Out of Egypt:

Alanna, I've been reading the beats too

I discovered Desolation Angels, by Jack Kerouac, at Mike Hardie's house about half a year ago, when I was doing laundry down there. Since Christmas I've been reading it off and on. It's incredible, but the denseness and frenetic thought-clutter of his writing makes it hard to read much at once. The paradox, I suppose, is that if he had written slower, I could read it quicker.

Sometimes I think I should just turn this blog into a set of quotes, with (I suppose) my commentary on them. But since I don't have a computer next to me when I'm engrossed in reading (and anyway it would spoil the mood), I haven't done it yet. But here's just one Beat quote to whet your appetite. It's from the preface:

"A man who uses Buddhism or any other instrument to remove love from his being in order to avoid suffering, has committed, in my mind, a sacrilege comparable to castration." - William S. Burroughs