James W. Holmes

My father, an uneducated WWI Marine/coal miner, once took me to a wood and showed me a beautiful white squirrel. As I remember, he said something like "I wanted you to see this before somebody kills the squirrel." When I asked why someone would kill the beautiful animal, Pop told me that there will always be people who simply must destroy that which is unique. A few days later, I learned that the squirrel had been found dead. Years later, in college, I read Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay," and cried again....for the squirrel, for the poet, for Pop, and for the gold.

This is one of my all-time favorite novels. I have read it at least five times, and I own three copies...just to be sure I'm never without. I also named my firstborn son after the two main characters.