Mods, I still don’t quite get the whole IMHO thingie, if this thread should be moved there, then so be it.
So, I just heard yesterday that Tom Robbins released a new book on May 2nd, called “Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates”. Anybody out there read it? Or plan to?
And your favorite Robbins book? I’ve still gotta go with “Skinny Legs and All”.
Hell, even you hate Robbins and think his tangents are less entertaining than watching paint dry, then sound off here.
“Another Roadside Attraction” was the only one I ever read by Robbins. It was recommended by a girl who I was attempting to get into bed, so like any red blooded American, I put it at the top of my “to do” list.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, but never picked up another of his novels. Maybe it was because we got together, then she dumped me 5 months later after I had fallen in love with her.
Psychological associations are a bitch…
I love everything he’s written. I discovered Another Roadside Attraction by accident years ago at a used paperback bookstore–for some reason I thought it was sci-fi. Took it home and fell in love. “Who IS this guy?”
Thanks for tipping me that he’s got another one coming out. I’ll keep my eyes open.
P.S. The tangents are the best part. But then, I’ve been known to sit down and watch paint dry, too.
STINKY, STINKY, STINKY!
I read it two days after it was released. Stank even worse than Frog Pajamas. Poor Toms in a real slump.
What didn’t you like about it, inky?
still life with woodpecker was/is one of my all-time favorites. from it, i developed a life-long addiction to all redheads!
also, i can’t hear “uh-oh, spaghetti-o” without thinking of queen tillie and her stupid little dog.
I loved Jitterbug Perfume which was my first. Very clever, and yes, I love the tangents.
I didn’t love Still Life, however. I do relate to the addiction to redheads though. I liked the beginning and the end, but there was a good 100 pages or so, you know, when she was identifying intensly with the camel box, where nothing happened and I was just bored outta my mind trying to get through them. I might have preferred watching paint dry.
I’ve only read those 2, but I love his style and sense of humor. I own Skinny Legs, and Even Cowgirls and will probably read them eventually.
I loved Jitterbug Perfume, too … and then tried Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and for some reason, couldn’t get into it. But Jitterbug is one of the cleverest, most entertaining books I’ve ever read.
Similar, but different author (which I can’t recall) is a book called The Journeyer. (Oh, just remembered: Gary Jennings is the author.) I tried to buy it for a friend and discovered it’s out of print. The storyline is that it’s the “true” adventures of Marco Polo, and it’s one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
Jitterbug Perfume rocks the casbah! It’s just so damn clever. I really like how Tom researches the hell out of a topic, like perfume or thumbs or whatever, before he writes about it. Makes the books just freakin’ fascinating.
HUGE fan here. Read Another Roadside Attraction when I was in college- around 1978. Been hooked ever since.
Read 'em all. Don’t really have a favorite because I’ve liked them all, but if I had to pick one it would probably be Still Life With Woodpecker.
I ordered the new one two days ago, but it hasn’t gotten here yet.
I like Robbins a lot, but haven’t read him in years (can’t find the books anywhere). Skinny Legs and Jitterbug Perfume are my faves.
I’ve read all of it, loved ‘Jitterbug Perfume’ the most.
Thought ‘…Frog Pyjamas’ bit.
First read ‘Even Cowgirls Get The Blues’ because I continually saw it in the hands of such a diverse selection of people. I had travelled from one culture to another 10,000 miles away and still kept seeing it turn up in unlikely spots. It intrigued me. Then I read it, then I read everything he wrote.
I still recomend it to people to read.
Jitterbug Perfume and Still Life with Woodpecker both hold honored places in my scant collection of hardbacks.
I’ll add his latest to my “to read” list.
Hey wait, I’m current on my list - It’ll be the next book I read!
(After I finish Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha”)
I love Tom Robbins! My favorites are “Another Roadside Attraction” and “Jitterbug Perfume”, although I enjoy everything he’s written. In fiction, as well as life, the plot doesn’t matter to me as much as the sweet nothings.
Tom’s forte is an enveloping love of women. I adore him on that alone, but he can really turn a phrase! I use his term “peachfish” as the best poetic for twat. In “Even Cowgirls…” he gets the gist of gal strenghth, and I’ve never seen that in another male writer.
He really polishes his words. I admire that, and always regret finishing a book by him, cause now that I’m caught up, and know it’ll be a few years to the next one.
His word polishing is one reason his stories will never translate onto film. Even with the succulent Uma Thurman. Damn!