May 28, Thursday evening -- Reading Woody Guthrie

In the Mission District, en route from New York City to Seattle, stopping by to see a friend and reading Bound for Glory, by Woody Guthrie, which he picked up at a second-hand book store in Albuquerque, not far from the Greyhound Station. (link to pic of station and my experience with Albuquerque Greyhound)
His favorite books -- Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion (he has another of her books in his bag -- Miami); Hard Times, by Studs Terkel; and Ask the Dust, by John Fante, which he read because it's Bukowski's favorite book, and now he likes Fante better because the writing is better and it's less sexist. He reads these books and authors repeatedly.

When he was a kid, it was The Boxcar Children mysteries, by Gertrude Chandler Warner that got him into reading. Same era as the Bobbsey Twins. The books, he said, transport you the way literature should.

If he were to write his own book, it would be about people. In fact, he's already written a 'zine about his travels, which include the people (and books) along the way. He gave me a copy. From the back cover -- If you want to read "Tales of Roman Stone," ask your local bookstore if they can order it. If they can't, or you don't have a local bookstore anymore, write me and I'll lend you mine. (It's a guidebook to Rome, not with hip bars but with anecdotes and legends.)

...if you don't have a local bookstore anymore --have any in your neighborhood gone missing?