Summer Reading: Find a Copy of "Walden"

Two literary birthdays of note today: Henry David Thoreau and Pablo Neruda.

Thoreau, of course, is the author of an American classic, Walden, his effort to confront life simply and directly. Walden, Thoreau's greatest work, was published in 1854, and has inspired generations of American readers. To this day, the site of Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond is a literary shrine in Massachusetts.

Neruda, the Chilean poet, is famous for his love poems. A receipt of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Neruda is much beloved in Latin America for his lyrical, romantic verses. We have to read Neruda in translation, but even then he's a joy.

On these long (and wet) summer days, we suggest a return to Walden or checking out a Neruda volume and settling down in a soft chair.