This is the book I had in my choir bag for reading on my Sunday walks when I stopped for a cuppa. It proves that even the scribblings in a notebook of day to day life, if done by a brilliant writer, can be brilliant -- and makes me more determined to burn my journals so that future generations are not subjected to my day-to-day writing dregs.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings of his sojourn with his young son, Julian, when Mrs Hawthorne and the two girls were away for a bit. Includes his wonderful observations of his lively son, life in the country, interactions with his neighbor, Herman Melville, and a wonderful intro by Paul Auster. ( )