I’ve decided to re-read several books this year, instead of just looking for new ones. I hardly have the time to read anyway and I want to revisit a few old favorites and savor the words during my precious small personal time.

As I mentioned, I just finished re-reading Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Jitterbug Perfume — a novel about Pan, immortality, perfume, and beets — has been a favorite since my co-worker, Ashley, recommended it seven or eight years ago. In fact, I went on to read many Tom Robbins* books based on how much I liked Jitterbug Perfume.

While I was reading this time, I marked a few of the best passages. Here are my favorite parts from Jitterbug Perfume.

“We entertain the immortals in order that they might be persuaded to help us recover the strength and unity stolen from us by death.” – King Alobar, on the impact of death on the tribe and why they hold elaborate and energetic funeral ceremonies

“I cannot believe that the most delicious things were placed here merely to test us, to tempt us, to make it the more difficult for us to capture the grand prize: the safety of the void. To fashion of life such a petty game is unworthy of both men and gods.” – King Alobar, on desire and suffering

“Death is impatient and thoughtless. It barges into your room when you are right in the middle of something, and it doesn’t bother to wipe its boots.” – King Alobar, on death

“Alobar ventured the opinion that they had survived because he reached a point where he did not take his desire to live seriously. ‘My desire was no less than before, you understand, but I no longer identified with the desire. Perhaps that is why desire causes men calamity. By identifying with our desires and taking them too seriously, we not only increase our susceptibility to disappointment, we actually create a climate inhospitable to the free and easy fulfillment of those desires.’

‘Maybe,’ mumbled Kudra, stretching her sun-warmed muscles until the elastic shuddered pleasurably and a mindless animal happiness collected in the pool at the base of her skull.

Alobar is a glorious man, she thought lazily, but this constant prattle about the meaning of things can make a person tired.” – King Alobar and Kudra, after surviving a perilous snow storm in the mountains while seeking out the Bandaloops

“The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being.” – The first line from Part III, Promise Her Anything But Give Her K23

“The difference between love and logic is that in the eyes of the lover, a toad can be a prince, whereas in the analysis of a logistician, the lover would have to prove that the toad was a prince, an enterprise destined to dull the shine of many a passion. Logic limits love, which may be why Descartes never married.” – The following introduction of Part III

“Persons, says Wiggs, who lack curiously about life, who find minimal joy in existence, are all too willing, subconsciously, to cooperate with—and attract—disease, accident, and violence.” – Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs, on why positive though is an underestimated stimulant to longevity

“’There are no such things as synonyms!’ he practically shouted. ‘Deluge is not the same as flood!’” – Dr. Dannyboy Wiggs, on grammar

*As an aside, these days I live not terribly far from where Tom Robbins resides. Neat-oh.