A sad, sad day for me and many others around the world... yesterday, Tom Robbins, author, philosopher and all-round revealer of the wonders of life, passed away aged 92.

He was, no...is, my favourite author bar none. I've read his entire catalogue several times over and coincidentally am in the middle of reading 'Jitterbug Perfume' again.

Anyway, I've been on another site of likeminded people sharing stories about Robbins, my favourite of which was a fan letter he talked about in his autobiography... "Your books make me laugh, they make think, they make me horny, and they make me aware of all the wonder in the world.”

Not that he cared one iota, but he also was recognised as being among best 100 authors of the 20th century by Writer’s Digest.

While on that other site, people started sharing their best-of lists and I thought it my work here also. So, your top 5 favourite Fiction, Non-Fiction, Movies, Albums/Songs.

Fiction:
Another Roadside Attraction – Tom Robbins
Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates – Tom Robbins
1984 – George Orwell
A Tale of Two Cities – Dickens
Spartacus – Howard Fast

Non-Fiction
The Histories – Thukydides
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – Shirer
A War Like No Other – Victor Davis Hanson
Reagan: The Life - H. W. Brands
The Harvest of Sorrow - Robert Conquest

Movies:
All that Jazz
Golddiggers of 1933
Life of Brian
Inglourious Basterds
Cabaret

Albums
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles
Bat Out of Hell - Meatloaf
Temple of the Low Men – Crowded House
Retrospective – Russel Morris
Rubber Soul – The Beatles

I am not familiar with the author, but I appreciate the sense of loss, which can be very personal. It also reminds us of our own mortality.

Many of my favourite authors have passed on or have stopped writing. But, unlike most of us, they leave a lasting legacy. For example, people have not stopped reading Charles Dickens or Rudyard Kipling.

One of the greatest things about modern technology for me is ebooks. The advantages of them being that they will always be available well after they are out of print.

The same regret when a favourite author dies applies to actors, too.

mhaze,

You and I have much in common, Tom Robbins was a top class author, and will be remembered for his outstand works. RIP Tom Robbins.

I'm surprised Dangerous Doctor Donald's "Art Of The Deal" is not one of your all time favorites. BUT I don't think Donald wrote it, more likely written by Tony Schwartz.

Only put one for each.

Fiction;
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough.

Non Fiction;
The Turbulent Years J.T Lang

Movie;
The Tracker
Life Of Brian (Comedy)

Album;
Sgt Peppers Beatles

Song;
Get Back also the Beatles

mhaze,

Thanks for this discussion.

I'm not familiar with Tom Robbins.

May he RIP.

Here's my list of just some of my favourites:

Fiction:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn

Power of One - Bryce Courtenay

The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith - Thomas Keneally

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

D. H. Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover

Non-Fiction:

Wild Swans: Three daughters of China - Jung Chang

Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin

The Man Without a Face: The unlikely Rise of Vladimir
Putin - Masha Gessen

Inside The Third Reich - Albert Speer

Patriot - Alexei Navalny

Albums:

Hot August Night - Neil Diamond

The Jazz Singer - Neil Diamond

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Queen II

Live From New York City - Simon & Garfunkel

Movies:

Downfall - (German film - Hitler)

The Queen - Helen Mirren

The Death of Stalin

Bride & Prejudice

Invictus

I also loved the TV series - "The Jewel In The Crown"

What a terrific topic.

My favourite -

Book
'A fine balance' - Robinton Mistry. I couldn't bring myself to read the last few pages for days.

Album
Loved the compilation album 'Lady sings the blues'. It's so moody.

Movie
'All of us strangers'

And because I love live theatre my favourite

Play
'The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Hi Mhaze
Nice topic – thanks! Nowadays I mostly listen to classical music, but here are some favourites in the other categories

Fiction
Schindler’s Ark (semi-fiction)
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
1984
Catch-22
Lord of the Flies

Non-fiction
If this is a Man (aka Survival in Auschwitz) – Primo Levi
Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown
The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Elements of Style - E. B. White, William Strunk Jr
On Liberty - John Stuart Mill

Movies
Blade Runner
The Godfather
The Usual Suspects
Apocalypse Now
Life of Brian

Well it seems The Life of Brian is popular. As are the various Beatles albums. I'd just point out the two are linked since 'Brian' was made using Beatles money via George Harrison.

"Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy"

Yes Rhian. I'm also very fond of it. I enjoyed all 6 books in the trilogy!

