what you should be reading

This blog is a lot of self-serving drivel and hooey, composed to make me feel better about myself, in my opinion you would be far better off reading a book of fart jokes then you would be reading about me! If however, you are in need of some guidance I have compiled some advice for you. In no particular order except for #1 here are some of my favorite authors.
1. Lewis Grizzard: Now here is the writer who has influenced me most as a person. When I was a boy I would read his column in the Spartanburg SC Herald Journal and I learned from Lewis to look past the facade and into the heart of the Deep South. To truly appreciate the characters around me I had to learn to step back out and look in on a situation. Lewis Grizzard was a master of this perspective. He also taught me the beauty of everyday tragedy. If you believe that you have a relationship with someone that is completely flawed because of that person’s addictions or emotional instability you should read My Daddy was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun. A story about what it was like to grow up and come to terms with his absentee father.
2. James Michener: Reading Michener’s prose is like a spring day lying in deep thick grass with someone you love holding hands and watching the cumulus clouds make pictures in the atmosphere.
3. Ring Lardner: I discovered his short stories about sports and a child and have loved them ever since. I think there is a distinct possibility that my love for all American vernaculars may have come from You Know me Al.
4. Ray Bradbury: Perhaps the first writer to scare the hell out of me, he also taught me about nostalgia, and Fahrenheit 451 lead me to my first understanding of what a slippery slope we start down when we try to suppress ideas that don’t mesh with our own.
5. Rudyard Kipling: I’m not sure if this is a good suggestion for a female or not, but, I do know that for a small boy of 9 or 10 this is the ultimate reading material. Take away their computer toys, unplug the cable and give them a collection of Kipling’s tales and you will see a boy emerge whose only desire is to have adventures. No watching the Disney cartoon is not a substitute!
Well what are you waiting for I told you not to read my blog, then I told you what to read instead, turn off your computer, go to the bookstore (preferably one of those used bookstores with hundreds of books), and read something entertaining.