1st Post

This is my first comment on Mr. Hudson's blog. I have no idea that my comment will ever be read--Mr. Hudson is a very busy man--but here it is.

The Hudsons are exemplary folks, although Mr. Hudson has a tendancy towards collecting books which he never intends to read. Mr. Hudson appears to suffer from a condition wherin one is struck by a compulsion to purchase books whenever certain books that he is on the look-out for becomes available, regardless if he ever intends to read them or not. It is a fairly common malady among readers, and especially those of a serious and intellectual nature, to buy books that one either imagines himself enjoying reading or buys simply out of the sheer orgasmic compulsion of having spent years looking for a book and all of a sudden finally seeing it available on a shelf. A true and recent example is that I, personally, was able, via the internet, to talk Mr. Hudson out of purchasing a serious and voluminous set of books which he had found at a great deal but which both of us doubted he would ever actually read. Nevermind that the set was on sale at a great price; nevermind that this particular set is becomming harder and harder to find in good shape; nevermind that the set he had found was in good shape without any water marks or outward signs of serious wear--no matter the price, if he had no intention of actually plowing through the set then I (and he) considered it money wasted.

I am in no way trying to imply that Mr. Hudson is a "phony" reader, one who buys and buys books yet never reads them. Mr. Hudson reads a lot, more so than many of us. Yet, sadly, he--as aforementioned--suffers greatly from the compulsion to buy almost any book that he can in his mind justify buying, usually on the spur of the moment and without much regard as to the cost. Imagine an "impulse buy" section of books at a check-out in a store, and you can bet on Mr. Hudson clearing the racks in rapid order. As a fellow book buyer, I am proud to have been in a postion to have at least once in my lifetime talked him out of a wasted purchase.
With that said, I once again want to praise Mr. (and the more even-minded Mrs.) Hudson's generosity, intellect, and overall humanity.

Now, if anyone can please put me in contact with someone who can put in my hands the as-yet-unpublished short stories of JD Salinger "An Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" and "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" I will be willing to pay a handsome price, as I have been wanting those two items on my shelf of envy for many, many years...