Burroughs Books

By far my favorite of all his books. Dress Your Family in Corduroy comes in second and Naked comes in third. His new one with the skeleton on the cover didn't impress. His dry wit and sarcasm make me laugh out loud. He is able to instill humor in the most disturbing circumstances and that's what makes him uniquely David Sedaris.

This book is laugh out loud funny. It got me through a long day of air traveling. Me Talk Pretty One Day is almost like a collection of short stories put together in one book because it doesn't follow the beginning-middle-end format. Each chapter is more or less a chapter in David's life. Either way, the things written in this book will make you loud so laugh others will stare and ask what's in it. I read it in one day, and might read it again if I need a good laugh.

I've read most of David Sedaris' books and this is my favorite. I bought this one because I loaned my first copy out and can't remember who has it. I'll happily read it again and laugh.

For anyone who has ever been to France, or anyone who has suffered the indignities of learning a foreign language, this is the humor book for you! Only be sure to read it in private, because if you're like me you might find yourself laughing out loud on public transportation, which can be embarrassing! Enjoy!

This is the first Sedaris book I've read and I want to read all his others ASAP. I literally laughed out loud through many of the autobiographical essays. While reading at a hotel pool on vacation, I had to get up and move away from all the other people, so I wouldn't disturb them with my uncontrollable laughter. Sedaris' "worldview" is quirky but accurate. His life experiences are often eccentric. This book is a masterpiece of its genre, whatever genre that might be. Maybe Sedaris has invented a new genre --humor/philosophy/autobiography/eccentricity.

Burroughs' work is a reaction to post -1945 cold war America in its radical deployment of tone, style and content. It endured bans, censorship and obscenity trials before hitting bookstores in the early nineteen sixties. But for all that, its continuing power is as spiritual work that makes it more than merely a insightful document of its times.

"Naked Lunch" is no "Ulysses" and yet it shares a kinship with that masterwork. Not so much the use of stream of consciousness but in other stylistic aspects; discontinuity of plot and ideas, in its unreliable narration and author's desire to shock the reader. But more than that, both works contain a transformative imagination.

In subject matter "Naked Lunch" is more extreme than "Ulysses". It repeatedly forces the viewer to see sexual acts, physical violence and self-destruction in a way that is more than shocking. It is about the act of seeing itself, about imagination itself not tied to character or story but to pure vision whether drug induced or not.

The style - anti-narrative and anti-story - Dadaism in American garb, deprives the reader of any fictive crutch that could ease and blur the power of what is written. Even though those mid-century social outcasts, the homosexual and the junky are no longer as outrageous as they were in 1959, how they are depicted, laying bare the human impulses of disgust and destruction, retains the power to shock because in the fifty years since, we've seen many, many drug abusers and homosexuals in literature and pop culture but none of those portrayals are more raw and cringe-worthy than what Burroughs shows us.

The insistence on the otherworldly vulgarity, on the repetition of debased acts has an incantatory, ritualistic quality that only starts to make sense when Burroughs' invokes the Sollubi, an untouchable caste known for their debased existence. He ponders that they might be a fallen priestly caste that take "on themselves all human vileness." The same could be said of "Naked Lunch".

I picked up a copy of NAKED LUNCH at a local bookstore, because I'd recently rented the movie, which left me confused. I thought, well, the book probably sucks, but I'll try anything once. So I went home and thumbed through it, until I finally read the whole book in one sitting overnight.

This book is FASCINATING.

It's a study of addiction, insanity and sex. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that it's very different than the David Cronenberg movie, yet at the same time, it's all too similar. The book feels like "American Psycho," (another book) and it has a hint of Stephen King to it, but also, it feels completely new.

I don't want to give anything away, but I can tell you that if you like weird stories, you're probably going to like this book. It's full of all sorts of dark wonders.

