or any other time

All that poetry is a bit hifalutin for me, but I do get through a few novels. Recently on the Lowery bedside table has been ...

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin: not-too-cheery trailer-park coming of age tale with the air of Cormac McCarthy. Sour side of the American dream. Very good.

Peace by Richard Bausch: even less cheery fictional account of US army unit's harrowing progress up Monte Cassino as WWII draws to a close.

I need something a bit softer and springlike ...