Sitting at his favorite booth at the Hoot N' Holler restaurant and drinking his sixth cup of Joe, local farmer/carpenter Buddy "Arthur" Joe Brooks looks as normal and well-adjusted as can be. Yet, there's more to this 49-year-old than first meets the eye: Buddy has recently finished reading a book.
"It was great," said the peculiar northside native, who, despite owning a television set and having an active Hoot N' Holler/Boogie Barn life, has just completely read every single page of Of Men And Mice.
"Especially the way things that Lennie would come up with about the rabbits. I had to skip some words, could have been nasty the way they sounded out", stated Brooks.
"I never once jumped ahead to see what would happen and kept myself from skimming large clumps of words in search of pictures."
Brooks first began his oddball feat two years ago. Three days later, the eccentric Rabbit Flat resident was still at it, completing chapter after chapter, seemingly completely on his own and not from taking up a "dare" from one of the local jokers.
Asked what was the biggest lesson the novel taught, Brooks stated, "Well, I reckon the whole thang was really wordy. I wore out two sets of eye glasses."
