Reading Sex and Vanity is like eating a whole box of See's chocolates. The book brings back memories. In 1972 I swam in the Blue Grotto in Capri, and I slept on the beach in Positano, the most beautiful places on earth I've ever seen. You should read E. M. Forester's A Room with a View or see the Merchant Ivory film (not the BBC Adaptation!) before reading the book.