Finished a book in 24

I can’t remember the last time I read a book in 24 hours. Maybe Bob Larson’s “Dead Air” because I thought it was so ridiculous and I kept waiting for him to redeem the Saints.

Maybe it was Elizabeth Berg, “Dream When You’re Feeling Blue.”

I picked up Maggie O’Farrell’s “The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox” at the airport yesterday, began reading on the plane home from Nashville. I only quit reading to drive home, and go to Friday night prayer.

I loved this book – the writing, the story, the characterization. I wish the ending had a bit more of a meat and story conclusion, but I cannot ding the art and prose of the book.

Can I write like this when I grow up? I learned so much as an author without realizing I was learning. I think all the great literary authors of our time are from the UK. At least to me.

The book, written in third person present, captured me, drew me in and kept me. The flashback scenes intrigued me. Even the mixed past and present thought in one scene held me. I loved reading something that didn’t spoon feed every detail – “now we are in Kitty’s point of view.”

Kitty has alzheimers and the scenes in her pov are the mixed ones, a perfect reflection of how an alzehiemer patient’s mind might work.

This story will stick with me for a long time.