Anne Tyler - The Accidental Tourist

< br > < b > & #8220;POIGNANT . . . FUNNY . . . < i > THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST < /i > IS ONE OF HER BEST. . . . [TYLER] HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER. & #8221; < br > & #8211; < i > The New York Times < /i > < br > < br > < /b > Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon & #8217;s insular world & #8211;and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life. < br > < br > < b > & #8220;BITTERSWEET . . . EVOCATIVE . . . It & #8217;s easy to forget this is the warm lull of fiction; you half-expect to run into her characters at the dry cleaners . . . Tyler [is] a writer of great compassion. & #8221; < br > & #8211; < i > The < /i > < i > Boston Globe < /i > < br > < /b > < br > < b > & #8220;Tyler has given us an endlessly diverting book whose strength gathers gradually to become a genuinely thrilling one. & #8221; < br > & #8211; < i > Los Angeles Times < /i > < /b > < br > < br > < b > & #8220;A DELIGHT . . . A