One CB's Vote for Best Summer Read

CultureBuddy Ann is on a 12 month academic contract so vacation days are hoarded and used very sparingly. Nearly all of my vacation days are spent on my two favorite pursuits: Broadway and the Boston Red Sox. A trip to Tampa for baseball is planned for September but every other day of vacation time that I have accrued for the rest of the year is already pledged to a Broadway trip. Only two weeks to go and the CB's are back in the city that they love!

In the meantime, I am doing some great reading. I think the best summer read of this year is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski and the New York Times agrees with me. The book is over 550 pages long. I am on page 400 and reading these last 150 pages very slowly because I don't want it to end. It is the story of a mute teenager and takes place on a dog farm in Wisconsin. At face value, not much interests me less than a story about dogs or a story that takes place on a farm. But this is not your usual novel and really must be experienced. It is a beautifully written and slowly unfolding tale full of classic themes. There are even undertones of Hamlet. What an amazing first novel. I rarely buy a book in hardcover but this is one that is worth every cent.