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Known for his meaty seriocomic novels–expansive works that are simultaneously lowbrow and highbrow–Tom Robbins has also published over the years a number of short pieces, predominantly nonfiction. His travel articles, essays, and tributes to actors, musicians, sex kittens, and thinkers have appeared in publications ranging from Esquire to Harper’s, from Playboy to the New York Times, High Times, and Life. A generous sampling, collected here for the first time and including works as diverse as scholarly art criticism and some decidedly untypical country-music lyrics, Wild Ducks Flying Backward offers a rare sweeping overview of the eclectic sensibility of an American original.Whether he is 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,” Robbins’s briefer writings often exhibit the same 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love of language.Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are a couple of short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an off-beat assessment of our divided nation. And wherever we open Wild Ducks Flying Backward, we’re apt to encounter examples of the intently serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.”From the Hardcover edition.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Tom Robbins
80 books7,215 followersThomas Eugene Robbins was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). Robbins lived in La Conner, Washington from 1970, where he wrote nine of his books. His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His last work, published in 2014, was Tibetan Peach Pie, a self-declared "un-memoir".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 357 reviews
June 19, 2019
“No kiss is ever wasted, not even on the lottery ticket kissed for luck.”
Having read most of Tom Robbins fiction, I was excited to pick up this short nonfiction collection. How does Robbins insanely original use of figurative language work with short nonfiction? Well, after reading “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards’ I can say that it (mostly) works.
The text is broken into a highly original introduction and five sections. The first section, a collection of travel essays is enjoyable. Robbins’ gymnastic figures of speech used to describe nature is a good mix.
I also enjoyed a quirky essay on Ray Kroc (McDonald’s founder) and a thoughtful piece on Joseph Campbell (the monomyth and archetypes).
I loved the section, “Stories, Poems & Lyrics”. Unique and original stuff there. In his poem “Dream of the Language Wheel”, we get quintessential Robbins, as demonstrated by this-“Come slide beside me naked into the world’s steamy honeycomb of words.” The adjective “steamy” makes all the difference there. For a variety of reasons. Also awesome, the lyrics to his country song, “My Heart is not a Poodle”.
Another highlight is the essay In Defiance of Gravity” in which Robbins explores the missing playfulness in modern literature. It is a thought provoking read.
The text contains some misses, most notably 3 pieces that are art critiques and appreciations. I am an art lover and collector, but these pieces bored me silly. There is also an essay on the 1960s with which I simply cannot be in agreement.
However, "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards” ends with a bang with the final section, simply called “Responses”. And it is literally just that, responses that Robbins wrote to questions posed by various entities.
I enjoyed my time with this collection. I have almost read all of Robbins output; this text has not dissuaded me from continuing that course of action.
Having read most of Tom Robbins fiction, I was excited to pick up this short nonfiction collection. How does Robbins insanely original use of figurative language work with short nonfiction? Well, after reading “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards’ I can say that it (mostly) works.
The text is broken into a highly original introduction and five sections. The first section, a collection of travel essays is enjoyable. Robbins’ gymnastic figures of speech used to describe nature is a good mix.
I also enjoyed a quirky essay on Ray Kroc (McDonald’s founder) and a thoughtful piece on Joseph Campbell (the monomyth and archetypes).
I loved the section, “Stories, Poems & Lyrics”. Unique and original stuff there. In his poem “Dream of the Language Wheel”, we get quintessential Robbins, as demonstrated by this-“Come slide beside me naked into the world’s steamy honeycomb of words.” The adjective “steamy” makes all the difference there. For a variety of reasons. Also awesome, the lyrics to his country song, “My Heart is not a Poodle”.
Another highlight is the essay In Defiance of Gravity” in which Robbins explores the missing playfulness in modern literature. It is a thought provoking read.
The text contains some misses, most notably 3 pieces that are art critiques and appreciations. I am an art lover and collector, but these pieces bored me silly. There is also an essay on the 1960s with which I simply cannot be in agreement.
However, "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards” ends with a bang with the final section, simply called “Responses”. And it is literally just that, responses that Robbins wrote to questions posed by various entities.
I enjoyed my time with this collection. I have almost read all of Robbins output; this text has not dissuaded me from continuing that course of action.
December 2, 2011
whoever gave this book less than 4 stars is a totally unsalvageable idiot. this book of short writings, mostly nonfiction with some fiction, was brilliant. i just went up the mountain for a four day solitary retreat with no running water, electricity and only wood heat in an insulated hut, and lemme tell you this book saved my ass. sitting in the cold with only the sounds of my own thoughts for four days threw me into an abyss. tom pulled me out. as always. in fact, i now rank this in my top five robbins books: even cowgirls and roadside attraction tied in the first two spots, jitterbug perfume and this one tied in the second two, and still life with a woodpecker coming in a solid five....if you're a hard hearted bore...or boar, for that matter, or an unremitting moron with no sense of intellectual adventure....don't bother. (officially the only review ive ever written where i insulted the audience instead of the the author -- curious)
love,
cynthia
love,
cynthia
May 17, 2020
"Ο σκοπός μας είναι να εξελισσομαστε συνειδητά και σκόπιμα προς μια πιο σοφή, πιο απελευθερωμενη και πιο φωτεινή κατάσταση υπαρξης. Να επιστρέψουμε στην Εδέμ, να συμφιλιωθουμε με το φίδι και να στήσουμε τους υπολογιστές μας ανάμεσα σε άγριες μηλιές. "
Αυτό είναι ένα από τα πολλά αποφθέγματα που περιλαμβάνονται μέσα στο βιβλίο αυτό από αυτον τον τρελό τύπο που δυσκολεύεσαι να τον καταλάβεις, αλλά δε μπορείς να σταματήσεις να τον διαβάζεις.
