Barrett Booknotes -- A Great Summer Read!

When I’m reading a really good book, nothing seems to bother me much:

 The flights been delayed for three hours?

“No problem,” I say with a wave of my hand.

The doctor has triple booked my appointment time?

“Take your time!” I say with a grin.

Well, I’ve recently devoured a book that had just that effect on me. The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker had me glued to a lounge chair in my backyard all weekend long.

It’s a gripping story told from the perspective of a young woman remembering her middle school years in California, when everybody first got the news that the Earth was slowing down on its axis. At first, the changes seem subtle and everyone tries to adapt. But as the days stretch out and are followed by never-ending nights, it triggers drastic changes in the environment and in people, too.

As Julia struggles to adapt to an ever-changing world, she must also cope with personal challenges in her own life: the particular loneliness of early adolescence, the fissures in her parents’ marriage and the alternating pain and joy of a first love.

This book is a must for anyone wanting to lose themselves in a great summer read!