eird little story for your blogging pleasure.

Of course, I love to read (no shit, right?) And since I just had a week’s vacation, I’ve been plowing through books. My review stack is about six deep right now.

Funniest thing, though. I’ve been watching James Garner in The Rockford Files. Great show that echos the old Private Eye Noir of the past. I’ve never really watched it but lived in the time (1974) and the place (LA) so it’s all there for me.

Curious about the main star, I picked up a book, The Garner Files, Garner’s autobiography. Enjoyed it. At the end, there are testimonials from people who worked with him in various roles.The last one is from someone named JW (?). Read his contact with Jim and found out that he wrote a book, The Portable Curmudgeon. In JW’s note, he mentions how Jim was suffering post operative depression in the hospital following heart surgery. A fan sent him this book and it cheered him greatly. Months later, Garner appears on Tonight Show and plugs the book with a wine cork, going on and on about it. He even read some of the funnier bits. When they came out of break, Carson is now reading the quotes. It was a funny moment.

And of course, the book’s sales skyrocketed. It propelled Jon Winokur’s career the same way that my publisher dying in a traffic accident killed mine. Everything JW enjoys now, it’s all because of Garner’s recommendation on the Tonight Show.

Read it and thought, “You lucky bastard”. And then I thought, that title does ring a bell.

Look, I have yards of book shelves in my house. I’ve had to donate (or toss) boxes of old books I no longer could afford space for. And all my favorites cover these shelves, setting them to groaning.

The Portable Curmudgeon…

I maintained a large stack of books near the front door, a base camp for my reading. And when I’d pick up a used book somewhere, I’d toss them there until I was in the mood for something different.

So I stepped over to it and ran a finger along the spines. And there it was

What did I find out? Of course I read it on the heels of Garner’s autobiography. Did I like Garner’s book? Or JWs?

Watch my review column in the coming weeks for those answers.

>>>AND HERE ARE MY BOOKS. GET ONE, FORGET ABOUT IT ON THE SHELF, AND THEN BE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED A DECADE LATER!<<<