I found it on Amazon, and instead of buying the cheaper paperback edition, I went all out and purchased a 1960 First Printing, hardcover with the original dust jacket. It's awesome. It cost $18.55 total, including shipping. I couldn't be happier with it.
I've already started re-reading it. This book is so funny and wonderful, I really wish everyone would read it.
Alexander King was a very interesting man. He lived in New York's Greenwich Village before it was marketed as a bohemian paradise. He was an Austrian boy who came to America when he was just a boy in the early 20th century. He starts out with his anecdote about the title:
My friend Norman Prelick happens to be a Zen Buddhist at the moment. He used to be a Communist once.
It figures.
But suddenly, a couple of years ago, he saw the true light and since then he's been thoroughly illuminated.
At any rate, every time this character comes to visit me and finally gets ready to leave, he stops in the doorway, folds his hands Hindu fashion, lowers his fourth-dimensional eyelids and says:
"May this house be safe from tigers."
He does this every time.
The other day, when his senseless little orison had fallen on me again, I said to him, "What is the meaning of this idiot prayer you're always uttering over me every time you leave here? What the hell does it mean, anyway?"
Norman looked surprised and even a little hurt, and finally he gave off the familiar long-suffering sigh of the frequently misunderstood.
"What's wrong with my prayer?" he said. "How long have I been saying it to you?"
"Oh, about three years, on and off."
"Three years," he said. "Well--been bothered by any tigers lately?"
Perfectly correct.
So, since it is surely one of the most effective benedictions I have ever encountered, I've decided to share this powerful and potent spell with the rest of the world.
I Love this book. So glad to have it safe on my bookshelf once again.
MsAmber
4 comments:
I'm glad you found it too. I know how it is to lose a beloved book and have to scour the earth to get it back. Sounds like $18.55 was a steal, all things considered.
Thanks for the book tip, I will check out A.King. Sounds like a funny book. Is it?
I agree with ngregory00, all things considered (1960 first printing, etc) you got it for a very nice price. Glad you found it.
Yes, this book is funny. It is an autobiography, but the author is a funny man.
MsAmber
Sounds wonderful. That's so cool you found it!
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