yesterday I finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and I have to say that it was the first time in a really long time that I was absolutely compelled to keep reading once I hit the final third of a book. Bea was having a particularly cuddly day in which she really didn’t want to be put down by herself in her bed, so we sat together in the armchair and I sucked up some tasty fiction while she alternately slept and nursed. I didn’t get a lot else done, but they’re only little once, right??
this book is expertly constructed, given the challenges of narrating a story in which the main character jumps around the timeline of his own life. there were all kinds of things I love to see in fiction – dream sequences, snappy dialogue, philosophical questions and characters that are so alive they show up in my dreams. Kiki from Zadie Smith’s On Beauty is that kind of character too, just so round and full that you feel like you’ve known her all your life.
reading books like this makes me feel all fired up to write something great myself, although it could be the time of year as well. there is something about autumn that brings up all kinds of creative urges in me – wanting to write, sew, make papier mache, anything. i miss baking bread too. not long now, i tell myself. not long now.

Filed under:
Uncategorized by michelle