The book dialog game

[HomeInMyShoes]

Okay, I've got our next book.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

October lies on the Skagit like a wet rag on a salad. Trapped beneath low clouds, the valley is damp and green and full of sad memories. The people of the valley have far less to be unhappy about than many who live elsewhere in America, but, still the aboriginal sadness clings like the dew to their region; their land has a blurry beauty (as if the Creator started to erase it but had second thoughts), it has dignity, fertility and hints of inner meaning -- but nothing can seem to make it laugh.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Looking back over the quotes, I would still have missed it. The Complete and Utter ‘My Word’ Collection—sounds like a massive tome. Does it include every word of every transcript of the show?

No, it's just a compilation of the previous collections of anecdotes. About 400 pages in hardback.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Another quote. Either I've killed this thread or everyone has me on their ignore list.

And I'll put this in a spoiler tag, not because it's too obvious, but it may be offensive to some of religious faith.

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

Jesus was sitting on a rock in the desert, meditating and reading the Law, when Tarzan came riding up on a goat. Tarzan was munching nutmeg seeds and playing the harmonica. "Hi, Jesus," he yelled.

Jesus jumped like he was stung by a scorpion. "You startled me," he stammered. "I thought at first you were Pan."

Tarzan chuckled. "I can understand why that put you uptight. When you were born, the cry went through the wor1d, 'Great Pan is dead.' But as you can plainly see, I'm hairy all over like an ape. Pan was a shaggy beast from the waist down. Above his belly button he was a lot like you."

A shudder vibrated Jesus' emaciated frame. "Like me?" he asked. "No, you must be mistaken. Say, what's that you're eating?"

"Nutmeg seeds," said Tarzan, grinning. "Here, I'll lay some on you."

"Oh, no thanks," said Jesus. "I'm fasting." Saliva welled up in his mouth. He pressed his lips together forcefully, but one solitary trickle broke over the flaky pink dam and dripped in an artless pattern into his beard. "Besides, nutmeg seeds; aren't they a narcotic?"

"Well, they'll make you high, if that's what you mean. Why else do think I'm gumming them when I've got dates, doves and a crock of lamb stew in my saddle bag? If you ask me, you could use a little something to get you off."

[poohbear_nc]

Bizarre! Something by Elmore Leonard?

Might be too modern for us fogies!

[orlok]

A couple more clues before the reveal, please .

[HomeInMyShoes]

It's not that recent, which will be the first hint, it was published in 1971. As well, the author has been called both "a vital natural resource" and "the most dangerous writer in the world today" by reviewers at some point.

And a few more quotes, then you will have to rely on your own devices a bit while I dig up more clues.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

You risked your life, but what else have you ever risked? Have you risked disapproval? Have you ever risked economic security? Have you ever risked a belief? I see nothing particularly courageous about risking one's life. So you lose it, you go to your hero's heaven and everything is milk and honey 'til the end of time. Right? You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences. That's not courage. Real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one's clichés.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

Amnesia is not knowing who one is and wanting desperately to find out. Euphoria is not knowing who one is and not caring. Ecstasy is knowing exactly who one is - and still not caring.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

There were no mail-order catalogues in 1492. Marco Polo's journal was the wish book of Renaissance Europe. Then, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed in Sears' basement. Despite all the Indians on the escalator, Columbus' visit came to be known as a "discovery."

[orlok]

Allen Ginsberg? Wouldn't know what book, though.

[steven522]

Is this a collection of essays from a comedian? George Carlin?

[HomeInMyShoes]

As disjointed as the quotations might seem, it is not a collection. It is a single novel and it's not Ginsberg, although they are American.

A final hint and then I'll put you out of your misery.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

The only authority I respect is the one that causes butterflies to fly south in fall and north in springtime.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBook

Hardly a pure science, history is closer to animal husbandry than it is to mathematics in that it involves selective breeding. The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future, the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Yikes, so little love of the seriocomics.

Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. I thought Poohbear_NC might have gotten this one since Mr. Robbins was born in his home state.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Yikes, so little love of the seriocomics.

Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. I thought Poohbear_NC might have gotten this one since Mr. Robbins was born in his home state.

Unfortunately I read very little contemporary "comic" literature - I find most of it not funny at all ... much prefer the "vintage" humor of Wodehouse, etc.

[orlok]

Not read any Tom Robbins yet, though I do have Villa Incognito sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I just find it so hard to go back to paper these days...

And poohbear, I just realised our lunch (pre-cooked from the supermarket) looked just like your avatar. Yummy.

[HomeInMyShoes]

@poohbear_nc: I wouldn't read Tom Robbins for humour. I'd read him for some smiles and social commentary.

I've read Another Roadside Attraction and Skinny Legs and All. I'm surprised I haven't read more from Robbins because ART was very entertaining. I've pur Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas on next year's required reading list.

So who's the next contestant on Obscure Literature that No One Can Guess?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

So who's the next contestant on Obscure Literature that No One Can Guess?

I believe it is written that he who set the unanswerable question is doomed to set the next ().

[HomeInMyShoes]

Son of a .... I mean, hey hey hey, okay let's see...

Next up.

Originally Posted by GuessTheBookTake2

“I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.”