~ Bronner

Reading William S. Burroughs' drug-induced, hallucinatory nightmare that is Naked Lunch was, is, and always will be, a hard book to read. There is no real narrative of any sort to be found in a majority of Naked Lunch, as one reads of the graphic, frequently disgusting world of Interzone and its inhabitants. What has always made Naked Lunch so remarkable is Burroughs' startling imagery that is as fragmented as a drug addict's thoughts, as Burroughs pulls no punches in these pages. If you have never read Naked Lunch before, chances are you will not enjoy what you read here, like many reviews here already state. That aside, Naked Lunch remains not only one of the most important pieces of literature to emerge out of the beat generation, but one of the most important, genre-changing works to emerge in the past century. This "Restored Text" features essays and letters from Burroughs, as well as what one would call "deleted scenes" were this a film as supplemental features, but regardless of what edition of Naked Lunch you read, make no mistake that it is a stomach churning, emotionally draining, and above all thought provoking, look into the mind of an addict in a dangerous world. If you have any sort of hesitations, try to put them aside and give Naked Lunch a chance at the very least. You may be glad that you did. Maybe.

I finished this book only a few weeks ago and writing this only now because it left me speechless for so long. Yes, I am going to be one of those people that call and consider this book and it's author genius and visionary.

I cannot say too much, it is a kind of book that you read and find great but when people ask you why you cannot say a damn word. It is breath taking, wonderful and all this superficial stuff but you have to read this to fully get the idea. Read this and all it's follow ups: The Soft Machine, The Ticket that Exploded and the Nova Express.

Just read this. The brutally honest way Burroughs opens up his deepest, innermost parts of his soul is touching and opens up you too, sure I know there are a lot of sick, or "sick", things depicted but those are only things that exist in all of us only Burroughs had the courage and stomach to bring his soul up to the light.

Note: what is considered sick and what is not is only a matter of upbringing and cultural surrounding, take for instance Thailand, the middle east, the far east and so on. So if someone labels this or anything else as "sick" that someone is simply narrow minded. Period.

I have read Ted Morgan's Bibliography about Burroughs - "Literary Outlaw" and Burroughs had an extraordinary life, and had fabulous insights based on his life and habits, and was blessed with awesome literary friends that came to his rescue when he most needed it. I highly recommend the Bibliography by Morgan, it was definitely a "five star" read. Based on this book I read Junky and the Yage Letters and find Burroughs's honesty in these books and letters to be an incredible description of happenings in his life. I highly recommend these books.

However, Naked Lunch, although obviously many think it has literary value, I have not found it. Enough of the psycho-sexual babble, on and on. The description of abuse of third world boys is more than I could handle, obviously demonstrating his inability to satisfy his real life desires. Dreams, hopes and hallucinations only the author, and obviously many others other than myself, find of incredible insight. I will give the man this - he did have a good perspective of the world from his travels and personal life, and he obviously had opinions and thoughts that ran contrary to the grain. However I really fought to finish this book, in hopes of finding the "meaning". I found Editor's notes and some of the outtakes much more interesting than the book itself. I do not recommend this book.

this is the easiest most effective way to feel better and loose weight. a buddy of mine got me started on this and you can do it from 10 to 40 days..... i did it for 15, i lost 20 pounds, lost my heartburn trouble and got more energy for work. And NOT once did i feel like i was starving even thought that's all i had for 15 days. Everytime i was hungry i just drank more. And with work i am on call 24 hours a day and this was easy to keep up with and saved A LOT of money during the process (since this is all i had when i was on the go). Forget about pills and stuff.. i have tried them all...

I've been doing the Master Cleanser regularly for about 10 years now and I have to say that despite the nay-sayers, I find it to be a lovely way to give my body a break and allow some deep healing and cleansing to happen.

Is it easy? No. But now I actually sense when my body wants this little vacation from digestion and it feels really good. I've done this for 3 days (after an initial longer fast) for a weekend tune-up, I used to do this every Monday as a one day per week body rest, and I've done it as long as 21 days. Ultimately, I'd love to do a 40 day version sometime.

I always find that when doing the MC I have loads of energy, sleep deeply and need less sleep and feel terrific in general. The detoxing does result in some not so pleasant symptoms, but knowing it's a sign that you're cleaning house makes it a positive thing.

I don't, however, see this as a weight loss technique, because obviously once you resume eating, even if it were to be obscenely healthy, you will certainly put some weight back on. Most likely all of the weight you lost, but I've observed a lot of these fasts and it seems that people with lots of excess weight to begin with are so loaded with toxins that when they do this some of that weight loss is permanent. A healthier person or someone for whom excess weight is more of an emotional shield might not see the same result. Still, I've seen many people do this purely for weight loss and they are almost always really disappointed at the end. This is, first and foremost, a cleanse.

