- Some of my personal favorites:
- Earthly Powers, by Anthony Burgess
- my favorite author, is a study of the evil in good and the good in evil, constructed over the framework of a symphonic structure.
- Desolation Angels, by Jack Kerouac,
- is a surprisingly sweet journey by the Taoist-Buddhist duo (see home page reference) within the protagonist come to earth from his heaven, a fire lookout in the Northwest.
- A Course in Miracles, by the Foundation for Inner Peace,
- is a book that saved my life by focusing my energy on one source and one source only, after seeking in many (if you've toured my web pages, you see how hard that was to do). If you throw aside not only your scepticism but also your expectations and do each daily meditation, building your mental muscle over the course of a year (you don't have to stop there), you will see true miracles unfold. It's a "learn-by-doing course and no words can convey how miracles unfold--it's the ultimate "spirits-on" activity.
- The Alexandria Quartet,by Lawrence Durrell is probably the book that turned me on to literature.
- After several false starts with Justine, I finally became wrapped up in the colors and sensual descriptions and was carried through the confusing narrative on just the feel of the words, to discover that the next three books told the story from three other points of view and, as such, were narrated quite differently. "Pederasty is one thing; hashish quite another," has stuck with me all these years from Balthazar, which goes with a healthy humor into the raucously seedy side of Alexandria and the British expatriates and civil servants that frequent it.
- The Long Day Wanes, a Malayan Trilogy,
- Anthony Burgess offers one of the funniest books ever written, a trilogy which traces the British and Malaysian population's shift of power from the last of British Colonialism, through the guerilla years of the 1950's, and last, to the coming of the Americans: an archetypal pattern for independence from the colonial yoke and for the literature that surrounds it.
- Other books that deal with British Colonialism and its aftermath, or "the era of Toffs and Tweeds," in lively ways are the books in Paul Scott's
- Raj Quartet, followed by his
- Staying On, a study of the colonials that came later in search of the colonial way of life and stayed on.
- The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize novel, also deals with colonials in India, here barricaded at one posting during the sepoy mutiny of 1857. This is a beautifully constructed short novel that deals with the siege colorfully, with humor, and with introspection. $10.36 (to be published soon--not yet available)
- Anthony Burgess is always good for a good laugh.
- I still laugh to tears every time I recall the passage about making Stepmother Tea in the Enderby Trilogy, or The Complete Enderby and whenever I need cheering up, I have a cuppa Stepmother Tea. I'll leave it to you to discover the recipe. He's also the only recognized author I know of that not only knows but makes reference to the lyrics to "The Good Ship Venus" and "Balls to Mr. Banglestein...." These are the benefits of a good British education.
- The Doctor is Sick
- is a wonderfully hallucinatory book. See my review under the catalog listing.
- The Right to an Answer
- is Burgess' return home after living in Malaysia, where he befriends an expatriate Indian in England who is perhaps more British than he. Returning home, after living abroad, truly is like "having a good sandwich in each hand and not knowing which to take a bite of."
- A Vision of Battlements
- deals with post-traumatic stress syndrome, but I can't remember exactly how--it takes place in Europe.
- Burgess' two-volume autobiography, beginning with
- Little Wilson and Big God covers his youth and years in Asia, while the second volume, You've Had Your Time, deals with his return to and flight from England after that. After reading many of his books, I became curious about what kind of a man this could be, so brilliant and so prolific, and so accomplished in bars and ordinary people.
- Anthony Burgess was, excuse me, I just have to say it, a truly cunning linguist, and wrote many
- books about the English language, as well as the dialogue for 1 Million B.C. Grunts and snorts, but grunts and snorts researched in chronological retrospect; from his vast knowledge of present-day languages, he traced language backward to its beginning sounds, much like he took modern-day Liverpool slang and projected it into the future for the speech in A Clockwork Orange (his admittedly worst and regrettably best-known book). As a linguist, he produced a lively analysis of language in A Mouthful of Air.
- Related to the "Toffs and Tweeds" satirical theme are several books revolving around Academe:
- The Groves of Academe, by Mary McCarthy, $10.36
- Real People, by Alison Lurie (unavailable at present)
- Imaginary Friends, by Alison Lurie (unavailable at present)
- Another of my favorite writers, as you may have guessed by this point, would have to be Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
- Hunter S. Thompson
- The Proud Highway (new) hardcover $17.97
- The Curse of Lono
- Classic Thompson: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream $8.80
- Classic Thompson: The Great Shark Hunt $6.39
- The Curse of Lono
- By association, the Doonesbury Books are all favorites as well: Uncle Duke is my alter-ego (one of them).
- Books I want to read: Anybody want to read one with me?
- Ali's McArchives (ART!)
Ali Baba's Expanded Bookshop Alison McMahon, artist extraordinaire Ali Baba's Books for ESL and Developing Readers Mrs. Johnson's Launch Pad Mrs. Johnson's Hot Links (ESL and Reading)
Send E-Mail to: elitism98@hotmail.com
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