Author Crush: Tom Robbins

I am not sure when I first started reading Tom Robbins, but I’m guessing it was some time in the ’80s, and I know it was when I picked up at a used bookstore a copy of his early work, Still Life with Woodpecker. The title intrigued me, and then the plot itself, such as it is.  Redheads, pyramids, alien conspiracies, and the philosophy of life. This was mind-bogglingly weird, and I wanted more. Here are a few of my favorite Robbins novels.

 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.  Born with enormous thumbs, Sissy Hankshaw puts them to good use by becoming a hitchhiker, traveling to New York to model for a gay feminine products tycoon who sends her along to the Rubber Hose Ranch, where she meets the transcendent Bonanza Jellybean.

Jitterbug Perfume.  Exiled by his subjects when his first gray hair comes in, King Alobar seeks immortality and finds it through his reincarnated mate Kudra, the Greek god Pan, and the smell of beets. 

Skinny Legs and All.  Trailed by several sentient inanimate objects, Ellen Cherry Charles travels to New York in an aluminum roast turkey to bring art and transcendence to Middle East politics.

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates.  Switters, a pacifist CIA agent who embraces all his self-contraditions, must travel to a Moroccan nunnery to rid himself of a curse that keeps his feet off the ground.

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6 responses to “Author Crush: Tom Robbins”

  1. Linda J.

    Seeing the cover of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues brings back all kinds of happy memories from my first Tom Robbins’ experience. I thought of Sissy whenever I hitchhiked (which wasn’t often, but I like to romanticize those days …).

    Reply
  2. Winnie

    My daughter had a friend whose mum, before she retired, worked for Robbins publisher. She said that the best part of her job was having coffee with him.

    Reply
  3. Wally

    I can only imagine how fun a conversation over coffee with Tom Robbins would be, but he’s not everyone’s cup of tea (ahem). His work is always funny and playful, but deeply thought-provoking as well.

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  4. David W

    A girl I was fond of in college gave me a copy of ‘Still Life with Woodpecker,’ and so that one will always have the highest ‘crush quotient’ for me. Plus I think that is the one where Tom talks about seeing the blackberries actually growing and engulfing the landscape in real time, which I’m pretty sure I’ve seen myself.

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  5. broo

    Of course, Robbins’ finest is his first: “Another Roadside Attraction” from which he ‘milked’ so many ideas that popped up again in his later novels….
    (and then let’s not forget that the Richmond Beach library, a branch in KCLS — and my home branch growing up!, made a guest appearance in “Still Life with Woodpecker”!)

    Reply
  6. Reese

    If you’re a TR fan, be sure to check out Book-It Repertory Theatre’s production (http://www.book-it.org/) of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Sept. 16-Oct. 12. I expect BIRT will have great fun bringing this unique treasure to the small stage.

    Reply

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