Recently Mel mentioned The Age of Miracles when she was touting another book she loved. Well Dark Matter wasn’t available on Overdrive, but The Age of Miracles was.
I’m so glad it happened that way. Reading that book was… an experience.
I’m thankful I came across it after the election. I was a different person reading it than than I would have been otherwise. I don’t think the book would have had quite the effect on me if I’d not yet witnessed the coming to pass of an event so unexpected, so unheard of, so unimaginable just hours before it was announced– if I’d never sat in my own shock and grief, knowing it was shared by so many.
In The Age of Miracles, something very fundamental changes in the world, but at first the change is almost imperceptible. They walk around, and everything is as it was, yet they know the world has been turned on its head and they have no idea what the end game will be.
The first few hours I listened to that book were like a salve on my soul. I was able to relive the strangeness and shock of those first weeks after the election without thinking about it directly. It helped me process the process, if that makes sense. It allowed me to come to terms with coming to terms.
The book has also helped me find a renewed understanding of my sixth graders, as it is narrated by a girl in that very grade. I appreciated that aspect of the book as well.
The Age of Miracles is a gorgeous read, and the audiobook is incredibly well produced. Those hours feel like a gift that was left for me at my doorstep, made all the more precious because it wasn’t even intended for me and yet I received it anyway. (Thanks Mel!)
Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. They can be magic that way.
{As I was pressing publish on this post my phone buzzed. Dark Matter has just become available…}
Oh! I am so glad you liked it. That book really got under my skin. (Dark Matter was that way, too.) I’m reading it with the kids soon, and I’m curious to see how it affects them.
For processing the election, I turned to Dirk Gently. The electric monks that believe anything? That’s the story I’ve been holding onto.
Yes! I randomly stumbled on this at the library and was so pleasantly surprised. I read it before the election but even then it seemed to so closely parallel what was happening, especially how divided people became.
I read that book a few years ago in my now – defunct book club. I found it unnerving. I actually found it kind of sad. Also, it made me think twice about wishing I had more hours in the day to get things done.
I didn’t actually read your whole post because I just started the book (downloaded when Mel mentioned it, and yes, this one was available at my library but not the other). Now I’m excited to get into it!
Thinking of your upcoming week and sending good wishes that it all happens smoothly and everything falls into place for a wondrous holiday!