Νομιζω πως αυτό το βιβλίο είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή εισαγωγή για κάποιον που δεν έχει ξαναδιαβάσει Ρόμπινς. Περιέχει μέσα άρθρα του που δημοσιεύτηκαν σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά, σχετικά με τις άπειρες και εξαιρετικά απίθανες ταξιδιωτικές του εμπειρίες, τα αγαπημένα του καλλιτεχνικά και όχι μόνο πρόσωπα που τον επηρέασαν, ανέκδοτα ποιήματα, ακόμη και μια ιδέα για σενάριο ταινίας!!
Είναι με λίγα λόγια ο, τι πρέπει για να μπει κανείς στην περίεργη ιδιοσυγκρασια του Ρόμπινς και να πάρει μια γεύση από το τι σημαίνει να ζεις στο μυαλό του. Απολαυστικό. 3.5 ⭐
Αυτό είναι ένα από τα πολλά αποφθέγματα που περιλαμβάνονται μέσα στο βιβλίο αυτό από αυτον τον τρελό τύπο που δυσκολεύεσαι να τον καταλάβεις, αλλά δε μπορείς να σταματήσεις να τον διαβάζεις.
Νομιζω πως αυτό το βιβλίο είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή εισαγωγή για κάποιον που δεν έχει ξαναδιαβάσει Ρόμπινς. Περιέχει μέσα άρθρα του που δημοσιεύτηκαν σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά, σχετικά με τις άπειρες και εξαιρετικά απίθανες ταξιδιωτικές του εμπειρίες, τα αγαπημένα του καλλιτεχνικά και όχι μόνο πρόσωπα που τον επηρέασαν, ανέκδοτα ποιήματα, ακόμη και μια ιδέα για σενάριο ταινίας!!
Είναι με λίγα λόγια ο, τι πρέπει για να μπει κανείς στην περίεργη ιδιοσυγκρασια του Ρόμπινς και να πάρει μια γεύση από το τι σημαίνει να ζεις στο μυαλό του. Απολαυστικό. 3.5 ⭐
August 21, 2016
Tom Robbins is a genius!
June 17, 2022
This was a book I tripped over, put it back on the shelf, saw the name, and claimed it.
Haven't read any of his other writings, but I'm going to give it a go. I was entertained, amused, and because of the smorgasbook format had no problems moving quickly through the material. Being a PNWer myself, reading about the things that celebrate home is always a joy. His piece on rain won me over completely, one of the best I've ever read.
Plus, who can pass up a book that starts with a chapter called the Canyon of Vaginas??
A book that can make you laugh out loud, or break your heart in just a few words is the work of someone who deserves followers. I believe, so say I.
Haven't read any of his other writings, but I'm going to give it a go. I was entertained, amused, and because of the smorgasbook format had no problems moving quickly through the material. Being a PNWer myself, reading about the things that celebrate home is always a joy. His piece on rain won me over completely, one of the best I've ever read.
Plus, who can pass up a book that starts with a chapter called the Canyon of Vaginas??
A book that can make you laugh out loud, or break your heart in just a few words is the work of someone who deserves followers. I believe, so say I.
October 20, 2010
disagree with his mystical tendencies or his sweet horndogginess if you must, but no one can dispute that tom robbins loves language and language loves him right back. whether he is writing about the weather, redheads/waitresses, the state of modern art, vaginas, or what-have-you, he does it with aplomb, running his sentences on joyfully, drawing absurd-yet-spot-on comparisons, redefining words in such a way that one forgets they were never used that way before, and generally turning the world (which, according to terrence mckenna, is apparently made of language, after all) upside down in the best, best way possible. through the prism of his perspective, the world is again an amazing place full of possibility and hilarity and lightness. his take on life is 'joy in spite of everything', and unlike the rest of us, this attitude actually informs his comportment and thought (whereas i, and most people, probably, hold these ideas and attitudes to be true yet can't quite hold on to them even 10% of the time), and therefore his writing as well. to read robbins is to be forced to reconsider your ideas about the world while giggling like a fool, and if that doesn't make a book worth reading, well, nothing does.
February 7, 2013
Tom Robbins' books are so unfailingly fun, so spectacularly gymnastic in their use of language, that I've often found myself wondering how much of him can be found in his work. Is Robbins the man, in other words, as playful as his writing? Wild Ducks Flying Backward is an answer in the affirmative. There's not much of substance here – it's a slim collection of previously published essays and musings (on art, food, and celebrity, mainly) – but the linguistic somersaults and rhetorical backflips are on full display, and for the first time I could see how Robbins' personality becomes refracted through his words. It's not the ideal introduction to his work (start with any of his novels instead), but for people who already know (and love) his stuff, it provides a fun glimpse of a different side of the man.
October 2, 2018
Αν και μ'αρέσει ο ανάλαφρος τρόπος με τον οποίο γράφει ο Tom, αυτό το βιβλίο δεν το βρήκα τόσο ενδιαφέρον, μάλλον επειδή είναι μια σειρά από σύντομα κείμενα τα οποία έχει κατά καιρούς δημοσιεύσει και όχι μια ολοκληρωμένη ιστορία.
March 28, 2025
Ben burnout olmuşum da o an dediklerimi kaleme almışlar gibi hissettirdi ve bu hissi hiç sevmedim ya da bazı kitapları kültüre ve kişiye aşina olmadan okumamak gerekiyormuş. Bittiği için mutlu hissediyor ve iyi gecelerimi iletiyorum tüm dünyaya 🪰🪰🪰
October 23, 2017
I think I'll give this book to people who ask me for an introduction to my favorite author. Easily digestible short pieces that still sparkle with Robbins' unparalleled linguistic talents.
