The front and back covers from a book I read at the age of fourteen, fifteen or so, (more than once) -- the bloom high way by Asa Elliot. The book covers the odyssey of Ethen Bloom, a Jewish guy from Long Island, through the 1960s, with detailed descriptions of smoking pot and using other drugs, sex, watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, dropping out of college because his head may not be into Harry Haller at that particular time, meeting real people such as Timothy Leary, evading the draft, and so on. The book was published in 1972. I discovered the book among a bunch of books in boxes my father had. He bought the collection from a guy who was going to start a used bookstore, but who did not do so. The novel (which I would gather is heavily autobiographical) left some impression on me.
For madmen only.
That looks well-worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading "The Age of the Conglomeration" by Thomas Nevins. Picked it up by accident at the library in the new fiction section, but it seems more like science fiction a few pages in. Set 40 years in the future, Medicare and Medicaid are nonexistent along with most people's pensions. The "Conglomerates" are running the country and the "coots" are blamed for the fall of humanity and are being shipped off to elderly communites by force. Fun, fun, fun.
Haven't heard of Nevins, sounds pretty good. You mentioned Stranger in a Strange Land -- coincidentally I am reading that for the first time, very long, will keep me busy for a while.
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