Landmark books of my adolescence
Despite being restricted by a ridiculous degree of paternal strictness, one of the few liberties and indeed pleasures I enjoyed in the family home was the complete freedom of my father's collection of books.

1985: Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall - Spike Milligan

Aged eleven and thoroughly bored within a few days of the start of the school summer holiday, I sauntered into our spare room, which contained a seventies style pine bookcase - complete with sliding glass doors - in search of adventures anew.

Dad's collection of pulp science fact didn't hold my attention for very long, despite being full of conjecture about how humankind would be colonizing space and somesuch.

What I eventually found was my very first "grown up" book. I remember seeing the name "Spike Milligan" and I knew that he was very funny, so I lifted it from the shelf, sat on the sofabed that summer afternoon and began to read, which sparked a lifelong admiration for the unique humour of Spike Milligan.

AHMPIHD was probably quite inappropriate reading for an eleven year old, but the sheer absurdity of Milligan's verse and zany sketches had me laughing uncontrollably within minutes of pouring over the pages. I can still piece together the sentence which tipped me over the edge:

"On September 3rd 1939, a man called Chamberlain, who did Prime Minister impressions announced that we (I loved the "we" part) were at war with Germany. The people next door panicked, burned their post office books and took in their washing"

For the next five weeks, I read, reread and laughed out loud. The book itself turned somewhat dog-eared as more of the sligtly yellowed pages freed themselves from the hardened binding glue and tumbled into my lap.

Very few people can make silly humorous to both a child and an adult audience. Milligan pulled this off with aplomb.

1988: The Songs Of Distant Earth - Arthur C Clarke

Arthur C Clarke was a very remarkable man, a visionary even, credited with the invention of the communications satellite and several other items of fictional technology which have become commonplace today. His gift was his ability to convey these new worlds he created to a wider audience, beyond the stereotypical nerds and geeks who traditionally lapped up science fiction. Reading Clarke opened the mind, instead of battering it with geekspeak and crass technobabble, part of this was due to his visions of the future being distinctly Utopian, despite occasional brushes with catastrophe. According to Clarke, the future would be largely benign and not without opportunities for dry wit. Fine by me.

His style was broadly similar to Issac Asimov (who I discovered much later), although my biggest criticism of Clarke was the fact that his characters seemed to be so two dimensional and wooden, as if purposely avoiding stealing the scene from the storyline. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the most widely explored character of 2001 was indeed the computer HAL himself.

Songs of Distant Earth changed that somewhat. With the backdrop of an extraordinary tragedy, the likes of which eclipses anything yet envisaged by Hollywood's disaster genre, a doomed love affair begins to blossom between the book's two main characters, one of whom is already married.

There are some not very subtle references to homosexuality in amongst the pages, but perhaps the most obvious theme echos that of loss of innocence, akin to that imagined when small island communities played unexpected host to sailing ships from Europe hundreds of years ago. The parallels between the book and the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty are obvious and somewhat heart wrenching.

1993: Skinny Legs and All: Tom Robbins

While Milligan would be zany and Clarke a visionary, Robbins is unquestionably an artist, both in the fine craft of painting a picture with words and with an imagination the size of a planet.

In early 1993, I was recovering from a prolonged bout of teenage depression which had stifled my emotional development somewhat. I discovered the sheer literary decadence of Robbins works as I began to see the world in colour again, a combination which was utterly intoxicating for me.

My references to colour and art are intentional, for one of the themes of Skinny Legs and All is the fickle world of commercial art and the richly depicted descriptions of ditzy, redneck, intellectual and fanatical characters. The central human characters of the book are two newlyweds, she an artist on the cusp of "making it" and he a hairy arsed welder with a Winnebago sporting crudely welded turkey drumsticks on either side in an effort to win the heart of his new wife.

However, this simply does not do Robbins justice, for his imagination managed to marry the world of art together with the perennial Middle Eastern question (challenged in a uniquely mischievous fashion) and indeed religious iconery itself thanks to one of the characters being an ancient, sacred painted stick.

Robbins writing had the power to take me from being aroused on one page to being awed and thoughtful on the next, yet this roller coaster ride never fell into the trap of overpowering the senses and leaving you feeling bludgeoned. A stint of Skinny Legs and All never failed to paint a wry smile on my face as I turned the corner of the page and closed the book.

Mischievous, bawdy, challenging and hugely intellectually rewarding.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 15 May 2008, 16:49, 5 replies)

Spike Milligan.
This book was another I went to again and again. Absolute silliness.
( girlinthehole, Thu 15 May 2008, 19:41, closed)

Hmmm
..got increasingly exasperated having to read what a talking spoon might have to say about the world.... Jittterbug Perfume, although more of a fantasy, imho is better written, the language more dense. :)
(Countryslicker, Fri 16 May 2008, 9:17, closed)

Jitterbug Perfume
I loved that one too, but the religious commentary of Skinny Legs had me won.

Great books both.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 16 May 2008, 9:26, closed)

This is the Room of the wolfmother wallpaper.
Still life with woodpecker.
Because everyone loves Sugar and Lust.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Fri 16 May 2008, 15:04, closed)

*ahem*
pouring over the pages
tipped me over the edge
slightly yellowed pages
hardened binding glue tumbled into my lap (my favourite)
pulled this off with aplomb (2nd favourite)
battering it
wooden
blossom
on the cusp
sacred painted stick
roller coaster ride
feeling bludgeoned

*squeals uncontrollably*

Oh, yeah, I grew up with Spike Milligan too. I still have his Silly Verse For Kids (published 1968, cost 20p) which I passed on to Sweary Jr years ago.
I cannot remember what I had for breakfast but can still recite most of those rhymes.

Have a good weekend :o)
( Tourette's ( . )( . ) has a monkey hair in her fried egg, Fri 16 May 2008, 19:25, closed)