November 19, 2017
This a very eclectic mix of Robbins writings, from reviews, to poetry, to travel articles, to opinion statements. I enjoyed it, but I prefer getting lost in his novels.
September 6, 2023
I enjoyed hearing his poetry but some short writings were kinda boring
July 17, 2008
It pains me more than you can imagine to write these next few words.
Listening to Tom Robbins’ latest offering, Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, as an audiobook, is an excruciating experience. No, not because it is read by the author, who, by his own admission, has a voice that sounds like it was wrung out of a mop. Robbins is actually not at all a bad reader for this collection of mostly non-fiction pieces, many of them travel essays, tributes, and even the odd review or two. Non-fiction sketches don’t really require much of a reader; no sustained mellifluosity, no delving into characters or acting is required.
It isn’t terrible because any of the writing is bad either. With the exception of a very young Robbins’ review of a Doors’ concert (an ode so nakedly fan-ish that when he read it, the article was prefaced and followed up with small almost embarrassed remarks most likely not included in the print version), most of the pieces stand alone as either typical Robbins or just a little below that. The short stories here are too short to really be of much note, and anyway, they aren’t particularly good or representative samples of his fiction.
And what a long pleasure a Tom Robbins novel is, like a good slow bout of lovemaking with every position, every conjunction, tried on for size, always tender, sometimes energetic. What a thrill is a short bit of Tom Robbins article, turning up in some unexpected place, like a sweet piercingly cold flute of champagne in the middle of a workday.
But what a wearying, exhausting, tiresome endurance test this collection is to read (or to listen to) straight through in long stretches. It’s rather like a long, long, loooooonnnnng dinner with a clever, sometimes witty, host who never expounds at length for any time on one subject. He may make you laugh or even think, but only in two minute bouts. If you really must own this work, do yourself a favor: Buy it in print, put it on the back of your toilet, read one item a day (or once every time you have a seat), and stretch the thing out over a month or so.
What’s nice about these writings, even better than the paper collection, is that Robbins (as in the Doors’ piece) presents this as though it were just a recorded reading out in public and not merely a literal verbalization of the text. Nearly every article has a little intro wherein he gives us just a touch of background. That’s kind of endearing throughout.
Yet this collection has no real sense of necessity or cohesion. There are Esquire portraits, reviews of concerts, the liner notes to a Leonard Cohen tribute album, a defense of the sixties, and the most surprising and shocking thing of all, commercial whoring. It seems strange that such an idiosyncratic American original like Robbins’ would stoop to advertisements, which is what his short article on drinking out of a shoe ends up being (Bergdorf Goodman being the patron in question).
The best stuff in the book appears at the very beginning and it’s Robbins’ travel writing. A curious observer of this anthropological curiosity homo homo sapiens, the author takes us out west to the Canyon of the Vaginas as well as to Tanzania and a Botswanan swamp. These are typical Robbins, wacky, wonky, funky, and deeper than he is given credit for by any number of high falutin’ critics. His recognition of the western canyon as one of that last few holy places left in America is an observation the Frommer’s crowd just won’t get.
There are times when he lapses into a kind of naive sentimentality about the African savanna as though it were Eden, the kind of rosy tinted recollection that would irk me no matter who did it and always begs the question, so why did you come back? But for the most part, Robbins lives one of my particular dreams, which is to go all over the world, print up my thoughts about the experience, then convince someone to pay me for it (and as a bonus pick up my expenses to boot).
When he turns to tributes Robbins pens a scorcher to Jennifer Jason Leigh, one of my favorite actresses, though the article is short, probably not more than three hundred words tops. It’s almost hard to believe Robbins managed to get paid for this one, which demonstrates the power of a celebrity status. That bit of reverence fits neatly with a little smooch of worship for Robbins’ obvious crush, Diane Keaton.
The other highlights include his Joseph Campbell appreciation, a scholar whose width of vision and breadth of knowledge serve as strong undergirdings for his ease of accessibility. Robbins often treads some of the same motifs and themes in his novels, and the two writers are well paired. He likewise gives Ray Kroc his due for his skill and ingenuity (if not completely for his culinary accomplishments), then comments at the end, paraphrased, well that was written twenty years ago before the dark revelations of SuperSize Me, another one of Robbins’ asides unlikely to have made it into print. His Leonard Cohen tribute album liner notes are much longer, but lack any actual quotes to back up his statements about how great Cohen’s writing is, a weakness his other critical judgments share.
Much of the rest of the book is almost instantly forgettable. A turn of phrase stands out, a jolting metaphor, a sly bit of erudition slipped in. Robbins’ poetry is rather awful, the kind of doggerel verse well meaning dilettantes throw out on occasions that seem momentous (or to draw our poor beclouded eyes to a hitherto unsung bit of minutiae). If I had to pick a sample of writing to save from this whole mish-mash it would be Robbins’ lovely little theme on kissing which is nearly as delicious as being about to kiss. It’s no surprise that one ended up in Playboy.
Ultimately, Robbins is one of those curious writers whose novels are not too divorced from his personality and that shows in these various writings. Stephen King may not spend his afternoons killing small children (I will pretend to believe that), but Robbins spends his days thinking in just the same fashion that his novels unfold, quirkily, offbeat, amusingly. There are strong pieces herein and others which will do their author no credit and would have just as well remained hidden in the back pages of the magazines where they first appeared.
I’ll just quietly await his next novel.
