Good books

dirtydingusus · Aug 6, 2011

some other great authors worth looking into....
to see what you like.....
anything by Thoreau
A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
-Henry David Thoreau

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
-Henry David Thoreau

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
-Henry David Thoreau

and........
William S. Burroughs-twisted....
this book...is the most twisted thing i have ever read!!!!!
(hard to find-wont be at the library!)

Naked Lunch (sometimes The Naked Lunch) is a novel by William S. Burroughs originally published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely-connected vignettes. Burroughs stated that the chapters are intended to be read in any order.[1] The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the US to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and the dreamlike Interzone. The vignettes (which Burroughs called "routines") are drawn from Burroughs' own experience in these places, and his addiction to drugs (h****, m*******, and while in Tangier, "Majoun" - a strong marijuana confection - as well as a German opioid, brand name E******, of which he wrote frequently).[2]
The novel was included in Time magazine's "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005".[3] David Cronenberg released a film of the same title based upon the novel and other Burroughs writings in 1991.[4]
Burroughs states in his introduction that Jack Kerouac suggested the title. "The title means exactly what the words say: naked lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork."[8] In a June 1960 letter to Allen Ginsberg, Kerouac said he was pleased that Burroughs had credited him with the title. He states that Ginsberg misread "Naked Lust" from the manuscript, and only he noticed; that section of the manuscript later became Queer, although the phrase does not appear in either of the two final texts of that novel.[9]
[edit] Plot summary

Naked Lunch is a non-linear narrative that is difficult to describe in terms of plot. The following is a summary of some of the events in the book that could be considered the most relevant.

The book begins with the adventures of William Lee (aka Lee the Agent), who is Burroughs' alter ego in the novel. His journey starts in the US where he is fleeing the police, in search of his next fix. There are short chapters here describing the different characters he travels with and meets along the way.

Eventually he gets to Mexico where he is assigned to Dr. Benway; for what, he is not told. Benway appears and he tells about his previous doings in Annexia as a "Total Demoralizator". The story then moves to a state called Freeland - a form of limbo - where we learn of Islam Inc. Here, some new characters are introduced, such as Clem, Carl, and Joselito.

A short section then jumps in space and time to a marketplace. The Black Meat is sold here and compared to "junk", i.e. heroin. The action then moves back to the hospital where Benway is fully revealed as a cruel, manipulative sadist.

Time and space again shifts the narrative to a location known as Interzone. Hassan, one of the notable characters of the book and "a notorious liquefactionist," is throwing a violent orgy. AJ crashes the party and wreaks havoc, decapitating people and imitating a pirate. Hassan is enraged and tells AJ never to return, calling him a "factualist bitch" - a term which is enlarged much later when the apparently "clashing" political factions within Interzone are described. These include the Liquefactionists, the Senders, the Factualists, the Divisionists, who occupy "a midway position". A short descriptive section tells us of Interzone University, where a professor and his students are ridiculed; the book moves on to an orgy that AJ himself throws.

The book then shifts back to the market place and a description of the totalitarian government of Annexia. Characters including the County Clerk, Benway, Dr Berger, Clem and Jody are sketched through heavy dialogue and their own sub-stories.

After the description of the four parties of Interzone, we are then told more stories about AJ. After briefly describing Interzone, the novel breaks down into sub-stories and heavily cut-up influenced passages.

In a sudden return to what seems to be Lee's reality, two police officers, Hauser and O'Brien, catch up with Lee, who kills both of them. Lee then goes out to a street phone booth and calls the Narcotics Squad, saying he wants to speak to O'Brien. A Lieutenant Gonzales on the other end of the line claims there's no one in their records called O'Brien. When Lee asks for Hauser instead, the reply is identical; Lee hangs up, and goes on the run once again. The book then becomes increasingly disjointed and impressionistic, and finally simply stops.
[edit] Literary significance and reception

Naked Lunch is considered Burroughs' seminal work, and one of the landmark publications in the history of American literature. Extremely controversial in both its subject matter and its use of obscene language (something Burroughs recognized and intended), the book was banned in Boston and Los Angeles in the United States,[10][11] and several European publishers were harassed.[12] It was one of the most recent American books over which an obscenity trial was held. The book was banned in Boston in 1962 due to obscenity (notably child murder and acts of pedophilia), but that decision was reversed in 1966 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.[13] The Appeals Court found the book did not violate obscenity statutes, as it was found to have some social value. The hearing included testimony in support of the work by Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer.[14]

Sections of the manuscript were published in the spring, 1958 number of Robert Creeley's Black Mountain Review[15] and in the spring 1958 University of Chicago student-run publication The Chicago Review. The student edition was not well received, and caused the university administration to discuss the future censorship of the Winter 1959 edition of the publication, resulting in the resignation of all but one of the editors.[16] When the editor Paul Carroll published BIG TABLE Magazine (Issue No. 1, Spring 1959)[17] alongside former Chicago Review editor Irving Rosenthal, he was found guilty of sending obscene material through the U.S. mail for including "Ten Episodes from Naked Lunch," a piece of writing the Judicial Officer for the United States Postal Service deemed "undisciplined prose, far more akin to the early work of experimental adolescents than to anything of literary merit" and initially judged it as non-mailable under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1461.[18]

Upon publication, Grove Press added to the book supplementary material regarding the censorship battle as well as an article written by Burroughs on the topic of drug addiction. In 2002, a "restored text" edition of Naked Lunch was published with some new and previously suppressed material added.

On a more specific level, Naked Lunch also protests the death penalty. In Burroughs' "Deposition: A Testimony Concerning A Sickness," "The Blue Movies" (appearing in the vignette "A.J.'s Annual Party"), is deemed "a tract against capital punishment."
Click to expand...

Meursault · Aug 6, 2011

ryeseisi · Aug 7, 2011

Another second for The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. You're into meditation and spirituality and math all in one, this book is perfect for you. Even if you don't buy the stories, this book is FILLED with "sacred geometry," with the idea that everything that ever has and ever will exist is created from and based on sacred shapes. What's even more interesting is everything discussed in the book regarding sacred geometry you can practice yourself with nothing more than a ruler, a compass, a pencil and some paper, and you can discover things about nature and the universe you never knew. Promise!

thabosshogg · Aug 7, 2011

dirtydingusus said:

you will not be disappointed!
this story is bigger and better then anything you have read....(probably..ok maybe)
but the worlds this guy creates......

he has a way of creating universes where people have followed both science and magic.....and have come just as far with both....
futuristic technology .....and magic ....blended seamlessly.....
Click to expand...

Now I know what book series I will read next. That sounds fascinating.

dirtydingusus · Aug 7, 2011

thabosshogg said:

Now I know what book series I will read next. That sounds fascinating.
Click to expand...

really is......
i have read that series thru several times

its one you can pick up every few years and is like visiting old friends....

Sam_Spade · Aug 7, 2011

TheJourney · Aug 9, 2011

I could also go Terrence McKenna and learn about plants, with something of a shamanic outlook

trapavelli · Aug 11, 2011

close encounters of the fourht kind

art of war
chariots of the god
atlas
my bloody life
once a kind alwayws a king
hard corps

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dirtydingusus RIP Old School

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dirtydingusus RIP Old School

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TheJourney I am ALL

trapavelli Brad Piff

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dirtydingusus RIP
Old School

dirtydingusus RIP
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