22nd sentence of the 22nd book

Aiken Street Bridge in Lowell by Vassilios Giavis

The 22nd book* on my Kerouac bookshelf is Jack Kerouac's Dr. Sax (Grove Weidenfeld, 1987), and the 22nd sentence (in honor of today being the 22nd day of the month) is:

I could hear it rise from the rocks in a groaning wush ululating with the water, sprawlsh, oom, oom, zoooo, all night long the river says zooo, zooo, the stars are fixed in rooftops like ink. (p. 8)

Do you know what river Jack is talking about here? If you answer, spell it like he does in the subsequent sentence.

21st sentence of the 21st book

Esperanza Villanueva Tercerero (Tristessa)

The 21st book* on my Kerouac bookshelf is Jack Kerouac's Tristessa (Penguin Books, 1992), and the 21st sentence (in honor of today being the 21st day of the month) is:

"Eets you l a w v."

Man, it is hard to count sentences in Kerouac's work. If there is a capitalized word after an em dash -- which he uses frequently -- I tend to count the em dash as the end of a sentence. But what if that capitalized word is "I"? Then it's anybody's guess. So I've made quite a few guesses.

In case you are guessing at today's sentence, that is Jack's way of capturing Tristessa's accent and inflection when she says, "It's your love."


*The next book on the shelf was actually Kerouac's Heaven & Other Poems, and you know from following along that poetry doesn't lend itself to our current project.

20th sentence of the 20th book

The 20th book on my Kerouac bookshelf is Jack Kerouac's Orpheus Emerged (iBooks, 2003), and the 20th sentence (in honor of today being the 20th day of the month) is:

He could always manage to conceal his feelings. (p. 19)

I don't know where this project is going, but at its conclusion -- when I pull all 31 sentences together in one place -- we'll find out. So far I have only missed one day in March -- the 1st -- so if I can keep up the daily streak we will finish on April 1. What better day to finish a silly numerology project than on April Fools' Day?

19th sentence of the 19th book

The 19th book on my Kerouac bookshelf is another copy of Jack Kerouac's Vanity of Duluoz (Penguin Books, 1994), and the 19th sentence (in honor of today being the 19th day of the month) is:

But in my first sandlot game in 1935, about October, no such crowd: it was early Saturday morning, my gang had challenged the so-and-so team from Rosemont, yes, in fact it was the Dracut Tigers (us) versus the Rosemont Tigers, Tigers everywhere, we'd challenged them in the Lowell Sun newspaper in a little article written in by our team captain, Scotcho Boldieu and edited by myself: 'Dracut Tigers, age 13 to 15, challenge any football team age 13 to 15, to a game in Dracut Tigers field or any field Saturday Morning.' (p. 11)

 By the way, it's pronounced DUE-loo-ahz and it's one of my favorite Kerouac books.

18th sentence of the 18th book

Neal Cassady (Cody Pomeray in Visions of Cody) (L) and Jack Kerouac (R)

The 18th book on my Kerouac bookshelf is another copy of Jack Kerouac's Visions of Cody (Penguin Books, 1993), and the 18th sentence (in honor of today being the 18th day of the month) is:

IN THE AUTUMN OF 1951 I began thinking of Cody Pomeray, thinking of Cody Pomeray. (p. 5)

Brownie points to anyone who can identify the Kerouac book that concludes with a very similar sentence.

Another Kerouac experience on the road

This is an old picture so don't sick the MSP on me for driving with an expired registration

Not long ago I posted about an experience while driving regarding my Kerouac-themed license plate (above). Click here to read that post.

Today, as we were leaving Auburn, Maine -- on Russell Street -- we were at a stop light and I looked in my rearview mirror to see the driver of the car behind me, a young woman, pointing at my license plate and laughing. She proceeded to pull out her cell phone and took a picture of my plate. I gave her the thumbs-up in my mirror and she returned the gesture.

I can only imagine that she is a diehard Kerouac fan, the thought of which makes my heart happy. We are not alone.

By the way, she passed me at the next light and I noted her license plate: PHREE. If you know who she is, have her get in touch with us at thebeathandbook@gmail.com. There's a free book awaiting her.

17th sentence of the 17th book

The 17th book* on my Kerouac bookshelf is Jack Kerouac's Pic (McGraw-Hill, 1974), and the 17th sentence (in honor of today being the 17th day of the month) is:

This is the bottom of the world, where little raggedy Codys dream, as rich men plan gleaming plastic auditoriums and soaring glass fronts on Park Avenue and the rich districts of Denver and the world. (p. 5)

Or, one might say, as rich men plan illegal ways to buy their dullard children into the best schools.


*Actually, the next book on the shelf was Kerouac's Book of Blues, but as we saw with Scattered Poems and San Francisco Blues, poetry doesn't lend itself to sentence counting -- so, I skipped it for purposes of this project.