Random books from ashleybessbrown's library

The Quantity Theory of Insanity by Will Self

Bluebeard (Delta Fiction) by Kurt Vonnegut

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (An Evergreen book) by Legs McNeil

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

Be not content [a subterranean journal by William J. Craddock

Virtual Light by William Gibson

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Member connections

Friends: Baviv, benwaugh, copyedit52, DerekSwannson, LordNigelKnickKnack, LSDMTMA, michaelstevens, stellarexplorer, swanksalot, theoldman, Tim_Watkinson, yeschaton

Interesting libraries: aliester, AndyGately, Baviv, copyedit52, hayduke, lewiejpd, melsmarsh, michaelstevens, motomama, warmleatherette, yeschaton

LibraryThing authors: Peter Weissman (copyedit52)

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Member: ashleybessbrown

CollectionsYour library (271)

Reviews18 reviews

Tagsmemoir (1), delirium tremens (1), depressants (1), alcohol withdrawal (1), entheogens (1), mind-blowing (1), travelogues (1), psychedelics (1), cosmic (1), epiphany (1) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsBooks Compared, Entheogens

Favorite authorsRam Dass, Philip K. Dick, Stanislav Grof, R. A. Lafferty, Cormac McCarthy, Jean Rhys (Shared favorites)

About meI love: my husband, my dogs, yoga, drawing and books.

About my libraryI love novels and science fiction. I am also very interested in books about entheogens.

Homepagehttp://www.gluttingthesensorium.com

Also onblogspot, MySpace

Real nameAshley

LocationKCMO

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/ashleybessbrown (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ashleybessbrown (library)

Common KnowledgeSeries (22), Awards (111), Characters (612), Places (130)

Member sinceMar 18, 2007

Most recent activity

ashleybessbrown added:
Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture by Roberta Price

ashleybessbrown added:
Childbirth at home by Marion Sousa

ashleybessbrown added:
The Birth Partner: Everything You Need to Know to Help a Woman Through Childbirth, Second Edition by Penny Simkin

ashleybessbrown added:
Idoru by William Gibson

ashleybessbrown added:
Virtual Light by William Gibson

ashleybessbrown added:
Prenatal Yoga & Natural Birth by Jeannine Parvati Baker

Hey ABB,

I see we're united by our "love" of Daniel Pinchbeck. I really like your reviews. They make me want to read the books you've been reading.

All the best,
D

posted by DerekSwannson at 9:08 am (EST) on Aug 19, 2009

I Tell You

I could not predict the fullness
of the day. How it was enough
to stand alone without help
in the green yard at dawn.

How two geese would spin out
of the ochre sun opening my spine,
curling my head up to the sky
in an arc I took for granted.

And the lilac bush by the red
brick wall flooding the air
with its purple weight of beauty?
How it made my body swoon,

brought my arms to reach for it
without even thinking.

*
In class today a Dutch woman split
in two by a stroke - one branch
of her body a petrified silence,
walked leaning on her husband

to the treatment table while we
the unimpaired looked on with envy.
How he dignified her wobble,
beheld her deformation, untied her

shoe, removed the brace that stakes
her weaknesses. How he cradled
her down in his arms to the table
smoothing her hair as if they were

alone in their bed. I tell you -
his smile would have made you weep.

*
At twilight I visit my garden
where the peonies are about to burst.

Some days there will be more
flowers than the vase can hold.

— Susan Glassmeyer

posted by theoldman at 8:07 am (EST) on May 23, 2009

At the risk of sounding unduly obsequious, I must tell you I have enjoyed your reviews -- you are an excellent writer and a sensitive critic!

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:01 am (EST) on May 12, 2009

Ashley, your review of I Think, Therefore Who Am I? has made me immediately go order it! Thank you!

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:38 am (EST) on Apr 30, 2009

Ashley, this seems like the kinda thing you were asking about on Entheogens the other month. Haven't read it, but look at this: http://www.librarything.com/work/6214203

posted by yeschaton at 6:28 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Hi Ashley,

Noticed you liked Trainspotting, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reading my new novel and posting your comments here (as well as on a few other book-related sites). Thought you might like my novel since it's also about a group of disturbed kids and a bit dark (like Trainspotting). I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like. Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 12:38 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2009

Hey, Ashley. I see you're somewhat active today, so I thought I'd drop in. I got your letter, and the drawing. Thanks. It brought back old times when I actually sat down with pen and inks and drew dragons and other fantastic stuff.

posted by copyedit52 at 5:24 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2009

Ashley:

I'm glad you liked it, both the story and the writing (which I work hard at and do take pride in). But I guess I should have made it clearer that when Carl jumped out the window, he died. He hit the pavement five floors down. The Anne in that scene, and before then--when Carl offers me their pad and she rocks on the floor--was the St. Annie of Dylan's song. Patrick Malone, by the way, whose real name was Patrick Murphy, played Jesus Christ in Leary's college road show (he took it on the road from Millbrook). But he was such a distinct character that Leary changed the line, "Rise up, Jesus!" to merely "Rise up, Patrick!" Or so I've heard (I never saw the road show). Or Patrick old me that; he could be a braggart. As for Prime Green and the unfairness of life, I agree, but when I dwell on that, it's hard to write, so I push it aside.