Foxy listed "Bride & Prejudice". Is that the Bollywood musical based loosely on the Austen book? If so, I'd note that this would easily make my wife's top 5 list as well. I also rather enjoyed although mainly because the female lead was just insanely gorgeous and reminds us that there really are faces capable of launching a thousand ships.

ttbn wrote re Tom Robbins' death..." I appreciate the sense of loss, which can be very personal."

Quite apart from the loss of my favourite fiction author, its particularly poignant to me since I once met him. I happened to be in Seattle (he'd gone into semi-retirement around Puget Sound) in the mid 1990s and he was doing a book signing in my favourite boutique book store. A five minute conversation that remains very special to me

mhaze,

"Bride and Prejudice" , is a Bollywood rendition of
Jane Austen's classic.

I forgot to add that "Crazy Rich Asians", is another
that some may enjoy watching. It's about the life of
the wealthy in Modern China ( "Sex and the City"in
Singapore).

"Lemon Tree", is an Israeli film that offers a
thought-provoking vision of the West Bank troubles.
It's by Eran Riklis (Lithuanian ancestry) starring
the fabulous Hiam Abbass.

The film describes the legal efforts of a Palestinian widow
to stop the Israeli Defense Minister, her next door
neighbour from destroying the lemon trees in her family farm.

At the same time she develops a human bond with the Israeli
minister's wife.

Crocodile Dundee has just been gutted at the hands of the woke censors. The iconic "That's not a knife" scene is no more.

If you have a favourite movie that is the least non-woke, get a hard copy DVD and make a digital version to protect it from the censors. I did that with Casablanca a few years back when the censors came for it (too much gratuitous smoking) and also 'Golddiggers of 1933'.

My favorite non-woke movie is "Bozo Rides Again" which is a remake of that classic Ronnie Reagan 1951 block buster 'Bedtime For Bozo' where a youngish mhaze played the part of Bozo!

mhaze, I've got the original 'Crock Dundee', Paul Hogan's acting career reached its pinacol in that flick, however it was all downhill after that. Got a couple of early Russell Crowe movies 'Romper Stomper' and 'Spotswood', Crowe's career took off after that. You might like his new one 'Nuremburg' where Crowe plays an old folk hero of yours Hermie Goring.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for mentioning the film "Nuremberg". I'm looking
forward to its release. Many years ago I saw "Judgement
at Nuremberg", also with a stellar cast. This upcoming
fil with Russell Crowe and Rami Malek should also be
thought provoking.

It's interesting, while half of the criminals, the Nazis,
have been pursued all over the world for their crimes,
the other half, the
communist criminals, were allowed to go free.
They sat in Nuremberg,
and were in effect, given tacit permission to continue the
operation of their concentration camps,
to expand their draconian systems to
include psychiatric wards, thereby raising torture,
suppression, and murder to a science.

The fact that the process persisted was vividly disclosed to the
free world by Aleksandr Solshenitsyn and Alexei Navalny.

There's no disputing the enormity of Hitler's Holocaust. But it
is eqally important to be aware of the accomplishment of the
Soviet regime. The Soviet secret police, which brought death to
at least four times as many Russians, and others as Hitler did in
his eleven years as a leader ot the Third Reich.

And who will be the judges of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
What if anything (and who) will that involve? Who will have to
face international law and war crimes? If any?

Who will judge - and by what means?

Should we just let sleeping dogs lie?

Hi Foxy,

The only difference between Hitler's Nazi's and Stalin's Communists was the Communists were on the winning side. In war it always pays to be on the winning side, just ask the Israelis. Now it looks like Trump is backing Putin as the winner with Ukraine.

" Paul Hogan's acting career reached its pinacol in that flick, however it was all downhill after that."

Well he did make Crocodile Dundee II which was, if anything, even more successful than the first. But then it was over. He made a few bad calls (eg knocking back the lead in Ghost but doing Flipper instead). Nonetheless, an Aussie icon.

One of my favourite Russel Crow films was "The Sum of Us" with Jack Thompson. A movie that, at that time, could only have been made in Australia. Another favourite was "Master and Commander".

Crowe was slated to do the lead in the Lehrman movie "Australia" but pulled out when they refused to make changes to the script. He thought the movie would bomb without changes. He was right. The movie was a turgid mess. Big tick for Crowe in my mind.

I've got to confess that I admire Russell Crowe very,
very, much. I watched him host the AACTA awards. He's
great at whatever he does.