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The Best of the Book Nook: Remembering Gene Logsdon

 

Over the years that I have been interviewing authors on the radio I have had the pleasure to converse with some of the more interesting people on the planet. One of my favorite guests has been Gene Logsdon. Gene made half a dozen appearances on the program.

The last time I spoke with Gene he was 82 years old and he was still living on his farm near Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He had just published a book called "Gene Everlasting - a Contrary Farmer's Thoughts on Living Forever." This book contains a number of essays that Gene wrote. Most of them were written after Gene had been through treatment for cancer. Gene's reflections on this grand adventure that we call life are often deep, frequently humorous, and steeped in the vast reservoir of living that Gene experienced.

Gene Logsdon died on May 31, 2016. When I heard the news I went back and listened to the interviews we did together. I put together this memorial tribute show for him. As you listen you'll hear portions of a conversation we had about his books "You Can Go Home Again" and "Good Spirits: a New Look at Ol' Demon Alcohol." There are also excerpts from our last interview for "Gene Everlasting." That original complete interview is also available as a podcast in our Book Nook archive.

I never met Gene in person but over the course of our time together on the telephone I felt like I got to know him a little bit. He was smart, resourceful, entertaining and a wee bit ornery. He wrote wonderful books.

Thanks, Gene, for everything.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.