Writer's Workshop - Love At First Sight

It is easy for me to fall in love with a book. I have done it many more times than I can count. I keep some of the most special ones close by so that I may grab one and lose myself for a little while whenever I need a break. There are some books I can open at any page and instantly sink into a different time and or place. Sometimes I search for specific chapters or passages just because I need the words wrapped around my like a favorite blanket.

The first book I ever fell in love with was a book called 'Cape Cod Summer' by Eleanor Early. It is a book written in 1949 about Cape Cod in the summer. The most interesting part of this to me is that at a young age I appreciated the fact that this was a book of non-fiction. Ms. Early wrote this book as a type of travel guide for those who wished to visit the narrow land. She basically starts at Plymouth and moves along the Cape to the villages and gives ideas of the special things to see and do there. I think what made me fall in love with it was that even though I found this book in the 1980's, almost all the things that Eleanor wrote about were the things I loved about the Cape but she wrote about them over 30 years earlier.

Ms. Early wrote about the beaches and the views, the harbors and the people. She was not writing about the miniature golf, the whale watches and the cheap tourist attractions. She does mention shopping but only as a warning as she expected it to be warmer the first time she traveled there and needed different clothes once she got there. Although some of the things she wrote about are gone I think 95% of them are still there now in 2010. That to me is amazing and absolutely wonderful. Scargo Tower is still there. :)

I have read other books about the Cape and the two that fall a close second to this book, 'We Chose Cape Cod' by Scott Corbett and 'The House on Nauset Marsh' by Wyman Richardson are no less dear to me. What I find interesting is that all three of these books were written in the 1940's and 1950's. They are not special to me because they are quaint and old fashioned but because they show the core of what it is to love Cape Cod. Tourist attractions come and go but the core of what Cape Cod has will always be there for those who wish to look for it. I am just very grateful that there are authors that chose to do so during that time period.