Success!

I am part of a book club that loves to read these literary tomes (at least they feel like that to me) and I almost exclusively read children's and young adult books.  So, last night I went to book club with a crazy suggestion for our summer reading-When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.  And you know what, it worked!

I think that most of the women voted due to a nostalgia for A Wrinkle in Time, and it will be very interesting to see what they think of it as adults.  A few of the younger moms had heard of When You Reach Me and were actually pretty excited to read that book too, and a Newbery Award never hurts. 

My When You Reach Me story is this.  I read this book right when it came out and was instantly in love.  The whole time travel story and story behind the story (a man with amnesia reveals events that haven't happened yet under hypnosis) was very engaging to me.  I loved the misunderstood, bad boy Marcus.  He's brilliant and unusual and flawed, and just a great character.  And the Laughing Man is such a cleverly drawn character, and in his one moment of lucidity, he says "It's alright.  I'm old and she's gone now."  That one line follows me everywhere.  That one line tells me how much he loved his wife and what he was doing to be with her.  Maybe I'm overreaching with that, but the whole story is wrapped up in that one line for me.


I only read A Wrinkle in Time after I read When You Reach Me, so I am excited to read it again and see what I think about it.  I would like to take more time to read it, because it really didn't leave any kind of an impression on me, other than the part with the little boy and the ball.

So, we'll see how the book club goes in July.  Hopefully I can bring people to my side and start a splinter group of rogue children's book readers!

Happy reading!