Change of Pace

I'm reading a book called south of broad by pat conroy, a fictional book set in charleston in the 1960's.  delicious!!!  even on my best day I wouldn't consider reviewing a book- I couldn't do it justice- but here's one of my favorite passages so far (and I might include some later, I love the beautiful descriptions of the city I've fallen in love with!):

because of its devotional, graceful attraction to food and gardens and architecture, Charleston stands for all the principles that make living well both a civic virtue and a standard.  it is a rapturous, defining place to grow up.  everything I reveal to you now will be charleston-shaped and charleston-governed, and sometimes even charleston-ruined.  but it is my fault and not the city's that it came close to destroying me.  though charleston can do much, it can't always improve on the strangeness of human behavior.  but charleston has a high tolerance for eccentricity and bemusement.  there is a tastefulness in its gentility that comes from the knowledge that charleston is a permanent dimple in the understated skyline, while the rest of us are only visitors.