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Briefing
for a Descent into Hell, Doris
Lessing
.
We are inside the
mind of Professor
Charles Watkins (Classics, Cambridge)... this wildest of trips is
firmly
anchored in the reality of a mental breakdown. Watkins is a patient at
Central Intake Hospital and an enigma to the physicians who try
with...
powerful drugs - as if competing for his soul - to subdue his mind's
adventure,
to bring him into "controllable" range. --
Back
Cover |
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River
God, Wilbur Smith
Synopsis: A
magnificent, richly
detailed saga of ancient Egypt. The slave of a powerful Pharaoh plots
to
overthrow his master and lead his fellow slaves to power. "A grand tale
of intrigue, deception, true love and exile."-- Denver
Post
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THE
IDIOT, Fydor
Dostoyevsky
"Compassion is the essential,
and perhaps it
is the only law in the life of all humankind."
-- Fydor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot
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Dahlgren,
Samuel
R. Delaney
| "Here I
am and am no I.
This circle in all, this change changing in winterless, a dawn circle
with
an image of, an autumn change with a change of mist. Mistake two
pictures, one and another. No. Only in seasons of short light,
only
on dead afternoons. I will not be sick again. I will
not. You are here." -- Samuel R. Delaney,
'The Ruins of Morning,' Dahlgren |
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Lord
of Light, Roger
Zelazny
"His followers called him
Mahasamatman and
said he was a god. He preferred to
drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called
himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god. But then,
he never claimed not to be a
god. Circumstances
being what they were, neither
admission
could be of any benefit." -- Roger Zelazny, Lord
of Light |
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A
Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter
M. Miller, Jr.
"...Shall I call the
repair service again,
Father Abbott?"
.
"...That
contraption - listen Brother, they claim it thinks. I didn't
believe
it at first... But do you know what?... Nothing could be that perverse
without premeditation! It must think! It knows
good
and evil, I tell you, and it has chosen the latter!"
-- Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz. |
A masterful
achievement that ranks
with Brave New World and 1984, this mesmerizing tale of the terrible
aftermath
of nuclear war has captivated generations of readers since its first
publication
in 1959. --Chicago Tribune. BDD ONLINE
feature. |
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The
Fifth Business,
Robertson
Davies
...being neither
protagonist
nor antagonist, that character who is incidental to the main action
but
necessary in bringing about the denouement of the story. The Fifth
Business is a tale about the magick that coexists daily with the
mundane
of our lives. (-- a wonderful book opening Mr. Davies' The
Deptford Trilogy. I haven't read this in years and now that
it's
come to mind, I've got to pick up another copy.) |
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The
Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula
K. Le Guin
Light
is the left hand of darkness
and darkness
the right hand
of light.
Two are one,
life and death,
lying
together
like lovers in kemmer,
like hands
joined together,
like the end
and the way.
--
Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
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Mott
The Hoople, Willard
Manus
Somewhere between
traditions
of the beat writers and the gonzo free-for-all writing style of Hunter
S. Thompson sprung Willard Manus' Mott The Hoople. I'm
still
trying to figure out what possessed the rock
band to name itself after the unlikely hero for which the book is
named;
but for all his excesses from gambling to gluttony to sex, Norman
Hoople
is a hero nonetheless, Striving to pursue his own personal code of
honor
Norman boldly faces irony and hypocrisy without despair or
bitterness
in a world that is really quite mad. |
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Only
Begotten Daughter, James
Morrow
Murray Katz, the
celibate keeper
of an abandoned lighthouse near Atlantic City, has been blessed with a
daughter conceived of his own seed and a holy ovum. Like her half
brother
Jesus, Julie Katz can walk on water, heal the blind, and raise the
dead.
But being the Messiah isn't easy, and Julie, bewildered by her role in
the divine scheme of things, is tempted by the Devil and challenged by
neo- Christian zealots in this lively odyssey through Hell and New
Jersey.
Winner of the World Fantasy Award. - Amazon.com |
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Atlas
Shrugged, Ayn Rand
I've always had
mixed feeling
about Ayn Rand as a writer. At the same time I find myself going
back to Atlas Shrugged every five or ten years because I find her
philosophy
of self-determinism reassuring when faced with the same despair as the
novel's
protagonist Dagny Taggart through much of the plot. A world
of petty passions, ideals and abilities enslaving those who would dare
a different vision...[I need to refocus this. In the meantime,
check
out check out some of the reviews at the above link. -jbk] |
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