Anthony Doerr
Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World (hardcover)
Scribner
$24

Acclaimed author Anthony Doerr got the opportunity to reflect on eternal themes in “the Eternal City” after being awarded a year’s stipend in Rome immediately after his wife gave birth to twin boys. Raising children in a foreign land would provide any author with good material. For a writer as skilled and observant as Doerr, it provides the reader, especially any who has ever been in similar circumstances, the sublime pleasure of beautifully-written sentences and a deep affirmation of the ultimate joy of being alive: “Only in Italy would the chocolate from an egg containing two red plastic robots taste good enough to make you want to cry. Shauna dips a finger in the warm chocolate and slips it into Henry’s mouth, and his face seems to crack open with wonder. He looks at his mother as if to say, ‘You’ve been putting green beans on my tray and the world includes this?’” If you’re looking for a good read for summer travel, you needn’t look further than here.

--Frank Reiss