Rainy Afternoons Spent Comfortably Curled Up With Books by Michael York

Overcast and rainy days in the South Sound are perfect days when time permits to grab a handy paperback or hardback and commune with a book. Yup. And while these days we can enjoy this art form via Nook, Kindle or a handy I-Phone or I-Touch, I've always had a special place in my heart for the three-dimensional model with well-worn or crisp yellow, cream or white paper pages.

The last few days have been spent with actor and author Michael York, whom I was introduced as a middle school student when watching him put his personal stamp onscreen to the character of fiery tempered Tybalt, in Franco Zeffirelli's enchanting and exquisitely lyrical production of Romeo And Juliet (1968).

Two volumes of the handful he has so successfully published have been happily tackled -
his 1991 autobiography Accidentally on Purpose and more relatively recently published 2006 narrative "Are My Blinkers Showing?" - Adventures in Filmmaking in the New Russia both of which I'm delighted to recommend.

Like reading a good old fashioned letter, regardless of authorship it's a pleasure to peruse through well-written tomes as these, but doubly so a visit with such an intelligent, well-read, veteran traveler, Oxford graduate, world observer, respected star of stage, television and silver screen who has not only earned but is entirely deserving of all his bonafide blue ribbon celebrity credentials.

This weeks outing with York reminds me of equally pleasant idylls in years past in the company of some of his fellow thespians such as Kirk The Ragman's Son (1999) ; My Stroke of Luck (2002) Douglas and the late Alec Blessings in Disguise (1985) Guinness, the first two of a larger group of talented others who come immediately to my mind.

And while I would freely admit in more recent times flipping through the pages of books purporting to be from the pens of both contemporary and self-professed members of celebrity, the most pleasantly enjoyed and relished reading hours I have spent have been devoted to tales told by performers such as York and his two aforementioned colleagues listed above, whose bookish endeavors always ensure a memorable and satisfying interlude.