history, philosophy, travel, science
-- all are intertwined in Chatwin's
poetic recreation of his visit to
Australia's Outback."

LYNNE KONSTANTIN,

contributing arts editor

Travels with Charley: In Search of
America by John Steinbeck. "In
September 1960, at the age of 58,
the author decided that he was no
longer familiar with the country
and its people for which he had
become an iconic voice. So, with
his poodle Charley as traveling
companion, he sets out to redis-
cover America and comes as close
as he ever did to composing an
autobiography. He paints with
vivid detail all that he encoun-
tered: scenic back roads, racial ten-
sion in the South and an incognito
conversation in a trailer park about
the writer John Steinbeck."

The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin.
"Though Chatwin considered it a
work of fiction, The Songlines is an
insight into the life of the author,
one-time director of modern art at
Sotheby's London and student of
archaeology. It is also a passionate
telling of the Aboriginal people
and their way of life. Literature,

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney
Taylor. "As one reviewer wrote,
'There's something to be said for a
book that makes you wish you'd
been a part of a poor immigrant
family living in New York.'
Originally published in 1951, this
tale of five Jewish sisters growing
up on New York City's Lower East
Side in 1912 follows the adven-
tures, holidays and love they expe-
rience wherever they go, particular-
ly at home with their immigrant
parents. The girls find adventure in
their visits to the library, making a
game of dusting and experiencing
the delicious luxury of having a
penny to spend at the market.
Based on the author's own child-
hood, the book is the first in a
series of five."

LAUREL PARK PLACE
Livonia, MI • 800.717.2147

They Came Like Swallows by
William Maxwell. "In his simple,
subtle, unaffected yet lyrically,
heartbreakingly complex story, the
author manages to bring us believ-
ably inside the head and heart of
an 8-year-old boy in this ordinary
tale about a normal American fam-
ily during the influenza epidemic
of 1917. Maxwell, the longtime
fiction editor of the New Yorker,
tweaked to perfection the writings
of luminaries such as John Cheever
and Eudora Welty. In this book,
readers can see for themselves how
fortunate those writers were to
have him."

,e,
CLOOnZed *E.

LINGERIE

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