Listening to Tom Robbins’ latest offering, Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, as an audiobook, is an excruciating experience. No, not because it is read by the author, who, by his own admission, has a voice that sounds like it was wrung out of a mop. Robbins is actually not at all a bad reader for this collection of mostly non-fiction pieces, many of them travel essays, tributes, and even the odd review or two. Non-fiction sketches don’t really require much of a reader; no sustained mellifluosity, no delving into characters or acting is required.
It isn’t terrible because any of the writing is bad either. With the exception of a very young Robbins’ review of a Doors’ concert (an ode so nakedly fan-ish that when he read it, the article was prefaced and followed up with small almost embarrassed remarks most likely not included in the print version), most of the pieces stand alone as either typical Robbins or just a little below that. The short stories here are too short to really be of much note, and anyway, they aren’t particularly good or representative samples of his fiction.
And what a long pleasure a Tom Robbins novel is, like a good slow bout of lovemaking with every position, every conjunction, tried on for size, always tender, sometimes energetic. What a thrill is a short bit of Tom Robbins article, turning up in some unexpected place, like a sweet piercingly cold flute of champagne in the middle of a workday.
But what a wearying, exhausting, tiresome endurance test this collection is to read (or to listen to) straight through in long stretches. It’s rather like a long, long, loooooonnnnng dinner with a clever, sometimes witty, host who never expounds at length for any time on one subject. He may make you laugh or even think, but only in two minute bouts. If you really must own this work, do yourself a favor: Buy it in print, put it on the back of your toilet, read one item a day (or once every time you have a seat), and stretch the thing out over a month or so.
What’s nice about these writings, even better than the paper collection, is that Robbins (as in the Doors’ piece) presents this as though it were just a recorded reading out in public and not merely a literal verbalization of the text. Nearly every article has a little intro wherein he gives us just a touch of background. That’s kind of endearing throughout.
Yet this collection has no real sense of necessity or cohesion. There are Esquire portraits, reviews of concerts, the liner notes to a Leonard Cohen tribute album, a defense of the sixties, and the most surprising and shocking thing of all, commercial whoring. It seems strange that such an idiosyncratic American original like Robbins’ would stoop to advertisements, which is what his short article on drinking out of a shoe ends up being (Bergdorf Goodman being the patron in question).
The best stuff in the book appears at the very beginning and it’s Robbins’ travel writing. A curious observer of this anthropological curiosity homo homo sapiens, the author takes us out west to the Canyon of the Vaginas as well as to Tanzania and a Botswanan swamp. These are typical Robbins, wacky, wonky, funky, and deeper than he is given credit for by any number of high falutin’ critics. His recognition of the western canyon as one of that last few holy places left in America is an observation the Frommer’s crowd just won’t get.
There are times when he lapses into a kind of naive sentimentality about the African savanna as though it were Eden, the kind of rosy tinted recollection that would irk me no matter who did it and always begs the question, so why did you come back? But for the most part, Robbins lives one of my particular dreams, which is to go all over the world, print up my thoughts about the experience, then convince someone to pay me for it (and as a bonus pick up my expenses to boot).
When he turns to tributes Robbins pens a scorcher to Jennifer Jason Leigh, one of my favorite actresses, though the article is short, probably not more than three hundred words tops. It’s almost hard to believe Robbins managed to get paid for this one, which demonstrates the power of a celebrity status. That bit of reverence fits neatly with a little smooch of worship for Robbins’ obvious crush, Diane Keaton.
The other highlights include his Joseph Campbell appreciation, a scholar whose width of vision and breadth of knowledge serve as strong undergirdings for his ease of accessibility. Robbins often treads some of the same motifs and themes in his novels, and the two writers are well paired. He likewise gives Ray Kroc his due for his skill and ingenuity (if not completely for his culinary accomplishments), then comments at the end, paraphrased, well that was written twenty years ago before the dark revelations of SuperSize Me, another one of Robbins’ asides unlikely to have made it into print. His Leonard Cohen tribute album liner notes are much longer, but lack any actual quotes to back up his statements about how great Cohen’s writing is, a weakness his other critical judgments share.
Much of the rest of the book is almost instantly forgettable. A turn of phrase stands out, a jolting metaphor, a sly bit of erudition slipped in. Robbins’ poetry is rather awful, the kind of doggerel verse well meaning dilettantes throw out on occasions that seem momentous (or to draw our poor beclouded eyes to a hitherto unsung bit of minutiae). If I had to pick a sample of writing to save from this whole mish-mash it would be Robbins’ lovely little theme on kissing which is nearly as delicious as being about to kiss. It’s no surprise that one ended up in Playboy.
Ultimately, Robbins is one of those curious writers whose novels are not too divorced from his personality and that shows in these various writings. Stephen King may not spend his afternoons killing small children (I will pretend to believe that), but Robbins spends his days thinking in just the same fashion that his novels unfold, quirkily, offbeat, amusingly. There are strong pieces herein and others which will do their author no credit and would have just as well remained hidden in the back pages of the magazines where they first appeared.
I’ll just quietly await his next novel.
March 11, 2024
truly the most liberated writer I’ve ever read and by this I mean that his writing would give the average modern reader a stroke
July 29, 2021
Tom Robbins is the god and guru of the "alternative semi-illiterate readers".
His books always have a hint of arrogance and a sense that they should be placed on a separate shelf. Not that sometimes I wouldn't deserve it, but space is generally limited.
In this book, we read Robbins's super duper clever lines once again with a hints of his deconstructive philosophy on life and we indeed have a good time scratching our scrotum (if posessing one) and drinking coffee that has either s lot of sugar in it or not a single grain, and definitely ice cubes. We may even smoke, which inevitably leads us to the toilet to shit, but unlike we do with other books, we take this with us.
Enjoy.
