Replay Value
Oct. 18th, 2004 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcepsaFirst, to wrap up the weekend with Dad, first we had lunch/breakfast at a place in Chinatown (don't remember the name but it's got the Mongolian barbecue downstairs and Chinese upstairs--we got Chinese) then we went to some of the Smithsonian museums (Art, and Air and Space) and then headed over to Maggiano's Little Italy in Friendship Heights for supper but didn't really feel like waiting an hour to get served so we went a few blocks down and randomly decided to try a place called Chadwick's. Really good nachos, and an awesome bread pudding dessert. Then came back, watched Hackers and hit the sack. Got him off to the airport no problem on Sunday, and he's back in Rochester. It was awesome. ^_^
Now, onto what I really wanted to write about!
I've recently started re-reading Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. Just so there's no confusion from the beginning, I love the way this book is written. The story is fun, too, but the way it is written is why I'm still loving it the second time around. To give you an idea, the first line of the book is, "If this typewriter can't do it, then fuck it, it can't be done."
Here's another example:
"Cleanliness is next to godliness" was one slogan to which Leigh-Cheri could faithfully subscribe--not stopping to consider that if by the last quarter of the twentieth century godliness wasn't next to something more interesting than cleanliness, it might be time to reevaluate our notions of godliness.
He goes off on these little tangents like that--it's great! Plus he manages to be both cynical and jaded and yet at the same time still convey some sort of belief in dreams and love and the power of the moon and other things that most "grownup, normal" people write off as silly, hopeless romanticism. This, of course, is a real pain in the ass for people who want to be jaded and cynical about everything without allowing for the possibility that there might still be some magic lurking in the dark, hidden corners of the world, carefully stored in an abandoned chest in an attic or tiptoeing softly around a fairy ring of toadstools in a deep forest... But to me it's a refreshing sea-spray, rinsing away the grime and dust of a thousand long, dry documents whose writers labored under the weight of the words they wrote instead of flinging their text joyfully as carefully aimed paint projectiles onto the canvas of their pages for the sheer pleasure of admiring their marksmanship. Go read it now! Go! But wear old clothes--you're likely to get ink splashed on you ^_^
Now, onto what I really wanted to write about!
I've recently started re-reading Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. Just so there's no confusion from the beginning, I love the way this book is written. The story is fun, too, but the way it is written is why I'm still loving it the second time around. To give you an idea, the first line of the book is, "If this typewriter can't do it, then fuck it, it can't be done."
Here's another example:
"Cleanliness is next to godliness" was one slogan to which Leigh-Cheri could faithfully subscribe--not stopping to consider that if by the last quarter of the twentieth century godliness wasn't next to something more interesting than cleanliness, it might be time to reevaluate our notions of godliness.
He goes off on these little tangents like that--it's great! Plus he manages to be both cynical and jaded and yet at the same time still convey some sort of belief in dreams and love and the power of the moon and other things that most "grownup, normal" people write off as silly, hopeless romanticism. This, of course, is a real pain in the ass for people who want to be jaded and cynical about everything without allowing for the possibility that there might still be some magic lurking in the dark, hidden corners of the world, carefully stored in an abandoned chest in an attic or tiptoeing softly around a fairy ring of toadstools in a deep forest... But to me it's a refreshing sea-spray, rinsing away the grime and dust of a thousand long, dry documents whose writers labored under the weight of the words they wrote instead of flinging their text joyfully as carefully aimed paint projectiles onto the canvas of their pages for the sheer pleasure of admiring their marksmanship. Go read it now! Go! But wear old clothes--you're likely to get ink splashed on you ^_^
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Date: 2004-10-18 06:49 pm (UTC)"Could the cheerios be in bad voice? Might not they handle well on curves? Do they ejaculate too quickly? Has age affected their timing or are they merely in a mid-season slump?"
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Date: 2004-10-18 07:01 pm (UTC)Also, awesome quotation! ^_^ Do you have any suggestions for what to follow up Still Life with? I'm kind of in a slump myself with books right now; looking to find some new material to feast on :p~
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Date: 2004-10-18 08:05 pm (UTC)Its my mission to find good dumplings in Chinatown...I've tried like 5 places so far and I can't find just what I like yet... Sad when you have to go to the suburbs to get what you want!
As to books...after I read still life with woodpecker I read skinny legs and all...
I'm also on a book mission...
I asked friends a while ago for a light read - i'll see if i can find it and let you know where it is in my journal...but most of it was really light...
When reading robbins I was also reading john irving...