Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction:. The Accidental Tourist , by Anne Tyler. I still have the copy he gave to me in that long-ago summer with a note from him in the front.
Hell, 20 years is no longer a big age difference — but back then it was. I was in college, he was in law school, totally different times in our lives. We had known each other for years — I had met him when I was I have to talk about all of this before I talk about the book itself.
To me, he was a glamorous older guy — my good friend — but not someone I would have thought of romantically. Mainly I felt he was out of my league. You know, I was 20 years old. A late bloomer. A virgin. I had had a boyfriend in college, sort of — but nothing serious or lasting. But we were good friends, and one summer we started hanging out a lot. Having a blast. He was such a fun person. He happened to be reading The Accidental Tourist at the time.
I was working 2 or 3 jobs, and he would show up at my place of work, just to say Hi. He would bring me ice coffee. We spent entire days at the beach. We had adventures in a small outboard motor, tooling around Newport, pulling up to docks alongside gigantic YACHTS — and going into whatever bar was there and having a Bloody Mary.
I had a cocktail dress in my bag, so we would stroll up the dock, in our flip-flops and shorts, towards some glamorous restaurant, slip into the bathrooms, change into our dress-up duds, and meet at the bar.
