A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

When I think of this book, I'm immediately transported to my childhood home, lying on the love seat (it was so purple!) in the living room. The room itself is in total disarray while my parents are painting. I can't figure out why I wasn't helping. Maybe I was sick that Saturday or maybe my parents thought my reading a book was a great way to keep me occupied so they could paint. But if that was the case, where was my sister - five years my junior?

Thinking of the book also makes me think of my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Russell. I just adored her. She was strict and strong and scary most of the time. Then, there was the kind and thoughtful side of her, too. When she laughed, it was with her whole body and heart. It was Mrs. Russell who recommended I order A Tree Grows in Brooklyn book during one of our Scholastic book sales (along with Roget's Thesaurus - a favorite reference book that I still own!).

What's the story about? Well, I remember the basics - Francie is a young girl growing up in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. There's her dad, who drinks a lot, her mom, who seems distant to Francie, and her brother. It's a poignant tale of a girl coming of age. I've read it several times over the years, just not recently. It's that whole transport thing that happens to me when I've read the book - I'm there with Francie walking the streets of Brooklyn - that has made this a favorite for me. Not only that, but it also gives me the warm fuzzy memories of a simple time in sixth grade.

The Time Traveler's Wife

It occurred to me that if I'm posting my favorite books that I should at least post something about the books and why I like them.

As for The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, I absolutely love this book. I've read it twice. It's one of those that just hangs with you. It's caught in the fibers of my being. It left it's mark on my soul. I'd read it more often, but there is such a sadness, almost a sense of mourning, in the story line that I can only read it about once every 18 months or so. At least, that's about how long it was after my first reading that it called to me again to be reread.

The story is of Henry, a time traveler, and Clare, the love of his life. The story is told in chapters. Clare's is told as the space-time continuum moves, while Henry's story is told at all different places on the space-time continuum. Clare first meets Henry when she is a little girl; his 'chrono displacement disorder' lands him into her life in a meadow near her family's home. He continues to visit her at different points in his life as she continues to grow older, all along the way to their first meeting in his life. He is 28 and she is 20 when they find each other without the chrono displacement - but Clare has already known Henry nearly her whole life. Sound confusing? It does to me, too, as I write this. But, the book makes wonderful sense.

Much of the storyline is told in Chicago and in nearby Michigan. It was fun to read a book and know all the places being described, especially the Grant Park parking garage. To say The Time Traveler's Wife is a page-turner is an understatement. For me, it was all I could do to pull myself away and rejoin my real life in bits and pieces until I finished the book.

I think it could make a fabulous movie. Did I hear that Hollywood is making a movie of the book or did I just dream it? Either way, I'm not certain the movie could live up to the visuals created in my head from my reading. One can only hope.

For now, I have told my daughter that when we pick out our next two cats, mommy gets to name them. A boy and a girl - named Henry and Clare.