I must also advise that like others, I can't even stomach the idea of the salt water flush so I turn to the use of Triphala, a gentle but very effective (and not habit forming) nutritional supplement you can take as capsules or tea to move the bowels during the fast. Most of the teas designed for that purpose are habit forming and downright uncomfortable. Triphala solves that dilemma for me because you don't feel any cramping but it does keep things moving.

I also highly recommend going out of your way if need be to find the Grade B maple syrup because I felt a huge difference between doing it with that and with the standard Grade A, which is lighter and has fewer minerals. I just felt less energetic and stable with the lighter syrup.

I've seen a lot of controversy about this cleanse but the bottom line is that there are many paths to wellness and not every path is for every person. if this doesn't appeal to you, chances are that's your body telling you something. Or you might not be ready. Believe it or not, major food cravings seem to diminish or outright disappear by day 3 or so and I've always been able to maintain full work energy and even continue to do yoga and run on this fast.

It's also worth doing this before making any major dietary changes to prepare for the shift. For example, if reducing your intake of meat, sugar, dairy, etc. The sugar part might seem counterintuitive, but on this fast you consume less sugar still than the average diet consists of, believe it or not.

All in all, this is a really great booklet to read and keep on hand. Trust your body's wisdom and when this calls to you, answer. ;)

This is a great book if you want to get healthy and feel great this will do it. love it so easy to read and understand.

What can I say about this gem of a book that has not been said. this book is a must have for anyone serious about maintaining optimum health and vitality, I have bought and given this book to so many people and realized I no longer had a copy for myself and had to order another. Stanley Burroughs book certainly will point an individual in the right direction. I can only say thank god this man wrote this gem of a book.

Interesting book. Originally published in 1976, it's short and sweet- and actually held together by two staples. Readers may also know this "master cleansing" diet and "the lemonade diet." Having said that....

What do you do? Drink 6-12 glasses a day of a concoction made up of lemon or lime juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water. No other foods should betaken during ther full period of the diet.

What's it's purpose? to dissolve and eliminate toxins that have formed in any part of the body

When do you use it? According to the book, when sickness has developed-good for all acute and chronic conditions.

How often? For a minimum of 10 days and up to 40 days and beyond in serious cases. Good to do 3-4 x year.

The book ends with a list of suggested natural aids (such as coconut oil or oil of clove) for various "minor inconveniences" (such as warts, dandruff). A book not to be missed by hardcore detoxifiers, its not for the faint of heart. Other self-help books I enjoyed include The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution.

Augusten Burroughs does not come across as what you'd call a "nice person," but he's so very honest, funny, and sometimes self-deprecating that the reader can't help being on his side, as he battles a crazy cleaning lady, kills a mouse in his tub, and moves in and out of quasi-relationships with gorgeous, but unsuitable men. And frankly, he appeals to that deep, dark, mean corner we all have suppressed inside, that place where we want to make a snide comment about someone's fatt butt or stupid hairdo. I adore how he hated sickeningly perfect Raoul on their first date, and his description of his schoolteacher in the opening chapter was a delight.

When Dennis enters the picture, we see Augusten's tender side, his appreciation for another's vulnerability, and we start to think perhaps Augusten has been holding out on us, letting us see only his vanity/insecurity polarity, his delayed-reaction remorse for mouse-killing and child-frightening, keeping this kinder Augusten hidden until the time is right.

While reading this book, I couldn't help thinking that I'd love to have him over for dinner, but I wouldn't let him babysit my child.

Augusten Burroughs is a great writer and enigmatic presence on the literary scene.

If you enjoy his writing, you will enjoy this one. It made me laugh out loud and giggle after wards.

I enjoyed "Dry" and "Running" very much, but I laughed more reading this one. I read "Beating Raoul" out loud to friends and we all cracked up. Funny chapters throughout.

i totally love augusten's way of thinking. he's so funny and smart. love everything i've ever read by him. i feel like i have a best friend when i read his work. i love it!

Aug proves that he is a literary genius, time after time. I LOVED THIS BOOK!! The format was interesting, never leaving you bored or lost. It was a compilation of short stories about his life, all humorous and thought provoking.

