I was so thrilled with award-winning All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr that I found his earlier memoir, Four Seasons in Rome. It's no wonder this guy has won a sackful of prizes because he'd such an incredible writer, the style and flair is so breathtakingly honest, yet beautiful--not just raw and ugly emotion, but that side of us that is an awe that we even get to walk the planet Earth for a moment.
His Rome book centers on his time in Rome after he'd received a grant to write for a year, and it happened to be just months after his twins were born. He considers the ancient yet modernity of Rome in light of his insomnia and incredulity over raising twin boys.
Besides his poetic language, Doerr's book has a humming undercurrent of wisdom. One of my favorite lines from this book was: "Sleep is a horizon: the harder you row toward it, the faster it recedes."
Any parent knows the truth of that statement.
Rome. Children. Sleep. Beautiful Language. This book touches on all a true reader and parent would need and want in a book.
