Alexander,

You sound like one very busy man, in terms of reading. In regards to your slushpile, you're way ahead of where I was at your age. Mine has increased to the point where I must now refer to it as "Mount Slush", and I'm still buying books at a much faster rate than I'm reading them at. I hope you have better luck keeping up than I have.

==============================

Well Grasstains I wish you luck with Mtn. Slush! Climb to the top! Quick, at the very least you got to get half way before setting camp!

grasstains--I have several "Mt. Slushes" around my house. They are in closets, in my nightstand drawer, in a basket, and on two piles in my bedroom. Every now and then I try to organize them into piles: ones that I must get to ASAP, piles to give away (Let's face it--If I've had a book for ten years and not "gotten to it," will it ever happen?), piles for summer reading, piles for winter reading, piles for when I'm on vacation, etc. It doesn't help though, because my mountains soon go back to disarray, and I continue to buy, buy, buy, like some kind of addict. It is fun though, when I finish one book, sorting through the piles to pick my next selection. I basically have my own library here! I guess if I have to have an addiction, this isn't a bad one!!

grasstains,

"Stranger" was also one of my favorite books and affected my thinking after reading. That is the sign of a great book. As for Walden, I recently read a few chapters, and here is my favorite passage:

"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. I would drink deeper; fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars. I cannot count one. I know not the first letter of the alphabet. I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born. The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things. I do not wish to be any more busy with my hands than is necessary. My head is hands and feet. I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it. My instinct tells me that my head is an organ for burrowing...and with it I would mine and burrow my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is somewhere hereabouts; so by the divining-rod and thin rising vapors I judge; and here I will begin to mine." (Thoreau, Walden, p.81 from Barnes and Noble books, New York, 1993)

Yestermorrow,

That quote from WALDEN is indeed awesome.

Alexander,

Sturgeon is probably my second favorite author. I haven't read VENUS PLUS X, but be prepared for some of the most honest writing you've ever read. Even Sturgeon's villains are likeable, and sometimes his heroes are unlikeable. He excelled at the short story, and while most of his novels are good (MORE THAN HUMAN is great), it's the shorter length stuff you should read to get the "real" Sturgeon. STURGEON IS ALIVE AND WELL is a great collection. There's a few stories in there which changed my life. Really.

Oh, I should also add that Theodore Sturgeon was one of the first to explore the subject of sex in SF, not just touch on it or treat it clinically, but really get between the sheets or in the gutter.

==============================

This message has been edited. Last edited by: grasstains,

lmskipper,

We are addicts. I guess it's victimless, except for all the trees. WAAAAA!!! We're tree killers! Even our overcrowded/filled to capacity/spilling over bookshelves reek of corrupted limbs. Excuse me while I wash the sap off my hands.

==============================

grasstains--You are so funny! It is definitely an addiction. I have always wanted to get a part-time job in a bookstore, but I'm afraid at the end of the pay period instead of receiving a pay check I would be presented with a huge bill for all the books I bought! I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any more books for at least a month or two, but today I was driving by the local high school and saw on the marquee that they are having their annual used book sale. Every year people donate thousands of books, and you can buy them for $0.50 or $1.00 each. I love walking out with an entire shopping bag of books that only cost me $10.00!! So guess where I'm going tomorrow? There's no help for me!!!!!

Actually I'm sad to say - not really - that I returned the Venus Plus X. I think if I read him, I'll read one of his enduring works. I was planning on buying a different book, or an old pulp mag with the $3.00 I got back, but wasn't able to find the August 1960 Edition of Fantasy and Science Fiction... Which I want badly.

And as for being a tree killer I don't mind.

For anyone who has not tried Theodore Sturgeon. See if this reminds you of another author:

From A SAUCER OF LONELINESS (1953)
-A man is searching the beach for a drowned woman-
"I was crouched there, gasping in the swirl of it, and a flood struck me, shallow and swift, turning up and outward like flower pedals where it touched my knees, then soaking me to the waist in its bubble and crash. I pressed my knuckles to my eyes so they would open again. The sea was on my lips with the taste of tears and the whole white night shouted and wept aloud."

==============================

Okay, I know this isn't the Theodore Sturgeon website, but.....you guys gotta check out this great author. Here's a taste of that candid, sometimes uncomfortable Sturgeon honesty:

From IT'S YOU! (1969)
==============================
"He said, "Well I didn't want you to wake up."

She said the only bitter thing she had ever said to him. She pointed at his crotch and said, "You use that as a kind of sleeping pill for me, don't you?" Then she went back inside.

He stayed to pack away the magazines and then followed. She seemed to be asleep so he got in quietly and did not touch her. They did not talk about it in the morning.

That night they went to another party, and no less than three cats told him at different times how great his threads were. Well, she had good taste, she knew what looked good. The party was beautiful people and two guitars and a side table full of things made of rice and a lot of different kinds of cheese and wine-a dessert. When they got home she went to bed and he went into the bathroom to get rid of the dessert inside and out, and a terrible thing happened to him. He looked into the mirror and did not know who that was in there."

==============================

Most recently finished "Abduction" by John Mack, M.D.; psychological case histories of people claiming connection with et-types. I remain the X Files' Mulder: "I want to believe." Just finished Mr. Weller's EXCELLENT book; it's an awesome achievement, and an absolute MUST for RB fans.

Now reading King's "From a Buick 8," good so far.

On deck, RB's "Chapbook for Burnt-out Priests. . .," and "They Have Not Seen the Stars." Also, "A Salty Piece of Land," by Jimmy Buffett. Completely enjoyed his previous two books, "Tales from Margaritaville," and "Where is Joe Merchant?"

Finished rereading "A Separate Peace" a couple of months ago and was, once again, knocked out by the writing. Anyone else read it?

No time to get to the library? Not an excuse! Here are some "at your fingertips sources":

http://www.infomotions.com/alex/
http://mbhttp://www.readprint.com/hs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybereng/shorts/
http://www.classicreader.com/toc.php/sid.6/
http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SSINDX.HTML
http://www.raybradbury.ru/cgi-bin/page.cgi?014

These may also help some of the teachers that visit this site. You can use the locations to assign students out of class readings. I include these as a part of a distance learning literature class I offer. Hopefully, someone will find them worth noting.

Ah, it's finally starting to cool down out here. I'm in the mood for Fall. My favorite season. I've just picked up a copy of From the Dust Returned, which I haven't read yet. I'm gonna go check it out tight now.

Okay, so I'm reading "From the Dust Returned" and I just read homecoming. Now I can't remember, but wasn't this story anthologised long before this "novel" came out? I'm looking ahead too, there's a chapter called "Uncle Einar". Same "Uncle Einar" story I think it is? Hmm, there was another story I remember reading involving Cecy going on the train with the Grandfather and maybe a brother or cousin or two. Can't remember the title, but I'm guessing that story is going to turn up in this book as well.