A Word Tale: A Review of Jim Reed's What I Said by T.K. Thorne
Once upon a time there was a man who looked like Santa Claus on a diet. He was mostly jolly
and “lived” in the downtown of a Magic City inside a magical bookstore that was way more
than a bookstore.
Okay, he didn’t actually “live” in the store, but it was definitely “home” for many years. The
man loved books so much that he not only collected them (along with a stupendous assortment
of stuff memorabilia), he also wrote them. Sometimes words came to him all at once out of
nowhere, and he hastily jotted them down or recorded them if driving. Sometimes they were
odd words. Sometimes profound. Sometimes funny. And thus was born his latest book, What I
Said.
Much is packed into this 373-page pocketbook of diverse, standalone thoughts. Each one gets
its own page. But all is not chaos. There are themes.
Signs:
“The shop sign reads: THE UNIFORM PEOPLE
What—are they clones?”
Fortune-telling:
“You will meet a tall, dark stranger.
He will ignore you.”
Ponderable:
“Where do unspoken words hang out?”
“What is it I know that I have yet to learn?”
“No island is a man.”
Art Commentary:
Bad art is necessary
in order to have good art.
Profound:
“I can’t do everything at once. I can’t even do one thing at once.”
“It was a dark and stormy night.
But then, that sometimes happens.”
Punny:
“The ghoulish neighbor each year
Planted his creep myrtles.”
(One example is enough, yes?)
And many odd jewels:
“My greatest hope is that Science
will find Cheese Curls to be
a sure path to a healthy life.”
And my personal favorite:
“You can’t have too many lava lamps.”
Where can you find a book written by Santa Claus Jim Reed, owner of Reed Books in
downtown Birmingham, Alabama? Why, at that very store and at abebooks.com.
Note: No consideration was given for this review other than a copy of the said book. It was my
privilege and pleasure to read it and recommend it.
Jim Reed is an octogenarian dabbler is words and ideas. He resides in Birmingham, Alabama,
and is known as “Poppy” to his offspring and their offspring and their offspring. In his spare
time Jim writes and performs stories—both actual and true—and owns Reed Books/The
Museum of Fond Memories/The Library of Thought. He is also the editor of Birmingham Arts
Journal. His muses are editor/publisher/spouse Liz Reed and author/poet/friend Irene Latham.
T.K. Thorne is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. She writes about what moves
her, following the flight path of curiosity, reflection, and imagination.