Tom Robbins

Jitterbug Perfumeis an epic.Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight (Paris time).It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle.The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god.If the liquid in the bottle actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.

Still Life with Woodpecker is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals andoutlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals withthe problem of redheads. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

Starring Sissy Hanshaw--flawlessly beautiful, almost. A small-town girl with big-time dreams and a quirk to match--hitchhiking her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bags...Featuring Bonanza Jellybean and the smooth-riding cowgirls of Rubber Rose Ranch. Chink, lascivious guru of yams and yang. Julian, Mohawk by birth; asthmatic esthete and husband by disposition. Dr. Robbins, preventive psychiatrist and reality instructor...Follow Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax..."This is one of those special novels--a piece of working magic, warm, funny, and san--that you just want to ride off into the sunset with."--Thomas Pynchon"The best fiction, so far, to come out of the American counterculture."-- "Chicago Tribune Book World"

An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations... It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around which spins this gutsy, fun-loving and alarmingly provocative novel, widely acclaimed as among Robbins's very best. As a dessert spoon mystifies, a waitress takes

What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if "the corpse" on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is - what does that portend for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment, and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tell us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hot dog and eroding the borders of the mind.

“As clever and witty a novel as anyone has written in a long time . . . Robbins takes readers on a wild, delightful ride. . . . A delight from beginning to end.”— Buffalo NewsSwitters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government; a pacifist who carries a gun; a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy; a cyberwhiz who hates computers; a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior). Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn’t merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol. And as we dog Switters’s strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, discovering in the process the “true” Third Secret of Fatima, we experience Tom Robbins—that fearless storyteller, spiritual renegade, and verbal break dancer—at the top of his game. On one level this is a fast-paced CIA adventure story with comic overtones; on another it’s a serious novel of ideas that brings the Big Picture into unexpected focus; but perhaps more than anything else, Fierce Invalids is a sexy celebration of language and life.Praise for Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates“Superb.” — New York Post “Dangerous? Wicked? Forbidden? You bet. . . . Pour yourself a bowl of chips and dig in.” — Daily News , New York “Robbins is a great writer . . . and definitely a provocative rascal.” — The Tennessean“Whoever said truth is stranger than fiction never read a Tom Robbins novel. . . Clever, creative, and witty, Robbins tosses off impassioned observations like handfuls of flower petals.” — San Diego Union-Tribune

A paperback original, which describes a bizarre weekend through the eyes of a young broker who has just experienced a stockmarket crash. From the author of EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES.

Imagine there are American MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War. Imagine a family in which four generations of strong, alluring women share a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure from Japanese folklore. Imagine them part of a novel that only Tom Robbins could create? A magically crafted work as timeless as myth yet as topical as the latest international threat. But no matter how hard you try, you'll never imagine what you'll find inside the Villa Incognito: a tilt-a-whirl of identity, masquerade, and disguise that dares to pull off "the false mustache of the world" and reveal the even greater mystery underneath. For neither the mists of Laos nor the Bangkok smog, neither the overcast of Seattle nor the fog of San Francisco, neither the murk of the intelligence community nor the mummery of the circus can obscure the pure linguistic phosphor that illuminates every page of one of America's most consistently surprising and inventive writers.

Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins's long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globeTom Robbins's warm, wise, and wonderfully weird novels–including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, and Jitterbug Perfume–provide an entryway into the frontier of his singular imagination. Madcap but sincere, pulsating with strong social and philosophical undercurrents, his irreverent classics have introduced countless readers to hitchhiking cowgirls, born-again monkeys, a philosophizing can of beans, exiled royalty, and problematic redheads.In Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins turns that unparalleled literary sensibility inward, weaving together stories of his unconventional life–from his Appalachian childhood to his globe-trotting adventures–told in his unique voice, which combines the sweet and sly, the spiritual and earthy. The grandchild of Baptist preachers, Robbins would become, over the course of half a century, a poet interruptus, a soldier, a meteorologist, a radio DJ, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counterculture hero, leading a life as unlikely, magical, and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters.Robbins offers intimate snapshots of Appalachia during the Great Depression, the West Coast during the sixties' psychedelic revolution, international roving before Homeland Security monitored our travels, and New York publishing when it still relied on trees.Written with the big-hearted comedy and mesmerizing linguistic invention for which Robbins is known, Tibetan Peach Pie is an invitation into the private world of a literary legend.

Known for his meaty seriocomic novels, Tom Robbins’s shorter work has appeared in publications ranging from Esquire to Harper’s , from Playboy to the New York Times . Collected here for the first time in paperback, the essays, articles, observations—and even some untypical country-music lyrics—offer a rare overview of the eclectic sensibility of an American original.Whether rocking with the Doors, depoliticizing Picasso’s Guernica, lamenting the angst-ridden state of contemporary literature, or drooling over tomato sandwiches and a species of womanhood he calls “the genius waitress,” Tom Robbins’s briefer writings exhibit the five traits that perhaps best characterize his an imaginative wit, a cheerfully brash disregard for convention, a sweetly nasty eroticism, a mystical but keenly observant eye, and an irrepressible love of language. Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are brand-new short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an offbeat assessment of our divided nation. Wherever you open Wild Ducks Flying Backward , you’ll encounter the serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.”

