Heralded on Amazon as the best of June, creeping up the NYTimes bestseller list to number 6, this story of a boy and his dog by David Wroblewski was not what I expected.  After reading the author's comments about wanting something with "the uncynical Midwestern sense of heart," I am even more at sea.   

Summer travel?  Maybe you can only dream about it this year, but maybe you're still going…and these books might help!

       Prepare to step back in time. Back to the days when a privateer could sail the ocean blue without ever leaving the Hollywood studios. Back to the days when people enjoyed watching actors pretend the rapier went straight to their gut, when really they are hiding it under their arm. Back to the days when a pillager could become as upright and desirable as the town mayor. Ah, yes, those were the days. He grabs and kisses her, she bites him, he knocks her flat, but by the end of the movie she will defend him in the face of any danger or indignity.

Looking for some tongue-in-cheek adventurous humor to share with the family?

          Over the week-end, I watched The Holiday, with Camron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law and Eli Wallach.  It is a story about two young women with man problems (it is a romantic comedy after all) one in Los Angeles, the other in Surrey England, who swap houses for the Christmas Holiday.  According to Yahoo Movie reviews the critics gave it a C+, the viewers gave it a B.  I would give it