Amazon wrote: "An entertaining anthology of writings features both nonfiction essays and short stories that cover such topics as art critiques, poetry, country song lyrics, odes to redheads, kissing, Diane Keaton, tomato sandwiches, the Doors, and more. 100,000 first printing."
His books always have a hint of arrogance and a sense that they should be placed on a separate shelf. Not that sometimes I wouldn't deserve it, but space is generally limited.
In this book, we read Robbins's super duper clever lines once again with a hints of his deconstructive philosophy on life and we indeed have a good time scratching our scrotum (if posessing one) and drinking coffee that has either s lot of sugar in it or not a single grain, and definitely ice cubes. We may even smoke, which inevitably leads us to the toilet to shit, but unlike we do with other books, we take this with us.
Enjoy.
Amazon wrote: "An entertaining anthology of writings features both nonfiction essays and short stories that cover such topics as art critiques, poetry, country song lyrics, odes to redheads, kissing, Diane Keaton, tomato sandwiches, the Doors, and more. 100,000 first printing."
Read
December 13, 2019I've known about Robbins since the 80s, but never could bring myself to try one of his books – he was marketed in the 80s as a sort of hip new Vonnegut, or Hunter Thompson without the drugs, which I didn't quite trust (being a big fan of both Vonnegut and Thompson). I found this at a charity sale and thought that it might be a good way to try him out.
My instincts were right. Reading Robbins' prose feels like sitting in a bar listening to a slightly drunk guy monologuing for no reason other than that he loves to hear himself talk. Which is great for him, but it's not necessarily a good time for me. I won't rate it since I didn't get past the first couple of pieces, but my curiosity has been satisfied, and we shall not speak of this again.
My instincts were right. Reading Robbins' prose feels like sitting in a bar listening to a slightly drunk guy monologuing for no reason other than that he loves to hear himself talk. Which is great for him, but it's not necessarily a good time for me. I won't rate it since I didn't get past the first couple of pieces, but my curiosity has been satisfied, and we shall not speak of this again.
January 1, 2024
What a day to finish my book challenge- and what book to do it with! The reason I LOVE and HATE Tom Robbin’s is my need to look up so many meanings of words, which happened to help me considerably today, since I always want a word for the new year.
But to the book- I don’t usually like short stories and some are hard to get through, but ultimately, true to Tom Robbins. I was going to put a list of must reads but I am going to get to celebrating an incoming new year!
But to the book- I don’t usually like short stories and some are hard to get through, but ultimately, true to Tom Robbins. I was going to put a list of must reads but I am going to get to celebrating an incoming new year!
April 2, 2024
I hadn't read Tom Robbins in decades but remembered I extremely liked him in the 90s, so I went for the remainder of his works I hadn't digested before. Some of these short essays, poems, scripts and stories seem to (and do) come from a different era, but the author's love for words and puns still are what I Iike about him. The mention of Terence McKenna and Marshall McLuhan reminded me of my younger self. Really worth a reread today.
April 1, 2024
DNF at 60%. The descriptive writing of Robbins is still good, but I don't know if it's just his short writings or if his novels would be so strikingly sexist and pretentious if I read them again now. I'm much less likely to after trying to force my way through this book, though.
February 14, 2021
well the essay on rajneesh didn’t age well huh
August 31, 2022
As always, Tom Robbins exhibits his enduring passion for language whilst taking the opportunity to spruce up his material since their original publish date
Intimate, enlightening, and always spicy, Robbins delivers a quick slap and a juicy kiss.
Favorite sections:
Stories, Poems & Lyrics
Musings & Critiques
Intimate, enlightening, and always spicy, Robbins delivers a quick slap and a juicy kiss.
Favorite sections:
Stories, Poems & Lyrics
Musings & Critiques
January 23, 2025
When I met her I wanted to protect her, after I got to know her, I wanted her to protect me. Jennifer Jason Leigh's director from Dorothy Parker movie.
May 28, 2024
"No kiss is ever wasted, not even on the lottery ticket kissed for luck. Kiss trees, favorite books, bowling balls..."
December 12, 2024
Delightful word-play, as always, but my appreciation of many of these essays/musings/exaltations was hampered by not knowing who or what Robbins wrote about. "Slipper Sipping," "Kissing," and "Write About One of Your Favorite Things" were preferred. Two stories in particular reminded me of friends. Too many good lines bookmarked in this one to bother retyping here.
May 19, 2013
http://okudumdanoldu.blogspot.be/2013...
Geçen gün Ursula'nın da denemelerini okuduktan sonra Tom Robbins'in denemeleri de çok iyi geldi. İnsan kitaplarını çok sevdiği bir yazarı tanırmış hissine kapılıyor ama aslında her kitapta sadece onun hayal gücünün küçük bir adasında seyahate çıkıyoruz. İş böyle olunca, Tom Robbins'in kafasına hasta bir kişi olarak seyahat yazılarından, beğendiği müzik grupları veya filozoflardan, hayattan sanattan şiirlerinden çok zevk aldım.
Yine de Tom Robbins okumaya başlamak için iyi bir kitap olmadığını düşünüyorum. Adamın kafasının içindekileri merak etmek için önce romanlarının tadına bakmak gerekir. Her ne kadar aynı alaycı ve harika metaforlu cümleleri burada olsa da pek ilgi çekmeyebilir.
60lı yılların altın çocuklarından saydığım Tom Robbins'e başlamak için Parfümün Dansı ve Dur Bir Mola Ver kitaplarını tavsiye ederim. Yazarı baş köşenize konuk ettikten sonra da bu kitabı okuyun derim.
