Huge Bookstore

I have six bookshelves in my house. Three of them are in my bedroom, two are in my office and I had to put another in one of the rooms in the basement.

They’re all pretty full, and I’ve been asked, a couple of times to at least think about doing something with them.

I can’t!

I have books on those shelves that I got in the 1970’s.

I have every Stephen King book. All of the Pat Conroy books, almost all Steinbeck, and at least 25 John Sandford books.

I have copies of an Atlanta sportswriter - Lewis Grizzard - who wrote very funny books - me and Big Al read all of those back in high school. 

Grizzard died young - courtesy of a bad ticker - I feel sad when I see him on the cover of those books that I so loved.

There is one cabinet that contains my favorites. 

Here are the ones I can think of, off the top of my head, that are on shelf one:

1). To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - a perfect story - an important one - I can’t even fathom that it is a book that is on some of the banned book lists.

2). East of Eden - John Steinbeck - I read this one every couple of years - Steinbeck just had absolute control of the language and humanity. It’s insane how great a story that it is.

3). The Stand - Stephen King - I originally read the shorter version that was about 800 pages - King released an even longer version later on and that’s the one I own in hard cover. The characters were so well developed that even years after having last read it I will remember lines that one character said to another.

4). The World According to Garp - John Irving - One of the things I learned from Irving was the first sentence - every book I’ve written, I’ve tried to write the best possible first sentence - one that is going to set the tone for the thousands of words to follow. I have all of Irving’s books and some are insane - sometimes I switch Garp with Cider House Rules or something else - but there is an Irving book somewhere in row one.

5). Wilt Chamberlain’s first autobiography- I distinctly recall the moment when Mom handed me that book on October 18th in 1974.

My 10th birthday.

Wilt was my first hero. I read that book about 30 times when I got it. The binding is worn out.

“What does this mean?” I asked Mom:

“I went back into the penthouse and screwed her AND her friend.”

“Skip that part,” Mom said.

6). Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen - simply fascinated by the talent of the man who has brought me a whole lot of joy in my life. His life’s work made my life better and I recall the announcement of the book’s arrival. Bruce can certainly write a song - would he be able to write a long piece?

He’s a man who was asked to leave community college because he was branded weird and not intelligent.

He taught himself to play the guitar and the piano. He can sing, tell jokes, play the harmonica and the guitar at the same time. He’s written hundreds of songs and entertained millions upon millions…

…and I fancy myself as a pretty good writer of long pieces and he’s better than me at that!

7). Oh Brother - The Life & Times of Jeff Fazzolari - I look at that book and my heart aches, of course, but to this day, I have no idea how I wrote it.

The book won more than 20 awards.

I can’t read any of it.

But my nephews and my niece thanked me for writing about their Dad and making it funny.

That will always sit in the number one slot in my Unabomber-like collection of books.

“You can’t get rid of ANY of them?” Kathy asked.

“No,” I said. “I really can’t.”