Mark Brown posts on Facebook what he read the previous month. Here is what he listed:
Reads and Rereads finished in December:
The Magus by John Fowles 12/6
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler 12/9
Every Day is a Good Day by Robert Shea, ed. by Tom Jackson 12/12
Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon 12/18
Dare by Philip Jose Farmer 12/21
The Dead Man’s Knock by John Dickson Carr 12/24
I usually post what I read last month, but in a sense I have already done that; in December I read the last five books in yesterday's post.
Except for Fowles, I have read books by every author on RAW's list. But what I am struck by is that every author on Mark's list has a Robert Anton Wilson connection. The Fowles novel is one of Wilson's favorites. RAW was a fan of Chandler, Farmer, Sturgeon and Carr. Sturgeon was a RAW fan. (This blog post has been updated to confirm that RAW was a Sturgeon fan.)
I am having to do this on my phone; I will update this later and fix the formatting. What did you guys read last month?
10 comments:
I finally read Variations on the Canon: Essays in Honor of Charles Rosen.
I have to admit that this recent RAW-related reading is somewhat intentional. Generally speaking, I will read just about anything, although there are certain subjects and writers I will return to again and again. But, lately, I've been focusing on things that form some of RAW's software, in the hopes of helping me understand his thinking and style more clearly. Not exclusively, but to a large extent. Of course, many of these authors were already on my list, coming to my attention via my interest in other writers, such as Phil Farmer or Colin Wilson, or my general interest in SF.
Of course, writers like DIck, Vance, Chandler, Farmer, Heinlein, Carr, Stout, both MacDonalds, Lovecraft, both Burroughs, and Pynchon, are on my perennial reading lists. But sometimes, as in the case of the Fowles, mention on one of my favorite blogs or by someone I respect, will trigger a read. The Dead Man's Knock, by Carr, was rather obviously inspired by the recent mention of the Crooked Hinge.
I really want to look into Rosen,
I just want to add that I'm a diagnosed obsessive-compulsive, although it's pretty much under control these days. But, back in my formative years, if I read a book that impressed me, I had to acquire and read everything on the bibliography. RAW's books were very much a part of this. I still do this to some extent. Discovering the Overweening Generalist site a couple of years ago sent me down a number of rabbit holes.
In the earlier, heavy LSD years of The Grateful Dead (mid to late 60s), the band members read and grooved on Surgeon's "More than Human" as a metaphor for what they were doing as a band.
I'm rereading "Shadow Ticket" by Pynchon
Also reading "The Occult Harry Smith" edited by Peter Valente wherein we find out Harry studied magick with Charles Stanfeld Jones (Frater Achad)
Rereading "The Divine Comedy" by Dante; a canto/day. I've only read it once before.
Which translation of Dante?
I live, love, love Rosen. May 5, 2027, marks his centennial.
Allen Mandelbaum’s translation of Dante. Everyman’s Library by Knopf, 1995
Thank you.
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