..Pembe, kırmızının ayakkabılarını fırlatıp saçlarını saldığı zaman aldığı renktir..Sayfa40
..Burada geçmişin hapishanesinden kaçma fırsatı var, geleceğin vaatlerine aldırmamak var. Burada sadece burası var. Burada sadece Selous var. Sadece şimdiki zaman var... Selous/Tanzanya Sayfa60
..Ne de olsa asıl önemli kapılar, her iki tarafa da açılanlardır.. The Doors'la ilgili yazısından.. Sayfa65
..İnsanlık, tıpkı bugün yaptığı gibi, mitler ve dini-siyasi fanatizm kavşağında durdukça şiddet potansiyeli iyice yükselir..Sayda71
..Ama gerçek şudur ki bu sebzelerin çoğu, kendilerine bir seks objesi ve üreme fabrikası olarak bakılmasından bıkmış usanmıştır ve kalıplardan sıyrılmaki seyahat edebilmek, başkalarıyla tanışabilmek ve kendileri oldukları için takdir edilmek istemektedirler..Sayfa80
Geçen gün Ursula'nın da denemelerini okuduktan sonra Tom Robbins'in denemeleri de çok iyi geldi. İnsan kitaplarını çok sevdiği bir yazarı tanırmış hissine kapılıyor ama aslında her kitapta sadece onun hayal gücünün küçük bir adasında seyahate çıkıyoruz. İş böyle olunca, Tom Robbins'in kafasına hasta bir kişi olarak seyahat yazılarından, beğendiği müzik grupları veya filozoflardan, hayattan sanattan şiirlerinden çok zevk aldım.
Yine de Tom Robbins okumaya başlamak için iyi bir kitap olmadığını düşünüyorum. Adamın kafasının içindekileri merak etmek için önce romanlarının tadına bakmak gerekir. Her ne kadar aynı alaycı ve harika metaforlu cümleleri burada olsa da pek ilgi çekmeyebilir.
60lı yılların altın çocuklarından saydığım Tom Robbins'e başlamak için Parfümün Dansı ve Dur Bir Mola Ver kitaplarını tavsiye ederim. Yazarı baş köşenize konuk ettikten sonra da bu kitabı okuyun derim.
..Pembe, kırmızının ayakkabılarını fırlatıp saçlarını saldığı zaman aldığı renktir..Sayfa40
..Burada geçmişin hapishanesinden kaçma fırsatı var, geleceğin vaatlerine aldırmamak var. Burada sadece burası var. Burada sadece Selous var. Sadece şimdiki zaman var... Selous/Tanzanya Sayfa60
..Ne de olsa asıl önemli kapılar, her iki tarafa da açılanlardır.. The Doors'la ilgili yazısından.. Sayfa65
..İnsanlık, tıpkı bugün yaptığı gibi, mitler ve dini-siyasi fanatizm kavşağında durdukça şiddet potansiyeli iyice yükselir..Sayda71
..Ama gerçek şudur ki bu sebzelerin çoğu, kendilerine bir seks objesi ve üreme fabrikası olarak bakılmasından bıkmış usanmıştır ve kalıplardan sıyrılmaki seyahat edebilmek, başkalarıyla tanışabilmek ve kendileri oldukları için takdir edilmek istemektedirler..Sayfa80
February 10, 2025
RIP Tom Robbins and others
https://popculturelunchbox.substack.c...
As noted in the introduction to 2005’s Wild Ducks Flying Backward, Tom Robbins “began writing his first novel in 1968 and he’s made it clear that if he’s remembered, he wants it to be for his fiction.” But that collection also made clear that Robbins was likewise a powerhouse of social commentary and comedic gonzo counter-culture journalism.
Robbins, whose most-famous novels include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Jitterbug Perfume, has passed away at age 92.
Many people over the years have claimed that the author’s wackiness can make it tough to read an entire novel. That’s why the afore-mentioned Wild Ducks Flying Backward might be a better place to start. The large collection of stories, tributes, critiques, and “responses” to questions such as “how do you feel about America?” and “why do you live where you live?” displays his power of observation.
For example, in “Canyon of the Vaginas,” Robbins offered the kind of travel writing that I find the most helpful. Reporting from west-central Nevada, he didn’t bother with the dry facts of a Fodor’s or Frommer’s, but rather the color of place and pop-culture stories that make (or could make) any and all places relatable to the human experience. Robbins told the tale of taking the Loneliest Road in America to find some canyons, and that asking for directions from the likes of the folks he’s encountering is not an option.
“One simply does not approach a miner, a wrangler, a prospector, a gambler, a Stealth pilot, a construction sweat hog, or sandblasted freebooter and interrupt his thoughts about big, fast bucks and those forces—environmental legislation, social change, loaded dice, et cetera—that could stand between him and big, fast bucks; one simply does not march up to such a man, a man who lifts his crusty lid to no one, and ask: ‘Sir, might you possibly direct me to the Canyon of the Vaginas?’”
Unlike standard travel books, the pleasure of this piece by Robbins is in the anticipation along the journey’s path. Yes, he does eventually get to the Canyon of the Vaginas, only to tell us that the common and perhaps more well-known name of the place is North Canyon. But why would I have wanted to read about that had I known that was the final destination in his trek from Seattle to nowheresville Nevada?
Speaking of Seattle, Robbins’ take on that fine city:
“Downtown Seattle has long been my ‘stomping grounds,’ as they say, although in the past couple of years it’s lost its homey air. A side effect of Reaganomics was skyscraper fever. Developers, taking advantage of lucrative tax breaks, voodoo-pinned our city centers with largely unneeded office towers. In downtown Seattle, for some reason, most of the excess buildings are beige. Seattleites complain of beige à vu: the sensation that they’ve seen that color before.”
