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Hardcover Swimming at Suppertime: Seasons of Delight on the Wrong Side of Buzzards Bay Book

ISBN: 0609608401

ISBN13: 9780609608401

Swimming at Suppertime: Seasons of Delight on the Wrong Side of Buzzards Bay

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

$6.09
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Book Overview

Master storyteller and beloved NPR commentator Carol Wasserman shares the quirky joys and tribulations of her "impecunious, ordinary, fixed little life" among fellow Swamp Yankees in her raggedy little tourist town on the Massachusetts coast, across the water from upscale Cape Cod. In the tradition of Bailey White and Garrison Keillor, she regales us with amusing and touching stories about the colorful characters and yearly rituals-from the absurd to the sublime-that keep her so closely tethered to the town and her ancient, crumbling half-Cape house, which she describes as "a fragile, sinking, lovely old wreck of a place that I have come to confuse with my own flesh." In these tales that have delighted millions of listeners, she tells about the fine art of buying apples from squabbling orchard owners who impugn one another's fruit; the wild enthusiams of her dearly departed husband, Aubrey, who was once sure he'd discovered a tiny Stonehenge by the side of the road; the pleasures of buying abandoned sewing projects while others scrape and claw at the semiannual rummage sa= the reassuring qualities of living life amid ghosts and her neighbor's claims of witnessing ectoplasm in the upstairs hall; her several days spent in darkness because of a rutabaga cassero= her discovery of the surprising religious fervor of a good friend who prays to a guy named Wendell; the strange comforts of the sound of coyotes singing in the middle of the night; and the community of ladies who swim at suppertime, when the beach is deserted and they know "the ocean will be as warm as the primordial soup." Swimming at Suppertime is the remarkable debut of one of the most original and entertaining new voices writing about the wondrous daily surprises and pleasures of American life.

Customer Reviews

5 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
A wonderful book, highly recommended

As someone who lived on the island of Nantucket for 10 years, as one of the working people who cleaned the summer people's houses and worked three jobs in the summer, I know all too well the life that the author describes. But although it is a hard life, it was a wonderful one and I don't regret it. This book made me very nostalgic for that life. The author has a dream-like quality in the way that she writes. I hope she...

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Rated 5 stars
thleen

Seldom do we get the chance to read a book that feels like the author is sitting next to you and telling her story, but not in a "oh, enough about me! How do you like my dress?" way.Nope, Carol Wasserman seems like an old friend.Simply put... This book rocks! It is funny, it is familiar, it is warm...the perfect after the holidays book, a perfect anytime book. I did not want it to end, but I finished it with the hopes that...

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Rated 5 stars
Emotional Rollercoaster That I never Wanted To End

While the book really grabbed us due to it being vaguely Parallel to mine and my wife's lives, that's not the point. If you live in the rental from hell a.k.a. "A Winter Rental" and you survived, well then this is a must read. I remember years ago whe our kids were young. As the spring came the kids could play outside. The property owners would show up and start working on the house. How comfy is this when you're a little...

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Rated 5 stars
Swimming at Suppertime

I devoured this book. This writing is straightforward and graceful all at the same time. It reads like a collection of vignettes and short stories. It is powerful and entertaining all at once. A great summer read!

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Rated 5 stars
Chicken Soup for those of us who hate "Chicken Soup" books..

... and a better book for those who _do_ like those CS books.Carol Wasserman writes her short, to-the-point, real-life personal stories using a craftsmanship with words rarely seen in American literature. The subtle winks and nods found throughout her stories keeps you in a different place, leaving you with the feeling that you haven't just read a book but that you have been sitting down at the local diner listening to an...

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