Quote de jour

"There is a temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work, between laziness and labor, that summer reading belongs.
~Henry Ward Beecher

Hey cat lovers, I'm reviewing cat-related fiction and nonfiction every Sunday at www.CatWisdom101.com

Summer begs for easy reading, languid flipping of magazine pages while sitting on a patio or poolside.


Easy reading doesn't mean trashy romance novels. For me, books about travel in warm climates will do. Romantic, historic cities like Rome can act as a characters as in Mary Gordon's novel, The Love Of My Youth.
Who hasn't ever thought about connecting with a long lost love? Adam and Miranda, former teen lovers, meet up in Rome after not seeing each other in over thirty years. Both are married to others but their spouses are absent as they spent three poignant weeks in Rome playing tourist, walking, talking and reminiscing.


In 1989, A Year in Provence, the bestselling autobiographical novel by Peter Mayle about his first living year in Provence turned an entire generation into dreaming about retiring to France, including me. Anne-Marie Simons turned her dreams of Provence into reality when she and her husband left swapped their life in Washington D.C for Aix-en-Provence. A publicist sent me her new memoir Taking Root In Provence is a charming lavender-scented romp with recipes. It's got me pining for a Provencal life of my own. My only beef is the book's brevity. At a scant 208 pages, I would have loved more.Taking Root In Provence

If summer heat addles your brain, then short stories are a good choice. Swim Back To Me is the new collection of five short stories and a novella by the brilliant Ann Packerd. Set in '70s California, the linked narratives depict ordinary, middle class events told with masterful grace and hold a special appeal for baby boomers.