Regarding Hunter Thompson Fans

Colin:

What book collection would be complete without the Hunter Thompson classic? It was one of those books I read in college - could easily be read as a series along with Tom Wolf's "Electric Kool Aid Acid Test," and Jack Kerouac's "On the Road Again." Kerouac's stuff is now available on CD Rom.

                                   Dad  

Many moons ago .. I was looking for a copy of Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . I just couldn't find a copy and this is before anyone was buying books online. The first bookstore I went to was a small used bookstore. The owner, who looked like he might have inhaled quite a few times in his day, was just chilling out behind the counter. I walked up to him and said "Hey, I'm looking for a book by Hunter Thompson called...mmm...hold on a sec, I can't remember the name." "Las Vegas," he says. "Yeah, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." "No I don't have that one, you might try the bookstore such-and-such (forgot the name)." So he gives me directions and off I go.

Bookstore number two. I walk in and there's this little ol' lady behind the counter. The store seems to only have romance novels and the customers look the part. My ex-wife's mother used to read those things and I now associate large, poorly dressed women with romance novels. Go figure. Anyhow, I manage to remember the title this time and ask if she has it. "Oh, I've never heard of that one before. You might try Barnes and Noble." She gives me directions to Barnes and Noble but it turns out to actually be Books-A-Million.

Books a Million. Before I ask anyone for help I walk around looking for it myself. Biography. Nope. Sociology. Nope. Hmmm. So I decide to give the woman behind the counter a try though she looks like she doesn't have a clue. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Let me check the microfiche. Yeah, we have a copy. Joe (I think that was his name), what's AI?" turns out, weird enough, that it's American History. So I look over there in the T's but no luck. I go back and ask her if it might be in another section. Turns out she is clueless, so i leave and go home.

A week later, I drive back to Books-A-Million to look around some more. There's a Waldenbooks near by anyhow so it won't be a wasted trip. I find The Hunter Thompson section while browsing. Politics. The Hell's Angels book, "Better than Sex," and "The Great Shark Hunt" are there. No Fear and Loathing.

Five minutes later at Waldenbooks. "Do you carry "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter Thompson. She immediately answers, "there's a Hunter Thompson section in Sociology." American History, Politics, Sociology. What next? We talk about that for a while. Turns out she's into H.T. No "Fear and Loathing" though. So I buy "Better than Sex."

Well, I finished and a few days later I decided to go find the real Barnes and Noble. I go right to the counter and ask if they have a copy. She goes to the computer. "Yeah, there's a copy in Current Events." By this time, you know what's gonna happen. All the other H.T. books are there but not THAT one. I go back to her and tell her the copy's missing and say something about the kinda people who read Thompson. Maybe someone's stealing all the copies. She agrees.

I go to the local library. I don't really expect to find it and I don't but I check the computer and there are three copies downtown. Orlando has a Books on Wheels kinda thing where you call them and they deliver the books to your house. The next morning I call.

"Hi, I'm interested in having a book called "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter Thompson sent to me." I swear I'm not making this up - she says "Stealing and what?" "Fear and Loathing," I say. "Do you know the author?" Now, this is clueless. "Hunter Thompson." "Lets see, we have three copies but they are all missing, one's been missing since 1987. I can try to find it for you though." Good Luck.