A few other interesting things about Robbins:
He was born in one of my favorite places: Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
His nickname as a kid was Tommy Rotten.
He attended Washington and Lee University in Virginia and worked at the college newspaper with its sports editor Tom Wolfe.
He took LSD one day in 1963 and it inspired him to quit his job at the Seattle Times.
He began to find his goofy and descriptive voice as a writer around 1967 when he wrote a concert review of The Doors.
His kids book B Is for Beer was adapted by Robbins and indie-pop master Ben Lee into a stage musical.
Others I wish to rest in peace:
Bob Uecker, age 90 from lung cancer. He was a far-from-spectacular baseball player, including a stint with the St. Louis Cardinals, who would go on to much greater fame as a funnyman on TV shows, Miller Lite commercials, and in the baseball broadcast booth.
William E. Leuchtenburg, age 102, who my favorite documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called “one of the great historians, if not the dean of American historians in the United States, for his work on the presidency.” He appeared in Burns’ series on Civil War and baseball and said in 2017 about President Donald Trump, “We really have no precedent for a chief executive with this sort of temperament—so careless about his statements, so quick to take offense.”
Marianne Faithfull, age 78. I only know her from being Mick Jagger’s girlfriend and muse in the 1960s, but she also had a career in music and film. She was the inspiration behind the Rolling Stones’ lyrics “wild horses couldn’t drag me away” in the song “Wild Horses.”
Fay Vincent, age 86 from bladder cancer. He was commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1989 to 1992—a short while but one with impact. He had just started when an earthquake hit San Francisco as the Giants and Oakland A’s were about to begin Game 3 of the World Series. The next season was delayed by a contract dispute. The first sneaking suspicions of the approaching steroid era began as he was removed in favor of Bud Selig.
Tony Roberts, age 85 of lung cancer. Roberts was Woody Allen’s sidekid city buddy in films such as Annie Hall and Play It Again, Sam, in which he was always too busy taking calls on his phone to notice anything around him, including that Allen and his wife, played by Diane Keaton, were falling for each other. He was also in Allen’s films Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Radio Days.
Virginia Halas McCaskey, age 102. She was owner of the Chicago Bears, the daughter of George Halas Sr., and I always thought she was quite adorable seated high atop her stadium perch. Having a little elderly woman running one of the country’s storied hard-nosed football teams was one of the most likable things remaining in a league that gets a little harder and harder to watch each season, with yesterday’s Exhibit A being a snoozefest Super Bowl 59 victory by the unlikeably bullying Philadelphia Eagles 40-22 over the Kansas City Chiefs.
https://popculturelunchbox.substack.c...
As noted in the introduction to 2005’s Wild Ducks Flying Backward, Tom Robbins “began writing his first novel in 1968 and he’s made it clear that if he’s remembered, he wants it to be for his fiction.” But that collection also made clear that Robbins was likewise a powerhouse of social commentary and comedic gonzo counter-culture journalism.
Robbins, whose most-famous novels include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Jitterbug Perfume, has passed away at age 92.
Many people over the years have claimed that the author’s wackiness can make it tough to read an entire novel. That’s why the afore-mentioned Wild Ducks Flying Backward might be a better place to start. The large collection of stories, tributes, critiques, and “responses” to questions such as “how do you feel about America?” and “why do you live where you live?” displays his power of observation.
For example, in “Canyon of the Vaginas,” Robbins offered the kind of travel writing that I find the most helpful. Reporting from west-central Nevada, he didn’t bother with the dry facts of a Fodor’s or Frommer’s, but rather the color of place and pop-culture stories that make (or could make) any and all places relatable to the human experience. Robbins told the tale of taking the Loneliest Road in America to find some canyons, and that asking for directions from the likes of the folks he’s encountering is not an option.
“One simply does not approach a miner, a wrangler, a prospector, a gambler, a Stealth pilot, a construction sweat hog, or sandblasted freebooter and interrupt his thoughts about big, fast bucks and those forces—environmental legislation, social change, loaded dice, et cetera—that could stand between him and big, fast bucks; one simply does not march up to such a man, a man who lifts his crusty lid to no one, and ask: ‘Sir, might you possibly direct me to the Canyon of the Vaginas?’”
Unlike standard travel books, the pleasure of this piece by Robbins is in the anticipation along the journey’s path. Yes, he does eventually get to the Canyon of the Vaginas, only to tell us that the common and perhaps more well-known name of the place is North Canyon. But why would I have wanted to read about that had I known that was the final destination in his trek from Seattle to nowheresville Nevada?
Speaking of Seattle, Robbins’ take on that fine city:
“Downtown Seattle has long been my ‘stomping grounds,’ as they say, although in the past couple of years it’s lost its homey air. A side effect of Reaganomics was skyscraper fever. Developers, taking advantage of lucrative tax breaks, voodoo-pinned our city centers with largely unneeded office towers. In downtown Seattle, for some reason, most of the excess buildings are beige. Seattleites complain of beige à vu: the sensation that they’ve seen that color before.”
A few other interesting things about Robbins:
He was born in one of my favorite places: Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
His nickname as a kid was Tommy Rotten.
He attended Washington and Lee University in Virginia and worked at the college newspaper with its sports editor Tom Wolfe.
He took LSD one day in 1963 and it inspired him to quit his job at the Seattle Times.
He began to find his goofy and descriptive voice as a writer around 1967 when he wrote a concert review of The Doors.
His kids book B Is for Beer was adapted by Robbins and indie-pop master Ben Lee into a stage musical.
Others I wish to rest in peace:
Bob Uecker, age 90 from lung cancer. He was a far-from-spectacular baseball player, including a stint with the St. Louis Cardinals, who would go on to much greater fame as a funnyman on TV shows, Miller Lite commercials, and in the baseball broadcast booth.
