What’s one of
life’s most enjoyable surprises?
For me, it’s reconnecting with
old friends.
For days now, I’ve been basking over
the reunion with more than 100 unforgettable acquaintances. One by one—without
saying a word—they spoke to me. And I still hear what they had told me years
ago.
Why were they silent?
The answer is simple.
They
couldn’t say anything.
Books do their talking through written
words. And since I learned to read, books have been among my best friends.
As a Southerner, good books are
much like a bag of hot boiled (green) peanuts.
How’s that?
I can’t get enough of either one.
For me, peanut-boiling season kicks
off with Labor Day weekend and college football. But I’ve spent days going
through stacks and stacks of books reminiscing. Maybe it was Mark Twain’s Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn that got me into exploring what is printed
between the covers of books.
There was a time when my book
diet was reading a minimum of one per week. In a good seven-day stretch, I
could devour two. These days, the hunger is still there. But I’ve slowed down.
Why?
I must find time to deal with my ever-growing
library of friends.
Let me introduce you to a few.
They may be your friends, too.
Rick Bragg
The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist/author
is my favorite modern-day wordsmith. Last time we visited—in between his
gnawing on barbecued ribs—he told me about an upcoming book, The Best Cook
in the World, Tales from my Momma’s Table. In a word: delicious. His
stories and Momma Bragg’s recipes.
Ferol Sams and
Lewis Grizzard
When my friend and mentor Pat
Pattillo gave me the Fayetteville doctor’s Run with the Horsemen in
1982, I was hooked. One evening after a Dawg game in Athens, I was sitting
on Loran Smith’s back porch between Dr. Sams (Sambo) and Lewis Grizzard. It was
a contest between the two to see who could make us laugh the hardest. I went
home with my ribs aching.
Both are gone, but I believe I have read every book each one wrote. I often wonder how today’s speech police would react to Lewis Grizzard’s irreverent brand of commentary. Readers loved or hated him. And Lewis was delighted either way.
John Grisham
The Mississippi lawyer turned
best-selling author has written enough books to make most bookshelves sag. I’ve
read all 37. My favorites are among his first novels: A Time to Kill,
The Firm and The Client.
William C. Harris Jr.
When the Savannah podiatrist
wrote Delirium of the Brave, attorney Alvin Leaphart, an aspiring
novelist, asked whether I knew William Harris. No, but I called someone who
did. Savannah attorney Sonny Seiler, owner of Bulldog mascot, Uga, knew just
about everyone in his hometown.
A few days later, Alvin, his wife Beverly,
Sonny and I were sitting in a booth at Johnny Harris’ restaurant with Dr.
Harris. I enjoyed John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,
but I really, really liked Delirium of the Brave.
Jimmy
Carter
We
met in 1970 on the UGA campus. Even in his 90s, he’d respond—in handwriting—to
my letters. The 39th president was a prolific author and world-class fisherman.
I’ve read most of his 32 books. Perhaps my favorite is An Hour Before
Daylight.
I recommend Jimmy Carter: Rivers &
Dreams by Jim Barger Jr. and Dr. Carlton Hicks. I promise you’ll be educated
on unexpected subjects. And the foreword, written by President Carter, is
believed to be his last published piece before his death at age 100.
Brainard
Cheney, Wendell Berry, Robert Ruark, Ernest Hemingway, Larry Brown, Willie
Morris, Ludlow Porch, Jim Minter and
a score of other “friends” prompted an unexpected reunion when Pam said, “See
who’s here.”
And
then she opened the door of a high-up and rarely thought-about cabinet.
There
they were.
All
149.
Thanks
for reading these words.
But
please excuse me.
I
must go.
Old friends have surprised me
with a visit.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
