Column: Some Best Books

by Woody

Dealing Out Some Winning Books

Amos Bronson Alcott, an 18th century teacher and writer, observed: “That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.”

Annually, I try to expectantly open 52 books and in recent years have shared brief summaries here of a few I highly recommend.

1-MBFF_coverThis year, however, I’m listing only the titles and authors of nine books that you can check out further on-line – or, better yet, in a brick-and-mortar bookstore – and focusing my attention on a 10th book I think most everyone will close with lasting profit.

New also, at the suggestion of voracious reader Scott Harris, this year I kept track of my progress by using a deck of playing cards as 52 different bookmarks.

My endorsements off the fiction shelves: Bookmark two of spades was “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee; ten of spades was “Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter; five of diamonds was “To Have and Have Not” by Ernest Hemingway; five of clubs was “Juncture” by Ken McAlpine; jack of clubs was “Pastures of Heaven” by John Steinbeck.

And nonfiction: Eight of clubs was “How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World” by Steven Johnson; nine of clubs was “Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year” by Tavis Smiley; three of hearts was “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution” by Walter Isaacson; jack of hearts was “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life Hardcover” by Louis Zamperini.

Card No. 52, the king of hearts, was a serendipitous bookmark because “My Best Friend’s Funeral,” a new memoir by Ventura’s own Roger W. Thompson, gripped my heart royally.

“When you’ve cried and cried and your eyes can produce no more tears, they begin to come from someplace else,” Roger writes about the loss of his best friend of 20 years, Tim Garrety. “They come from pieces of your heart, broken like jagged stones, and must be pushed from your body. The pain is beyond bearing.”

For Roger, this unbearable pain also included his dad’s death. Roger was 13.

“I grew up believing in God and prayed earnestly for my dad to get better,” Roger writes. “I even believed the power of my prayers would save him. When he died in spite of my efforts to convince God otherwise, I eventually stopped praying. It’s hard to trust a God who doesn’t look after little kids.”

It was a kid who stepped forward to look after Roger; Tim befriended him when he most needed one.

1-insideMBFFWhile pain runs through the chapters like trout through High Sierra streams, more powerful is the friendship, fun and faith that flows. Indeed, this is a coming-of-age story revolving around surfing and skateboarding, guitars and girls, loss and love, play and work, marriage and fatherhood.

Ventura is also an important character, from Buena High School to downtown, from Hobo Jungle to Two Trees, from Surfer’s Point to Skate Street indoor skate park Roger and Tim cofounded.

Of his father’s long battle with drug addiction, Roger writes: “In the end, my hero lost. That was the day I stopped believing in heroes.”

Actually, as the pages turn and turn, we learn Roger hasn’t stopped believing. His father remains larger than life in his eyes; his grandfather is his hero; Tim’s own troubled father eventually becomes heroic, too, slaying his alcohol dragon.

And, of course, Tim is Roger’s hero.

To the reader, another hero emerges: Roger.

In the beautiful eulogy he delivers for Tim – who died at age 33, the same age Roger’s dad died – Roger said: “He lived full of faith, grace, hope, and love.”

It is an apt description of the author and “My Best Friend’s Funeral.”

Moments before delivering the eulogy for his best friend in the Ventura Theater filled – as they had once dreamed as boys in a rock band – to standing room only, Roger heard a question in his soul, in Tim’s voice: “Are you living a life that matters?”

Roger Thompson has certainly written a book that matters.

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Wooden&Me_cover_PRWoody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

 Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”