If I had paid someone to do a review of my book, it wouldn't have been THIS good

[DFW]

19. I know your dilemma only too well

There are some books my wife and both want to "hear," and the only time we have is on long drives. The only trouble is, when are we on long drives together? Answer--about 4 times a year. Two hours to her mom and back from our home near Düsseldorf, and two times three hours from Boston to the tip of Cape Cod in the summer when we come for summer vacation.

The topics in the book are all of interest to me, too, except for wine. I know nothing at all about that except what I was able to find out by asking people I know and internet research. That's why I made it a central theme. I knew I would never bore a reader with an overabundance of expertise because I had none. As for some of the more colorful characters, I used my imagination and linguistic knowledge to try to make them real. In Dallas, there are enough Hispanics to allow me to come up with my genius Guatemalteca with relatively little stretch. Granted, making her fluent in Cantonese WAS a stretch, but what's the point if you can't have any fun?