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Conference rdvax::grateful

Title:Take my advice, you'd be better off DEAD
Notice:It's just a Box of Rain
Moderator:RDVAX::LEVY::DEBESS
Created:Thu Jan 03 1991
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:580
Total number of notes:60238

565.0. "Name that Book!" by FOUNDR::OUIMETTE (Zat was Zen, Dis is Dao...) Mon Mar 24 1997 12:25

    	Hello all,
    
      In the spirit of "name that tune", I thought it might be of interest to
    create a "name that literary reference" note, separate from the "What
    are you reading" note. The fact is, I just felt like posting the quote 
    in the next reply, and thought that others might occasionally feel like
    posting quotes or references from some of their favourite books, as well.
    
      The only suggestion I can think of for "guidelines" would be that the
    quote or reference, while not necessarily guessable, would ideally give 
    a feeling for the flavor of the book, so that once the answer was
    posted, someone might make a guess as to whether or not they might
    want to read the book. Heavy demand, for just a quote, I know... Oh
    yeah, it might be a book of interest to the Greater Dead community, as
    well... Whatever the heck that means :^). 
    
    -Chuck
    
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565.1FOUNDR::OUIMETTEZat was Zen, Dis is Dao...Mon Mar 24 1997 12:277
    	(From memory, thus possibly slightly flawed... The beginning lines
    of one of my favourite books):
    
    "In watermelon sugar the deeds were done, and done again as my life is
    done, in watermelon sugar".
    
    
565.2JARETH::LARUau contraire...Mon Mar 24 1997 13:034
    Gotta be Watermelon Sugar, by Richard Brautigan...
      or  is that  too obvious?
    
    /b
565.3Name that Author!FOUNDR::OUIMETTEZat was Zen, Dis is Dao...Mon Mar 24 1997 15:0719
    
    	Obvious it is, but only if you've read the book :^). I wasn't sure
    who else out there might recognize Richard Brautigan's works, as you
    don't hear much about him at all these days :^(.
    
        I'll throw another one out, just because I'm in that kind of a
    mood, and need a break from writing this test plan, until some one else 
    feels like jumping in... Name that author! Topics he's covered include:
    
    1. Beet pollen.
    2. Pan.
    3. The hidden message in a pack of Camel Cigarettes.
    4. Red Headed people.
    
    
    
    	:^).
    
    -Chuck                    
565.4EVMS::OCTOBR::DEBESSseeking all thats stil unsungMon Mar 24 1997 15:113
	Tom Robbins

565.5clue: It's not science fiction...QUARRY::petertrigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertaintyMon Mar 24 1997 15:3514
Tom Robbins would be my guess also...

Okay, how about this one.  One of my favorite quotes from literature,
which I've been known to scribble on bathroom wall's, for some 
godforsaken obscure reason...


"When would he be like the fellows in poetry and rhetoric? They
had big voices and big boots and studied trigonometry."


I think that's close to an exact quote.  

PeterT
565.6FOUNDR::OUIMETTEZat was Zen, Dis is Dao...Mon Mar 24 1997 18:057
    	Re: .4 & .5, Debess & PeterT,
    
    Yup, Tom Robbins it was. Obviously I'll need to think up some harder
    clues... Like .5, for example, which I'm stumped on (unless it's from
    Catcher in the Rye, a WAG)...
    
    -Chuck
565.7SMURF::PETERTrigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertaintyMon Mar 24 1997 21:153
    Catcher in the Rye... nope.
    
    PeterT
565.8did I mention I used to be an English major...QUARRY::petertrigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertaintyTue May 20 1997 17:099
Boy, I really stopped this one cold with the quote I put in 
in .5.  I just happened to use one of my favorite lines from 
the book, but it's buried on page 17 in my edition, and lord
knows it might be a bit obscure.  Just to try to revive
this one once more, the book starts (and I can't say I have
the quote exactly, so it starts something like...)

"Once upon a time, and what a lovely time it was, there was a moo cow
coming down the road..."
565.9OUTPOS::EKLOFWaltzing with BearsWed May 21 1997 17:3211
Re: .5, .8

"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce

From a different source, with far less literary credability than yours :-) (from
memory, so I won't swear it's exact):

	"Destiny's a funny thing.  I once thought my destiny was to be emperor
of Greenland, sole monarch to its 54,000 inhabitants.  Then I thought I was
destined to build a Polenesian long ship in my garage.  I was wrong then.  But
I've got it now..."
565.10ALFA2::DWESTi believe in chemo girl!Wed May 21 1997 17:334
    "Emperor of Greenland"...  i like it...  :^)  has a certain ring to
    it...  
    
    				da ve
565.11Ding ding ding!SMURF::PETERTrigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertaintyWed May 21 1997 18:157
    Portrait of an Artist is correct.  Don't know your's but I can make
    a WAG of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"...
    
    by Robert Prisig (never read it, but what the hey...)
    
    PeterT
    
565.12OUTPOS::EKLOFWaltzing with BearsWed May 21 1997 18:2212
Re: .10

	Actually, as part of Denmark, Greenland does have a queen, currently. 
But yeah, it is sort of a goofy image.

Re: .11

>    a WAG of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"...
>    
>    by Robert Prisig (never read it, but what the hey...)
 
	Nope, never read that one, either, nor owned or maintained a motorcycle.
565.13ALFA2::DWESTi believe in chemo girl!Wed May 21 1997 18:396
    so if one were to become emperor, they could declare independence from
    teh queen, and corner the world market on ice cubes?
    
    sounds like a shrewd career move to me...  :^)
    
    				da ve
565.14SMURF::MROGERSWed May 21 1997 20:023
    Close on the author's name for "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
    Maintenance." It's Robert Pirsig;-). He wrote another one after
    that but I spaced on the name.
565.15nobody will ever believe me though...SMURF::PETERTrigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertaintyWed May 21 1997 20:354
    Pirsig... isn't that what I wrote,  ahh, no Prisig.  Typo!
    
    PeterT
    
565.16Zen took forever to read...KAOFS::C_ROSSWed May 21 1997 20:371
    Re.14 ...  me tinks his other book is Lila...
565.17Hitchhikers?APACHE::ROYI don't drive fast, I fly lowThu May 22 1997 12:1213
    
    	.9  That wouldn't be 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe', by
    mumble mumble, would it?
    
    	Zen.  What a great book.  My brain contracts with philosophical
    input, so some of those parts were difficult for me.  The hardest part
    was the epilogue (at the end), where he talks of the lose of his son.
    At that time, I was not allowed to see my son, and when I read it, I
    lost it, thinking that if anything happened to mine, I could never
    forgive.....  I did find though that I have been trying to live my life
    based on a lot of what he talked about.....
    
    	Glen(n)
565.18the motorcycle you are working on is yourselfRICKS::CALCAGNIice cold water runnin through my veinsThu May 22 1997 13:481
    
565.19don't forget your towelKAOFS::C_ROSSThu May 22 1997 13:562
    ..Hitchiker's Guide was written by Douglas Adams...I think he
    is up to 4 or 5 his series..     Ross
565.20EVMS::OCTOBR::DEBESSblack dirt live again!Thu May 22 1997 14:088
	I had a real hard time reading _Zen and the Art of MM_ too...
	I had to put it down for a while and read a couple other books
	in between before I could finish it.

	The ending was not what I thought - I somehow thought that the
	son was him!

565.21OUTPOS::EKLOFWaltzing with BearsThu May 22 1997 15:134
	No, not Hitchhiker's Guide, or anything else by Douglas Adams.

	The author is from the New England area, and the work in question
spawned a TV series that's seen at least in the US and Canada.