This is the the one for me. Whenever people ask about favorite authors, I reflexively blurt out Tom Robbins (even though it’s been a few years). “Have you read Jitterbug Perfume?” I’ll ask. “Still Life with Woodpecker, Even Cowgirls get the Blues? No matter, you’ll get to all of them. But first, start with this one.”

One of my many favorite quotes from the book:

“What a dull world this would be were we all alike. What an evolutionary dead end! To be brothers, to live in peace, we do not have to be overly similar. We do not have to admire or even like one another’s peculiarities. We need only respect those peculiarities-and to be grateful for them. Our similarities provide us with a common ground, but our differences allow us to be fascinated by one another.

Differences give human encounters their snap and their fizz and their brew.”