2018 Second Half Book

[hestergray]

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig 5/5

I loved this story.  It was intriguing and heartbreaking.  A touch of science fiction.  The main character is Tom, who appears to be about 41, but is actually 400-something years old.  He's not immortal, and he doesn't travel in time.  Instead, he has a condition that causes him to age very slowly, about 1 year for every 15 years that pass.  The condition begins at puberty, so up until age 13, Tom grew at a regular rate.  He was found by the Albatross Society, which is a group of people who have the same condition.  They help him get set up with a new identity in a new location every few years.  Tom's latest life is as a history teacher in London.  He is drawn to another teacher, despite the Albatross Society's rule about never falling in love.  He is also constantly searching for his daughter, who was born with the same condition, and whom he hasn't seen in centuries.  A beautiful story.

Comments

[moredetails]

Oh that sounds good! I can't remember--have we talked about the movie The Age of Adeline? It's a similar idea and a really nice little movie.

[hestergray]

I don't know if we've talked about it, but I really liked that movie! I was definitely thinking of it while reading this book.

After I first saw The Age of Adeline, I recommended it to my dad because I knew it was just the kind of movie he would enjoy. He told me later that it was now in his top 20 movies of all time. I was so right!

And then with this book, when we all went to the hospital for Emily's big surgery day, my dad had brought one page of the newspaper with him. For an all day stay in the waiting room at the hospital. Luckily, I had this book with me and I gave it to him to read. He got about halfway through that day, and finished it later when he got a copy from his library. He liked it too.

[moredetails]

That's funny--I wouldn't think of it as a guy movie. It's cool your dad enjoyed it. I want to see it again sometime but it doesn't seem like something Dan would like (though he'd tolerate it and play on his iPad while we watched it, of course :)). Not only do I enjoy the story, but I liked the setting in San Francisco, and in general I admire Blake Lively. She's gorgeous, but also very classy-seeming. Graceful. I don't know.

I need to check out that book!

[hestergray]

My dad likes various types of movies, but I know he especially likes stories that have an element of time travel or time being weird in some way. He loves the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Over Christmas, I left my copy of "About Time" with him so he could watch it. I haven't heard if he watched it yet.

And yes, I thought Blake Lively was terrific in that movie! The way she talked and moved - she really seemed like an old woman in a young woman's body.

Oh, and my dad is a big fan of Harrison Ford, so it helped that he was in that movie too.

[moredetails]

Oh I love Somewhere in Time too! I saw it when I was 6 and it stuck with me until I watched it later as an adult.

Dan really likes time travel stuff, too. I like it, but forget to seek it out.