My First Book... the Beginning

In My Father’s Shadow is a series of short stories chronicling the life of the author’s father. In these stories the author has attempted to capture the essence of what his father taught his brother and him, the time they spent in play, and the life lessons which has left an indelible imprint. In point of fact, it is a story about all fathers. Most average men, very few leaving a legacy of great deeds, but through small acts of kindness, love, and favor are elevated to greatness. Its every man’s story. The story begins with his father in the early 1900’s growing up in Tidewater Virginia during the Depression years. We travel with him to his time in the Navy during World War II, and post-war years building a quality of life for himself and family. The last chapter brings us to his last days and gives the reader the opportunity to reflect on his life. Also included are historical references to the time in which his father lived spanning a period of remarkable medical, political, and socioeconomic significance.

From my shelf to yours. Pages worth turning.

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

Do you believe in the space/time continuum? If you do, would you also consider parallel universes with multiple realities. Could you be living different lives in a different dimension? Having different schooling, occupations, spouses, and even children. In “The Midnight Library” Matt Haig teases the reader with the potential for such eventualities.

Nora Seed, a young woman with too many disappointments for her short life, decides to end it. Fortunately for her, she doesn’t quite pull it off. Instead, her near death results in her transportation to a library, her library, The Midnight Library. Why midnight? Because that is where the clock got stuck when she tried to kill herself.

This library is peculiar. For it contains an infinite number of books representing a different life Nora Seed had lived. And each, undoes a regret in her previous life; marrying a jilted boyfriend, reviving a dead pet cat, becoming a famous musician, fulfilling her dream as a glaciologist, and so on. Sounds good. But not so fast! These new lives are not without their own flaws. Flaws which ultimately drives Nora back to the library in search of the perfect book…the perfect life.

The storyline is clever and the reading is fun and easy. This a great book for a summer vacation.