This is the first book I've read by Augusten Burroughs and honestly, I can't believe I read it through the end. The plot is formulaic and implausible and the characters are one-dimensional. Now, I understand that this book is "comedy" and because of that, doesn't have the same conventions of a regular novel. But unfortunately, the humor smacks of lazy writing and lack of imagination. In short, it's just plain bad, bad, bad.

The only people I imagine finding this funny are people who think Jay Leno's monologues are a hoot. If you appreciate good comedy, pass by this one and thank me later.

I like this author, and the book has a great premise. Unfortunately, I don't think the author cared enough about them to ever bring them to life. The situations in this book are quite hilarious -- and they would work really well as a popcorn movie. It's just not a book.

Sellevision, By Augusten Borroughs, is sadly dissapointing. It is predictible and childish. By neglecting to develop some of the characters the depth of the main character is limited. This is the story of Peggy Jean, the second leading host on the home shopping network, Sellevision. Peggy Jean is plagued by a stalker, and then devoleps a drug addiction. Lame. Another character, Max, has an embarrassing moment reminiscent of that is broadcast live on national television and is forced to leave his job at Sellevision. To handle Max's struggle to get a new job, Burroughs resorts to a gay cliche in a plot riddled with Cliches. turns to gay porn. Another character, Leigh, has an affair with the boss at Sellevision, and struggles to obtain his love. Bebe, the lead host on Sellevision, is very lonely, and channels this abandonment through shopping. She starts to go on a wide array of dates through the internet.

The thing that really bothered me in Sellevision, is that, the gay man conquered the least. In most books I read, the homosexual man is put down. I thought this would be different from a gay author. I know the world can be more difficult for gay men, but I thought that possibly, for once, the gay man would triumph. All the characters in the book make great accomplishments, While Max struggles to keep hold of his life.

Enjoyable and easy to read, though I didn't find it hilarious like some of the other reviews. Found some of the characters to be quite true to life, and reflected some of the horror of TV hosts that we are subjected to on these shopping networks!

First, let me say that Augusten Burroughs is one of my favorite authors overall. But this book just did not work. I kept waiting for it to get better, and wanted to throw it across the room when I finally finished it. I wanted my money back. More than that, I wanted my life back -- the time I'd wasted reading this. The characters are despicable and unlikeable. I checked into the order of his work, and found that he'd actually written this BEFORE "Running With Scissors." In my opinion, each book he's written has gotten consistently stronger. Running With Scissors was good, but a bit uneven in pacing and dragged at times. "Dry" was perfection. "Magical Thinking" was outstanding as well. I feel like Burroughs' talents have evolved as a writer, and Sellevision was a sophomoric effort. I think they are riding on his other successes to get this published and sold now. Or at least that's what I thought until I saw so many positive reviews for the book. Still, do know that his other books are ALL memoirs and this is fiction, and it just doesn't have the same voice at all. The whole thing felt very forced to me.

Possible Side Effects

Augusten Burroughs has the ability to to tell experiences at all stages of his young life and turn some not so great memories into side-splitting laughter. Who doesn't embellish (a little) once you have grabbed the attention of your audience? Well that is what he does, just enough to make the story humorous. If you need a little laughter READ THIS BOOK. After my eyes would dry, I had to go back and read that paragraph or page again - only to have the same result. These are all short stories so you don't feel (too) frustrated having to put the book down. My favorites were "The Wisdom Tooth", "Getting To No You", and "Moving Violations" . I loved this book and will soon be reading his others. I am glad my first read was "A Wolf at the Table" as it explained to me more about his quirky family - immediate and extended - although "..Wolf.." does not have the humor this book does. Not a book for youngsters - maybe not teens either. A few stories are quite liberal with language, but it is not offensive in the sense that it works with that particular experience. Would I recommend this book to my twentysomething son or daughter? YES.

Augusten Burroughs has a way of making mundane events laughable. Possible Side Effects has no plot. It's a series of recollections, but it's his cynical/naive/self destructive point of view that makes the work even more addictive than a continuous storyline.

I love this book....a very easy read. The author has a great wit and interesting life story to tell.
It got my 16 year old son to read again.

