Reading in Seattle

I took two library books along with me on the trip. Yeah I was being under-ambitious. On hindsight, I should've packed in the book I'm currently reading, Drift, Victoria Patterson's gorgeous short story collection set in Newport Beach. It would've been a nice accompaniment
to the two I did pack: Elizabeth Bowen's The Death of the Heart and Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, both of which I definitely enjoyed, although not exactly typical vacation books.

Death of the Heart started out rather slowly and I ended up switching over to Dandelion Wine after a few pages. Bradbury's most autobiographical book, this is a tale of small town life, told from the perspective of 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding. It was not quite as lighthearted as I expected. Then again, this being Bradbury, should I have really? But it was charming and sweet and in parts a little sad. It was a good read. And when I was done, I picked up Death of the Heart again, reading it mostly at the airport and on the plane back. And I was quite amazed that I got so into the book that the 2-hour plane ride seemed far shorter.