A Children's Book About Beer? Yes, believe it or not—but B Is for Beer is also a book for adults, and bear in mind that it's the work of maverick bestselling novelist Tom Robbins, inter-nationally known for his ability to both seriously illuminate and comically entertain. Once upon a time (right about now) there was a planet (how about this one?) whose inhabitants consumed thirty-six billion gallons of beer each year (it's a fact, you can Google it). Among those affected, each in his or her own way, by all the bubbles, burps, and foam, was a smart, wide-eyed, adventurous kindergartner named Gracie; her distracted mommy; her insensitive dad; her non-conformist uncle; and a magical, butt-kicking intruder from a world within our world. Populated by the aforementioned characters—and as charming as it may be subversive—B Is for Beer involves readers, young and old, in a surprising, far-reaching investigation into the limits of reality, the transformative powers of children, and, of course, the ultimate meaning of a tall, cold brewski.

Presents a collection of three novels--"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," "Jitterbug Perfurme," and "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas."

Unusual book

Tom Robbins, gioiosa voce pagana: nelle sue pagine infarcite di bizzarrie troviamo inni alla Grande Dea, devozione per l’oggettistica, per le cameriere e per i fuorilegge (preferibilmente coi capelli rossi), indulgenza per le sostanze psicoattive e un persistente piacevole aroma di monellerie alla Tom Sawyer. Niente psico-patici, frustrazioni sessuali, disperazione e violenze assortite, ma un’ostinata voglia di percorrere «the sunny side of the street».

Night Lights is a collection of 22 shorts stories from some of the most accomplished Northwest Writers. Each year authors such as Tom Robbins, Karen Fisher and August Wilson create an original short story for Humanities Washington's annual fundraiser, Bedtime Stories. This volume represents the first printing of many of these stories for everyone to enjoy.

Dieses Buch – der zweite Roman des amerikanischen Kultautors Tom Robbins – offenbart den Widerspruch zwischen sozialem Engagement und individueller Romantik, die Frage nach dem Zweck des Mondes, den Unterschied zwischen einem «Outlaw» und einem Allerweltsbanditen, das Problem der Liebe am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Dass es bei all dem auch um das Problem der Rothaarigen geht, sollte hier nicht vorenthalten werden.

Sissy Hankshaw, dotée de deux pouces immenses, devient la plus grande auto-stoppeuse des Etats-Unis. Elle quitte ainsi Richmond pour partir à la découverte de nouveaux horizons, multipliant les rencontres étonnantes.--[Memento].

Dotée à sa naissance des deux plus longs pouces du monde, Sissy Hankshaw décide de devenir la plus grande autostoppeuse des États-Unis.Partant ainsi à l'aventure, Sissy fera une série de rencontres étonnantes qui transformeront sa vie : la Comtesse, magnats des déodorants intimes ; Julian Gitche, l'Indien qui sera un temps son mari ; le docteur Robbins, psychiatre farfelu. Et surtout les cow-girls du ranch de la Rose de Caoutchouc qui revendiquent l'égalité avec les hommes sous la conduite de la belle et sauvage Bonanza Jellybean.Dans ce roman drôle et excentrique, Tom Robbins bouscule allègrement les conventions morales et littéraires. De ce chef-d'œuvre de la contre-culture, rien ni personne ne sortira indemne.

This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection

Fausse gitane mais vraie voyante, la belle Amanda et son mari John Paul Ziller, artiste et magicien inséparable de son babouin, ouvrent un zoo et un stand de hot-dogs au bord de l'autoroute. Là, ils rétablissent le cirque de puces comme art populaire et le culte de la fécondité comme religion ultime.Quand débarque leur ami Plucky Purcell, ancien joueur de football et dealer à ses heures, les ennuis commencent.Ayant par accident infiltré une armée secrète du Vatican, Plucky s'est retrouvé à Rome où il a découvert le corps momifié du Christ oublié dans une catacombe. Après l'avoir dérobé et ramené aux États-Unis, il vient le cacher dans leur zoo et remet l'avenir de la civilisation occidentale entre leurs mains.Mais le FBI et la CIA veillent.Une bien étrange attraction est un livre foisonnant qui repousse les frontières de l'imagination et nous entraîne au cœur des sixties.Ce roman fantasque, mi-divertissement apocalyptique mi-suspense métaphysique, répond avec génie aux questions fondamentales de notre époque.

One of Tom Robbin's Best!