I own a copy of this book and found it hilarious, so I thought it'd be fun to listen to it while I'm working out or doing housework or whatever. I was wrong.

While Mr. Burroughs writing style is breezy, sarcastic, and hilarious, he can't read worth a damn. It's not his fault. He's never purported to be an actor, but for some reason here he is. I guess it's supposed to be a selling point that an author reads his own work, but what about when the author reads adult material as if he's reading to a group of schoolchildren? (And not ironically, either.) It's like a jr. high school play, where you sometimes have to strain to understand what the speaker is saying. Even though it's in English, words are sing-songy or run together, the pauses plentiful and misplaced, and emphasis is placed on every second or third word.

JE-sus.

I wish someone had had the sense to be honest with Mr. Burroughs and suggest hiring voice talent after hearing the first set of his recordings. As it is, I had to give up somewhere in the middle of the second essay. I couldn't stand to hear his excellent source material bungled so badly.

This is by far one of the funniest books I have ever read. After reading Possible Side Effects I decided to buy as many books by Augusten Burroughs as I could.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a twisted sense of humor. You will laugh out loud and repeat the stories to your friends, I promise.

There was a lot of experimentation in speculative fiction back in the late 60s and early 70s, and many such works do not hold up for present readers. This bizarre experiment by Ballard is a partial exception and will make an impact with those readers patient enough to figure it out. The original text is a non-linear anti-plotline, dripping with obtuse postmodern construction techniques, so experience with slogging your way those types of writing methods will be a plus. Readers who do not expect the experimental writing style herein might find the book either boring or completely incomprehensible. Even Ballard himself has recommended that the book be read out-of-order. With that being said, adventurous readers willing to fight through Ballard's experimentation will find occasionally terrifying and always thought-provoking snippets on modern society's obsessions with sex and violence, plus a running condemnation of the hyperactive and bowdlerized media landscape. (Some academic knowledge of media patterns would be another advantage before reading the book.) Here Ballard also introduces the basic themes that would form the basis of his later and even more bizarre novel "Crash."

The illustrated 1990 edition of this book adds some features that will probably aid in the reader's comprehension. The annotations from Ballard himself are informative, as is the original preface by William S. Burroughs (though you can disregard the worshipful 1990 intro from the editors). While Ballard's non-linear and postmodern construction are showing their age, readers willing to sink their teeth (and minds) into the text will find an atrociously brain-bending experience. It's certainly not for everyone, though. [~doomsdayer520~]

*The Atrocity Exhibition* is a book so radically original in concept and execution it renders itself resistant to practically any attempt to rate it by ordinary standards. Lacking both conventional plot and characterization, bearing a structure closely resembling collage, and a syntax that sometimes seems to slip into a style reminiscent of automatic writing and word association, one might make the case that *Atrocity* is neither novel nor novella, neither entirely fiction nor entirely nonfiction--indeed, *The Atrocity Exhibition* represents a text outside any established genre whatsoever and therefore against what standard can you judge it, except, perhaps, the only relevant one: is it worth reading?

It is.

What you have here, basically, is a sort of literary assemblage loosely radiating around a dense gravitational core of obsessions--cultural, sexual, and psychological representative of the postmodern countdown to the anti-climactic nothing that took the place of the apocalypse we'd all been expecting.

The JFK assassination, the media representation of iconic Hollywood stars, the Vietnam war, the geometric sterility of highways and car parks, and the mythology of the American automobile as a symbol of speed, consumerism, sexuality, and the allure of violent death are some of the structuring themes around which *The Atrocity Exhibition* is built. Fans--or detractors--of Ballard's controversial *Crash* will find much of that later work prefigured here, but *The Atrocity Exhibition* is far more atrocious, far more deliciously tasteless than *Crash*, which, by comparison, now seems almost a "mainstream" novel.