Can you write a review for me somewhere? Amazon? Library Thing?

posted by copyedit52 at 9:37 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2009

Yes, I see that my book came up on your profile, and also amidst "the recent activity" on my own page. In my own obsessive way (you're about to step into my mind, to experience this, for better or worse), I'll be recalling what I've written as if for the first time. A communion of sorts. I like that.

posted by copyedit52 at 10:54 am (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Hey, Ashley, thanks for replying, and most certainly I'll be your friend. I can use all the friends I get, particularly during cabin fever season here in upstate New York. I can use readers too: my book is available online from amazon, barnes&noble, powells books, and maybe some other places I don't know about. I don't encounter Mel Lyman in it, or mention my visit to his Boston commune, but I met (and was fucked over by) other false gurus and crackpots back then, and got pretty blissfully high, of course. I guess I did a lot of entheogens too, though I still don't know what that covers.

posted by copyedit52 at 6:13 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

As a matter of fact, I do. The best horror lives in short stories, and it just so happens that there are three very good anthologies available: "The dark descent" and "The foundations of fear," both edited by David G. Hartwell, and "A century of horror: 1970-1979" edited by David Drake. Also, there's a Shirley Jackson short story called, "The lottery," that has to be read. It's not in the above anthologies, but worth finding.

Cheers

posted by Baviv at 11:31 am (EST) on Jan 6, 2009

Oooo, The haunting of Hill house. Quiet and creepy.

posted by Baviv at 6:39 pm (EST) on Jan 1, 2009

Hi.

posted by Baviv at 7:49 pm (EST) on Dec 10, 2008

I just read your review for Good Morning, Midnight and it made me laugh out loud. I haven't read the book, so my laugh was purely based on your words. Thanks for the pick-me-up.

posted by saucybetty at 7:40 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2008

Yes, I suspect that you do, although it both is and ain't what it used to be. http://www.librarything.com/work/5342718.... Venice Beach, Santa Cruz, Arcata, Ashland, Portland, Astoria and Seattle are good candidates, too.

posted by yeschaton at 4:50 pm (EST) on May 7, 2008

http://www.librarything.com/work/256975

posted by yeschaton at 8:53 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2008

Hey: Mindfuckers: A Source Book on the Rise of Acid Fascism in America, Including Material on Charles Manson, Mel Lyman, Victor Baranco, and Their Followers by David Felton, Robin Green and David Dalton

# Paperback: 324 pages
# Publisher: Straight Arrow Books (1972)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0879320389
# ISBN-13: 78-0879320386

http://www.amazon.com/Mindfuckers-Fascis...

posted by yeschaton at 8:48 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2008

ABB, have you heard of Valancourt Books? Their editor is among us (valancourtbooks), and they specialize in (among others) Gothic horror http://www.valancourtbooks.com/gothiccla.... I dunno, I thought of you when I perused the catalog...

posted by yeschaton at 9:30 pm (EST) on Nov 7, 2007

Ashley:

Pardon my eavesdropping, but I chanced on your question to michaelstevens re: the Mind----ers book.

I owned the original issues of Rolling Stone with the Felton articles on Mel's cult, but I have never seen the the subsequent book ANYWHERE. I think that the title kept it out of the mainstream book stores and the subject matter kept it out of the head shops. I will be on the look out for it.

posted by LordNigelKnickKnack at 8:08 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2007

I can barely find the Capitol of BBQ on a map from way out here in Berkeley, but I'm pleased to meetcha.

posted by yeschaton at 2:43 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2007

I am honored and delighted to make your acquaintance, ashleybessbrown.

posted by LordNigelKnickKnack at 10:35 pm (EST) on Aug 17, 2007

what exactly IS a swirk?

posted by Tim_Watkinson at 4:55 pm (EST) on Aug 6, 2007

go swirk yourself

posted by ashleybessbrown at 8:23 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2007

butt

posted by ashleybessbrown at 8:23 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2007

Welcome to Books Compared. I enjoyed your review of Cruddy. I haven't read it, but we get Lynda Barry's strips in our local alternative newspaper, and I love them. Hope you'll join the discussion and maybe feel inspired to post a comparison review!

posted by margad at 11:33 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2007

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