Whenever I used to pass through the charming town of Micanopy just South of Gainesville, I used to stop by one of my favorite used bookstores, O. Brisky Books, which had a great selection of Florida-related literature, among many other topics. In fact, just about my entire Harry Crews literary collection was obtained there. Since the bookstore didn’t accept credit cards, one time I had to run over to the ATM at Pearl Country Store to get enough cash to buy a rare edition of Crews’ third novel, This Thing Don’t Lead to Heaven (1970). I can assure you it was well worth the hassle! The owner, O.J. Brisky, would always engage me in a conversation about Crews (1935-2012) that would go something along the lines of this brief exchange:

Brisky: “Have you heard anything about how Harry’s doing?”
Me: “I heard through the grapevine that he’s not doing too well healthwise.”
Brisky: “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been hearing too. It’s too bad. Hope he’s feeling better soon.”
Me: “Yeah, me too.”

Ideally located at 112 N.E. Cholokka Boulevard in downtown Micanopy, O. Brisky Books had no air conditioning and the door was always propped open. There was a bench outside where Brisky himself often could be found greeting customers and reading one of the books from his diverse inventory. The adventurous browser at O. Brisky Books would often walk away with a handful of books totally unrelated to anything he or she began their search for!

Born in Hungary, Brisky grew up in Louisiana and attended LSU, where he majored in American Literature. Brisky, who served as a reporter and editor before opening his first used bookstore in Tarpon Springs, later helped start the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of his inventory of more than 50,000 books, a sizable selection of which I’m sure he read over the years. Sadly, Brisky passed away in January 2014 at the age of 71 and the bookstore closed down for good shortly thereafter. I haven’t been back to Micanopy since.