Composed in an often flat, documentary style purposely reminiscent of a scientific paper, which, at times, it ostensibly is, *The Atrocity Exhibition* is one of the more extreme transgressive texts by a well-known author you're likely to read. In great part because Ballard employs real-life celebrities and historical personages as the victims of his x-rated brand of stylized violence and because of the matter-of-fact delivery of even the most outrageous sexual and political theories, the effect of *The Atrocity Exhibition* is in many ways even more shocking than, say, Burroughs's *Naked Lunch.* Ballard's fictional characters move through a surrealistic landscape of constantly shifting, never resolved, but always ominous aura, the borders between sanity and insanity, simulation and reality, fiction and fact open to interpretation. Is Ballard serious? Does he really mean the things he's saying? What's so disturbing is that one has to ask the question at all. There's a certain psychopathic truth to even the most radically insane theories proposed in *The Atrocity Exhibition,* the kind of simulacra of "truth" that is often inextricably wound into the schizophrenic rant of the insane. Is it possible that reality itself can't be rationally explained without recourse to insanity?

In this edition, Ballard has contributed sidebar annotations which are often every bit as thought-provoking as the text itself. Written from a perspective nearly three decades after the initial publication of *Atrocity,* Ballard's notes illuminate much of the circumstances and influences that inspired the text. It's striking how prescient Ballard was about events and trends that would eventually come to pass and how spot-on were his satiric takes on politics, media, war, and sex. *The Atrocity Exhibition* often reads like a prophetic text from an earlier time that eerily describes, even at its blackest, our obscene present--a sort of postmodern "Book of Revelation."

Hardly what one would call an "easy read," *The Atrocity Exhibition* requires attention and patience as well as a taste for experimentation and a connoisseur's palate for perversity. This book offers a feast for such readers, comparable to those super-exclusive restaurants of urban legend that serve Heart of Lion Medallions or Broasted Leg of B-movie Starlet--hard to find establishments, all-but-impossible to get into, certainly not for the hoi-polloi, but well worth the price of admission if nothing else can satisfy your jaded appetite. You've been warned. Here's your invitation to the Exhibition. Enjoy.

The Atrocity Exhibition is written with the kind of breath of a William S. Burroughs novel; particularly Naked Lunch. In both novels the characters seem to be lost in the labyrinth of their own mind. Whether or not the four male characters of Atrocity Exhibition are in fact living in a drug induced hell remains a mystery.
However what is clear, and believe me there is a lot left unclear in this work, is that the characters are living fractured lives. They are traumatized by events beyond their control. In a desperate attempt to gain some power over themselves, they grasp at one another, tearing apart emotions and using their bodies as a temple for self-actualization. It is difficult to grasp a cohesive narrative structure out of the novel and in a sense it is an anti-novel.
With characters and events that remain unclear, like Elizabeth Taylor and her ambiguous "gill slits." Despite these elements of nonsense this novel remains a kind of testament to how desperate people are to truly have a sense of self.
Once that self is grasped the characters enter some kind of new world where their dreams or fantasies become their reality. It is a kind of egotism where the sexual is not erotic but painful, the kind of pain found in isolation. Here you have to have a sense of methaphors and be able to pick apart the novels short-comings because it does get rather torrid trying to understand a work without empathy.
As the novel goes on I realized that Ballard wrote it in a way that he understands the inner-self so much that all he can do is show how these people experience reality. Without empathy the work becomes a lost testament to how disaffected people have become.

"The Atrocity Exhibition is the industrial brain-terrorism of a drug fetus and JG Ballard rapes the digital-chimpanzee's naked body in the corpse feti=streaming circuit of the abolition world." - Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric

the atrocity exhibition is a watershed and seminal work in the canon of jg ballard. ballard is regarded and indeed classified as a writer in the 'science fiction' genre. if you consider science fiction to be the domain of 'star wars' et al. then reappraise, reevaluate and restart your imaginative capacity NOW.
ballard bestrides the real essence of what science fiction is all about. along with genre peers like william s burroughs and philip k dick ballard lets our everyday reality somersault into malleable form in order to glimpse through its creases as it bends and flips. and that is what science fiction is truly about.
the atrocity exhibition retells the imaganitive interpretation of a world gone vacant and disused despite its technological grandeur and will to power. the narrative dispells the need to lurk in the shadow of pessimmism for a dystopian world view of 'the future'. like pk dick, ballard is recounting a parallel universe that we are, in fact, already in yet refuse, deny and thus - vainly - extricate ourselves from. ballard simply removes the blinkers from our eyes and reveals the panaramic vision of 'our times'. less a parallel universe than a 'concurrent' one.
one aspect of ballards narrative(s) in general and (just one) significant difference when compared to the likes of philip k dick and burroughs, is the total lack of paranoia permeating the text.
ballard in my view is more prophet than paranoid.
the atrocity exhibition is one man's coming to sense with the 'real' world by tortuous and torturous understanding... he has to go 'mad' first.
i got my copy through RE/SEARCH PUBLICATIONS and anybody interested in the left of centre (and therefore) more substantial literary experience should check them out post-haste.

