as a great book for a book club and listing off all of our mutual friends that are also now obsessed. None of these folks are your typical science fiction aficionados, so I take her word that its worth the read.

From my understanding the story is told through interviews looking back at the post apocalyptic world where Patient Zero came in and nearly wiped out humanity. Zombies took over and the war for survival raged. Max Brooks writes in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?" I think the general them speaks to fear of the "other," the enemy, among other relevant metaphors of the time.

This is a link to the publisher's description, which I like the best of those that I've read so far.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307346605


I think we all have something to look forward to...

I know you can get this on Amazon for eight books and some library is likely to have it. So get on it! Also, this is a great month to get more people on who didn't read last month. Talk to you soon....

Andrew