Lot #152: 3 paperback books

1) Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins, 336 pages, 10th printing 1977. First novel by Tom Robbins. What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if "the corpse" on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is - what does that portend for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment, and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tell us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hot dog and eroding the borders of the mind. 2) Riding the Iron Rooster - by Train Through China by Paul Theroux, 451 pages, 1st Ballantine edition May 1989. Theroux hops aboard as part of a tour group in London and sets out for China's border. He then spends a year traversing the country, where he pieces together a fascinating snapshot of a unique moment in history. From the barren deserts of Xinjiang to the ice forests of Manchuria, from the dense metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing, and Canton to the dry hills of Tibet, Theroux offers an unforgettable portrait of a magnificent land and an extraordinary people. 3) Bogie - The Humphrey Bogart Story by Joe Hyams with an introduction by Lauren Bacall + 32 pages of photographs, 174 pages, 1st Signet printing April 1967. Bogie does more than report events. It relives a life. The brawls, the sprees, the razor-edged wisecracks: Hyams describes them all. He recaptures the deep friendships — with Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn. He probed Bogart’s stormy youth; his stubborn climb to stardom; his three rocky marital adventures and his last happy marriage to Lauren Bacll. Pickup category timeslot {A}