After reading a few 5 star reviews and one 1 star review of Leanne Burroughs's second book, HER HIGHLAND ROGUE, I had misgivings about buying either of her first two books. The synopsis for each book sounded appealing, though, and the fact that the majority of reviewers rated HER HIGHLAND ROGUE highly, made me take a chance and buy both books.

I have to say, I was not overwhelmed by HIGHLAND WISHES. I didn't find either Tory or Grant, the two main characters, particularly compelling. Tory, at age 17, has endured far more abuse and hatred in her life than is believable. Grant doesn't treat her much better after taking her prisoner, even allowing his drunken best friend to nearly rape her on the dining tables in the main hall in front of his clan, who also hate her. Except for a few demands that Grant release her, Tory quietly and efficiently completes all of her chores under brutal conditions, and at the same time does things that eventually win members of the clan onto her side.

I had trouble swallowing the fact that a clan would leave Annie, a very young orphan girl, living on her own with no known home or means of being fed or obtaining clothing.

The incident with Michael was baffling to me and I scanned back through the book trying to figure out who he was. He was introduced as though he were someone the reader should be famililar with. It wasn't until I continued reading on that I finally understood this was his first appearance in the book.

Most, if not all, of the misunderstandings and strife that occurs between Tory and Grant, does so because they don't communicate by asking for simple clarification. Each assumes they know what the other's actions or words mean and respond accordingly.

Finally, I found the extraordinary number of typos (including the wrong title at the top of every other page, and once referring to Tory as "Catherine", the heroine of her next book) very distracting.

While I didn't find this story so bad it wasn't worth finishing, I also didn't find it particularly engaging. It isn't something I would read again.

I often find myself buying more of newer writers that established names. There is a passion of the write, still in love with the process, a heart that makes a new writer a bit more enjoyable to me. I found that passion in Her Highland Wishes. I also loved Grant Drummond. A true Alpha hero that is a true dashing Highlander.

I am reading the second book in the series now. Her Highland Rogue and finding it just as enjoyable.

I have never in my life read a book with so many grammatical errors. It was unreal. It may have been easier to overlook if the story actually went somewhere...

I have Injoyed this book for the second time. and wish to make sure I had wrote A reveiw Too my Sirprise I had not So am doing it now It's well written to me show That Newer writer can write just as well as the old timer's hahahaa I love Story's set In Scotland out of 99% of all books set in it I love them. this Book was a very good Book to read.I will not go On about what it about you have to read it yourself and injoy. I hope as much as I did.

I know this is a work of fiction, but to say it is 'historical' is a HUGE stretch!! The way that the author portrayed life in 1296 is not realistic. The lead male character, Grant, is the 'Dr. Phil' of the 13th century. Grant should be a busy laird responsible for his clan at a time Scotland was preparing to fight against the oppression of England. (An ineffective representation of William Wallace is depicted in this book as the legendary freedom fighter appears briefly.) However, Grant seems to have all kinds of free time for therapy sessions with his English prisoner turned wife, encouraging her to 'share' her feelings/experiences. The leading lady, Tory, made repetitive dim-witted decisions that made it hard to respect her character. About 1/8 of the book was dedicated to dragging out every Christmas tradition ever heard of and boring the reader as scenes played out in words. After spending $16.95, I felt an obligation to read this book. If you are a history buff and enjoy works from authors such as Diana Gabaldon, skip this read. IT WAS PAINFUL!!!

John Carter, after heroically saving Barsoom ends up missing, and hence has a bit of an earthly stay.

Making it back to Mars, he finds he has been gone for ten years, but is soon back in the thick of it and back to back with Tars Tarkas.

Yet again there is his Princess to track down, a nasty cannibal monster religion to overturn, and as something is rotten in the state of Helium, mass battles to be fought alongside the descendants.

