“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967
“I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling.”
― The Dharma Bums
― The Dharma Bums
“The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”
― Hell's Angels
― Hell's Angels
“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman
― The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman
“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”
― Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
― Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
Carmen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Carmen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Carmen
Lists liked by Carmen












