William E. Leuchtenburg, age 102, who my favorite documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called “one of the great historians, if not the dean of American historians in the United States, for his work on the presidency.” He appeared in Burns’ series on Civil War and baseball and said in 2017 about President Donald Trump, “We really have no precedent for a chief executive with this sort of temperament—so careless about his statements, so quick to take offense.”
Marianne Faithfull, age 78. I only know her from being Mick Jagger’s girlfriend and muse in the 1960s, but she also had a career in music and film. She was the inspiration behind the Rolling Stones’ lyrics “wild horses couldn’t drag me away” in the song “Wild Horses.”
Fay Vincent, age 86 from bladder cancer. He was commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1989 to 1992—a short while but one with impact. He had just started when an earthquake hit San Francisco as the Giants and Oakland A’s were about to begin Game 3 of the World Series. The next season was delayed by a contract dispute. The first sneaking suspicions of the approaching steroid era began as he was removed in favor of Bud Selig.
Tony Roberts, age 85 of lung cancer. Roberts was Woody Allen’s sidekid city buddy in films such as Annie Hall and Play It Again, Sam, in which he was always too busy taking calls on his phone to notice anything around him, including that Allen and his wife, played by Diane Keaton, were falling for each other. He was also in Allen’s films Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Radio Days.
Virginia Halas McCaskey, age 102. She was owner of the Chicago Bears, the daughter of George Halas Sr., and I always thought she was quite adorable seated high atop her stadium perch. Having a little elderly woman running one of the country’s storied hard-nosed football teams was one of the most likable things remaining in a league that gets a little harder and harder to watch each season, with yesterday’s Exhibit A being a snoozefest Super Bowl 59 victory by the unlikeably bullying Philadelphia Eagles 40-22 over the Kansas City Chiefs.
March 15, 2009
One of the reasons I adore Tom Robbins' books is that I can never tell where he is going with something, but I'm sure it will intertwine in a way that makes me feel like I should have known all along. He is pulling the wool over my eyes, and I'm blissfully blind and savoring every paragraph until the conclusion.
This book doesn't take that journey as it's a collection of his short writings. The travel writing is short and doesn't invoke the images of the places like it does with images of the characters he develops. The country songs are cute and the profiles are witty. It lacks the charm that his novels evoke, but just like his fiction, you have to pay attention to each sentence and often reread them for fear that you've missed a metaphor or quotable line. My personal favorite was "In Defiance of Gravity." I'd be curious what would strike you.
This book doesn't take that journey as it's a collection of his short writings. The travel writing is short and doesn't invoke the images of the places like it does with images of the characters he develops. The country songs are cute and the profiles are witty. It lacks the charm that his novels evoke, but just like his fiction, you have to pay attention to each sentence and often reread them for fear that you've missed a metaphor or quotable line. My personal favorite was "In Defiance of Gravity." I'd be curious what would strike you.
November 22, 2018
Neviazaná obrazotvornosť koketujúca s gýčom. Bujaré metafory obcujúce s humorom a bezostyšne plodiace meta-fóry. Rozkokošené vety, ktorým ide len o slovné eskamotérstvo. Prosto typické robbinsovské defilé jazykovej zhýralosti.
Veľmi rôznorodá zbierka textov, od cestopisov, cez priemerné básne a príspevky uverejnené v americkej obdobe Záhradkára až po recenzie na televízne hviezdičky, ktoré sa medzičasom stihli prepadnúť tak hlboko do zabudnutia, že ich už nenájde ani Google. Mne osobne v takejto krátkej žurnalistickej podobe Robbins možno sedí viac ako v románoch, ale ako gentlemansky upozorňuje Argo, je to kniha určená pre ľudí, čo majú od neho už čo-to načítané a radi sa k nemu vracajú po svoju dávku bezuzdnej metaforičnosti.
Veľmi rôznorodá zbierka textov, od cestopisov, cez priemerné básne a príspevky uverejnené v americkej obdobe Záhradkára až po recenzie na televízne hviezdičky, ktoré sa medzičasom stihli prepadnúť tak hlboko do zabudnutia, že ich už nenájde ani Google. Mne osobne v takejto krátkej žurnalistickej podobe Robbins možno sedí viac ako v románoch, ale ako gentlemansky upozorňuje Argo, je to kniha určená pre ľudí, čo majú od neho už čo-to načítané a radi sa k nemu vracajú po svoju dávku bezuzdnej metaforičnosti.
February 11, 2008
I've been a big fan of some of Robbins's older fiction, so it was interesting to see his nonfiction pieces. As with any collection, some are great and some are so-so, but he always has a fresh perspective and says what he really thinks. I like that!
"Personally, I define politics as the ambition to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them. Politics, in other words, is an organized, publicly sanctioned amplification of the infantile itch to always have one's own way." (from page 201)
"Personally, I define politics as the ambition to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them. Politics, in other words, is an organized, publicly sanctioned amplification of the infantile itch to always have one's own way." (from page 201)
February 11, 2014
I thought this was a novel or, at most, a book of short stories. It is neither. Instead, it is a collection of the author's various published nonfiction works, from travel articles to celebrity tributes to who knows what else. While I might enjoy these short pieces if they appeared in a magazine somewhere (where I'd be pleasantly surprised to find the name Tom Robbins on the masthead), a whole book of them made me weary.
If nothing else, at least it cured me of the notion of publishing my own short nonfiction pieces, which will probably bore my readers to tears as much as this book bored me.
If nothing else, at least it cured me of the notion of publishing my own short nonfiction pieces, which will probably bore my readers to tears as much as this book bored me.
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