More stirring Martian adventure.


3.5 out of 5

I just finished Gods Of Mars and am ready for chapter 3. I feel truly fortunate to have "discovered" burroughs at 43. The rush of action, the clash of steel and its all mine for the taking. I have been forewarned that perhaps after the first three books it becomes hit and miss but I shall discover that for myself. Do yourself a favor and pick up A Princess Of Mars - book 1 - if you haven't already.

Burroughs gets a lot of love for his Tarzan books, but one never hears much about these books. If you love adventure stories, swashbuckling, and good old fashioned rescue missions, you'll love this series. CLASSIC in every sense of the word.

Thank you for having these books for sale. My mother loved the John Carter series, I bought a set and kept them for good reading. One day I offered them to my son, and he won't even lend the books out, he loves them so much. I hope to complete my set. PS, I gave the books to my sister who was curious about our Mom's reading likes. So I may order yet another set for myself.

The Viking lander in the 70's proved there was no life on Mars. If you just forget that while reading this book you will enjoy it from beginning to end. Gods of Mars takes place ten years after the first John Carter Mars book, A Princess of Mars, but you really don't have to read it to enjoy this one. Another note, this there is a John Carter of Mars movie in the works due out some time in 2006-(7?). Check out this imdb link to learn more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401729/

Very intense and for sure experimental,This is a work of literary art.Exterminator comes from a new dimension of literary genius.It is bold,daring and to put it mildly, "Revolutionary" in tone,style,and method.This novel could only come to fruition from a literary giant. ps.This is an acquired taste to read...

I got this book because we had to read it for a class that I was taking. I was optimistic when I started it, but several pages in, I put it down and didn't want to pick it back up. Gross, weird, awkward, , and EWWWWWWW are all words that I have to describe it. I tried several times to finish it, but decided instead to pick up on class discussions to aid me in my tests. I just couldn't do it! Totally not my cup of tea!

Like many people, I first heard about William S. Burroughs by way of "Naked Lunch." I don't know what I was expecting to find in this book that wasn't in that one, but I can say quite comfortably that it wasn't here. Saying it that way probably makes my opinion of the book sound worse than it really is, but I stand by it. The problems with this book mainly relate to the lack of thematic consistency between sections. This might sound like a rather absurd criticism of Burroughs (after all, some would argue the whole point of his work in general goes against holistic consistency) but I intend to qualify what I mean. In "Naked Lunch," for example, most vignettes relate at least superficially to the notion of control and how it can be abused. That's the reason why the "cut-up" method of "Naked Lunch" worked so well and why the cut-up method of "Exterminator!" does not. "Exterminator!" is truly cut up with the various vignettes alternating between the trite and inane to the overtly political and back again. As I finished this book, I was left with a feeling of profound dissatisfaction: there are some truly brilliant moments in this book ("From Here To Eternity," "Wind Die. You Die. We Die.," the eponymous opening story, the satires of Scientology, and so forth) but most of the rest of the sections miss their marks entirely. There is a true lack of artistic focus here that hinders Burroughs's words more than any obscene content (which, arguably, abounds in "Exterminator!") could ever hope to do. I could conceivably recommend this book to die-hard Burroughs fans (owing to the aforementioned sections and those like them) but casual readers need not apply.

I found this in the library at about age 15 or 16.
Looking at it a certain way, I was lucky - some boys
my age read "The Fountainhead" or "Atlas Shrugged",
and have their minds destroyed. I read "Exterminator!"
and had my mind - well, altered in strange ways.

To give an idea of how sheltered I was, there's a scene
where a teenage boy is described as having a 'hardon'.
I did not know what that meant, and could not figure it
out by context.

This is a strange book, not one of WSB's best, but defintely
worth a look if you like this sort of thing.

The story within the book, "Exterminator", caused shifts in my consciousness that have not been rivalled to this day. It moved me from one world of thought to another imperceptibly and then back again, almost before I realized any change had occurred at all. Kinda like the channels being changed on a tv, but the thread of the story is continuous throughout, even as the channels are changing! The odd thing is you don't realize you've been "watching" another channel until the set has been switched back to the original! All via the genius of William S. Burroughs.