A DAY AT THE BEACH by Geoffrey Wolff / Introduction by Ann Patchett
"Oh, A Day at the Beach! I’ve been in love with this book since I first read it, and as is the case with all books that I love, I gave my copy away as soon as I finished. So I bought another copy and gave that one away too, and then I did it again. There were so many people who needed to read this book, and I could always get another one. And I could, and I did, until they got harder to come by. A Day at the Beach went out of print .... Let’s just call this a wrong that has been righted. A Day at the Beach is back, and, in the parlance of Broadway, better than ever. While the original collection was perfect, everybody likes a little something extra, and to that end Geoffrey added the heart-stopping essay “Heavy Lifting.” If you were lucky enough to read this book this first time around, you now have a compelling reason to read it again. Here we are reminded that daring lives, brilliant writing, and expansive thinking can sometimes come together. Cherish it."
– Ann
In this essay collection, now with a new introduction by Ann Patchett, Geoffrey Wolff recounts the moral (and sometimes immoral) education of a writer, friend, husband, and father. He shows us his wildly dysfunctional childhood Christmases—presided over by his con-man father—then shifts to his brash, short-lived teaching career in Istanbul. With dazzling literary agility, Wolff guides us through the surprising, invaluable turns that shaped his path: his victory over the chaos of drink, his open-heart surgery, his life-affirming surrender to the slopes of the Matterhorn, and his transcendent love of family. Long considered a classic, now expanded and back in print after two decades, A Day at the Beach shares Wolff's spirited, elegant, and deeply felt observations on an extraordinary life.