Taking a walk around Port Angeles on a dreary Sunday morning, I came upon a local bookstore open at 9:00! Wow, I love surprises like that. And to further the surprise, I found there a book I had no previous knowledge about that I just love. It's called When Wanderers Cease to Roam (A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put) by Vivian Swift.
I guess it's been around for awhile, since it's got 23 good reviews on Amazon (and one from a reader who felt this memoir was too much all about the author - which is, I must protest, a function of the memoir genre, yes? and, may I say, it's very much about her surroundings and landscapes, not her pathos - but I digress, each to her own!) I was very happy to give the full $20.00 to this independent bookstore, whose ultimate demise I already should probably mourn along with all the others of its wonderful kind...
It's an illustrated journal that captures the seasons beautifully. She uses line drawings and watercolor interspersed with daily observations, memories of her travels to lots of places before she "stayed put" on Long Island Sound. Everything is in her own printing. To quote the cover end piece, she spent a decade "quietly taking stock of her life, her immediate surroundings, and, finally, what it means to call a place home." It's humorous, reflective, and inspirational. Let me at my journal!
1 comment
Sounds like a great find - I'll have to look this title up. And good for you for supporting your local bookstore :) They are too few and far between.
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