LAST EDITED ON Dec-21-11 AT 02:31 PM (EST)
I'm a embarrassed to say this, but it's taken me a little under three years to read Off The Top Of My Head cover-to-cover. I bought OTTOMH back in 2005 (or early 2006), started reading it the day it came, but at some point I set it down to go to sleep and, as with so many books, never picked it back up.Until today. This week, after finishing TIA #3, I've been hungry for Gryphon's writing. I've reread the first two TIA stories, a couple of UF stories (one I'd read, one I'd not), listened to TIA #3's reading, but was still left wanting. Which was when I decided to find OTTOMH and at last read it.
OTTOMH is easily described as an enjoyably book. It's also more than just anecdotal, relaxing, and heart-felt. For me, it's also timely. I'm just coming to a point in my life where I'm starting to pay attention to local news and such, and a lot of the covered material describing events in Millinocket, Maine can be seen down here in Selma, AL:
- A squabbling city council,
- Concerns about the local paper mill,
- Talk about what to do with the local airport,
- And how a town's tourism trade affects the economy.
It's interesting to see, through the lens of OTTOMH, how those times can be navigated and with a bit of good humor survived. I came to read OTTOMH hungry for a certain style of writing, and after a fine consumption, I go away with a filled spirit.
And that, with more than passing nod to one specific column, is a splendid feeling.