Wanderer homes in on daily details

Last update: January 9, 2009 - 4:59 PM

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WHEN WANDERERS CEASE TO ROAM

By: Vivan Swift.

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 200 pages, $20.

Review: A hand-lettered, hand-drawn journal celebrating the beauty of staying put.

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Vivian Swift spent most of her 20s and 30s traveling to exotic places -- Paris, Ireland, Africa, Scotland, South America. So when she settled down in a village on Long Island, she decided to stay put for a while, and pay attention to the close-at-hand world. The result is a yearlong journal, hand-lettered, illustrated with her own watercolors and notes and some of her favorite quotations -- a cluttered, slightly jumbled hodgepodge, but an appealing one.

She has a nice eye for detail: She notes the various muds of March, the many different rains of April (pouring, drenching, drizzle, spritz, driving, dripping, soaking, mist), the constellations of July. Day by day, month by month, she takes you into her life, recounting not just that one year, but going back in time and spinning stories of her travels: losing an earring in Dublin, or buying fabric in Niger, or drinking tea in Buenos Aires. The book crosses the line into precious now and then, but its great warmth and intimacy make a bit of cuteness a forgivable sin.

LAURIE HERTZEL

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Here are some of Books Editor Laurie Hertzel's favorite sites and blogs. Got a literary link to share? E-mail Laurie.

Reading Minnesota A blog that features Minnesota writers, illustrators, publishers, bookstores, and reviewers.
Talk of the Stacks An author series from the Library Foundation of Hennepin County.
Poets & Writers The website for Poets and Writers Magazine--podcasts, author interviews, and writing resources.
Creative Writing A place to keep apprised of writing competitions in the United States.
Gather Minnesota Readers The Website for Minnesota Public Radio's books blog.
The Loft Literary Center The Website for the Loft, a local place for writers and readers.
Good Reads A way to track what you're reading, and what your friends are reading.
Lost Manuscripts Just what it sounds like - a blog (sporadically updated) devoted to missing and destroyed manuscripts.
Maud Newton Very hip, reviews, links, a little attitude.
bookreporter.com A plethora of online book reviews and reading guides.
Rain Taxi Rain Taxi Review of Books.