No, this is not the best-selling James Patterson. This James J. Patterson writes thoughtful essays on Myth, Life, and Literature. This slim book collects some of Patterson’s thoughts on Moby Dick, Henry Miller, and Philip K. Dick.
“Do Conservative Dream of an Electric Jesus?” is a snarky take-off on Philip K. Dick’s classic Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which later inspired the cult movie, Blade Runner. Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckar, a cop assigned to hunting down rogue replicants and killing them. Like all PKD works, the reality of the Future warps and spins in unpredictable directions.
I confess I’m not a big Henry Miller fan. I read some of his books because they were supposed to be “hot” but the sex scenes were tame and all the verbiage around them made the book tedious to me.
I’m a huge fan of Moby Dick, the real Great American novel. There’s nothing like it in the Canon. Patterson writes about Nathaniel Philbrick’s Why Read Moby Dick (2011) in a way that makes me want to reread both Melville’s great novel and then read Philbrick’s book on it.
If you’re in the mood for unconventional essays on a variety of subjects, Junk Shop Window provides clever takes on a wide range of topics. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Nathan Leslie — 1
Part I: The Memory of Tomorrow
Hermes and the Bathtub — 7
The Memory of Tomorrow — 13
A St. Patrick’s Day Schmazzle — 21
The I Behind the I — 31
Do Conservatives Dream of an Electric Jesus? — 39
Digby at the Swan — 49
The Band That Time Forgot — 87
Part II: The World of Yesterday
Who’s a Good Boy? — 79
Hermes at the Spouter Inn — 87
While Writing Roughnecks and Reading Moby Dick — 103
The World of Yesterday — 113
Stirring the Pot on Henry Miller — 133
Hermes at the Kakistocracy Hotel — 151
I’m the Guy Who (Almost) Killed the Guy Who (Almost) Killed Albert Einstein — 161
Acknowledgments — 167
Works Cited — 170
I have never gotten through Moby Dick nor a book by Miller or Dick. Phil was a great fan of Melville.
Patti, I’m with Phil on MOBY DICK. Great novel! I like Philip K. Dick, but he was a very uneven writer. Never liked Henry Miller’s work.
Don’t worry about it, Patti. The number of people who didn’t make it through MOBY-DICK (including me) probably far outnumber those who did, although I haven’t yet given up on the idea of trying again. And all I got out of the first 40 pages of TROPIC OF CANCER was that , yes, dirty books can be boring as hell. I’ll stand up for PKD, though. If you want to try again, go with UBIK or MARTIAN TIME SLIP. If you can’t get through either of those, give up.
As for Patterson, his book sounds like something I could read.
Michael, I think you would enjoy JUNK SHOP WINDOW. Yes, dirty books can be boring as hell as Miller proves. I like PKD, but he wrote a lot of clunkers like THE ZAP GUN.
Maybe he should call himself “The Other James Patterson.” It is definitely the kind of book I like. I did read MOBY-DICK in high school, but I believe it was a much abridged edition. I had the same feeling as you about Henry Miller. I liked the idea of him more than I liked i his books (and don’t even get me started on Anais Nin!). I’ve read mostly Dick’s shorter works rather than the novels.
Jeff, the problem I’ve always had with Philip K. Dick was that he could write a brilliant novel like MARTIAN TIME-SLIP and then write a flop like THE CRACK IN SPACE. I’m fond of DR. BLOODMONEY but had to struggle to finish THE GAME-PLAYERS OF TITAN.