Read When Wanderers Cease to Roam. I really must insist.

I’ve started re-reading When Wanderers Cease to Roam, by Vivian Swift and I’m even more blown away than I was the first time. I know Vivian personally, we’re represented by the same literary agency, but I’m not saying this because I know her!

This book is so charming, so moving, and so interesting it should be a best seller, and it does sell very well, thank you very much, but it should be on everyone’s bookshelf. It’s like wandering into an enchanting and secret garden (and she talks about secret gardens!) of heart and facts—of all the information there is in the world, she sprinkles the most perfect pieces of it throughout the book.

I was going to quote one of them, but you have to see it in context so I will only post a snippet:

“July is a lightning brew. Hot air currents, low pressures rising and falling, all those 100,000,000,000 electrons rubbing up against each other, the agitated particles striking the earth in bolts that kindle the molecules that lie on the surface of this planet. Everywhere you go you get the feeling that the ground you walk on is not at rest, and the sky above is not at ease …”

This is surrounded by stunning and always endearing water colors, thoughts about the month, and pieces of her life that anyone can identify with regardless of how different your life might be. It puts you in a dream-like state while at the same time making you feel so alive.

Read this book. You must. I really do very seriously insist. I swear to God you will thank me. You will give this book to all your friends as a gift. I was re-reading it because I needed to get to just the place where I knew it would take me, which reminds me, because of Vivian I want to explore tea. I want to sit in one of my favorite spots in the city with a cup of tea with drops of vanilla extract in it, just as she does in her village.

As far as which water color of hers to use for this post, I didn’t know where to begin so I chose this one. It’s touching. Who doesn’t understand the loss of a pet. Except, when you read the book you’ll learning that the little grave represents something even sweeter and more touching than that.