Only in Florida — and in the fiction of its native son Carl Hiaasen — does a dead iguana fall from a palm tree and kill somebody. “True story,” swears Hiaasen, whose new YA novel, “Chomp,” opens just that way. “We had a big freeze, and all these iguanas were falling out of trees. I thought, some day I’ll use this.” The longtime Miami Herald columnist, author (“Striptease,” “Tourist Season”) and friend of Jimmy Buffett — who produced a movie based on Hiaasen’s first YA novel, “Hoot” — has a 12-year-old son (by his second wife) and three grandchildren, including 11-year-old twins. “I spaced my sons 29 years apart,” the still-boyish-looking Hiaasen says. “It sounds like a ‘Jerry Springer’ episode!” Here’s what’s in his library.
Pale Gray for Guilt
by John D. MacDonald
Like many Florida writers, I loved the Travis McGee series. This one is classic MacDonald — a mix of pulp and sharp social commentary with a murder mystery as a backdrop. MacDonald was one of my heroes. I saw him up front at a Jimmy Buffett concert and wanted to introduce myself, but couldn’t screw up the courage.
The Swamp
by Michael Grunwald
Probably the best book written about the destruction of the Everglades since Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ “The Everglades: River of Grass,” in 1947. Grunwald has more material, thanks to the murky modern politics of water in Florida. We had a governor, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who wanted to drain the Everglades and pave it. That was going to be his legacy.
True North
by Jim Harrison
It’s hard to pick a favorite Harrison novel. This one is about a man whose family got rich cutting timber and about the guilt that comes from making money by bleeding the land. Harrison’s a dear friend of mine. He’s one of these larger-than-life guys with a ravenous appetite for the outdoors and the English language, and he probably knows more about wine than anyone I know.
Treasury of Snake Lore
Edited by Brandt Aymar
The book came from a fellow who had a 16-foot Burmese python in his house in the Florida Keys. The python was ill and we had to give it an injection, which meant you had to hold it. They asked, “Which end do you want?” and I said, “Whatever end you don’t stick the needle in!”
