The Time Keeper (Mitch Albom)

Mitch Albom (the author of Tuesdays with Morrie), brings you The Time Keeper, a novel about how precious our time is on Earth. 

The story starts with Dor, a man who, thousands of years ago, is inventing the concept of time.  He's counting drops of water, watching shadows, figuring out the moon.  He, Father Time, is punished for having created time and is required, for thousands of years, to listen to everyone's wishes for time.  Finally the day comes when he is given an hourglass and a task to teach two people what time really means. 

Dor's story is combined with the stories of Sarah - a teenage girl who thinks she has had as much as she can handle - and Victor - a man who has a terminal illness.  Both of these people are, in some way, trying to change the "time" they have been given on Earth. 

"What you have done to this point cannot be undone.  What you do next... [...] It is still unwritten."  (p. 180)

This book was very easy to read.  The chapters are short, so it's very easy to keep telling yourself, "Just one more chapter..." 

For me, it was the stories of Sarah and Victor that kept me interested.  I found the concept of the novel a little strange.  I enjoyed the references to time, and I thought that the novel had a good message, but at times it seemed a little 'unreal' for me.  (I know, I AM the girl who will read stories like The Night Circus or Harry Potter and love them, even though they aren't "real," but this novel just seemed a little different...)

I can't put my finger on my feelings for this book, but I will say... It wasn't my favourite novel of 2012, but I did like the overall message of the book.  If you can read the next quotation and feel intrigued, you may be interested in The Time Keeper.

"Man alone measures time.  Man alone chimes the hour.  And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures.  A fear of time running out."  (p. 8)

One Day (David Nicholls)

I loved "One Day" by David Nicholls.  I was actually a little sad when I finished it because I just wanted it to keep going.

This book is the beautiful story of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley.  Each chapter in the book happens on July 15th of a different year.  The book explores how the friendship and relationship between Dexter and Emma has changed and evolved each year from 1988 to 2007. 

"How might she say that?  She couldn't of course.  Faint-hearted as usual, she had left it too late.  In the future, I'll be braver, she told herself.  In the future, I will always speak my mind, eloquently, passionately." (p. 429)

Emma and Dexter met each other at college, but only really started to become friends when they graduate.  They're faced with the challenging question of whether they should keep in touch or pretend that it never happened...  This novel really touches on the importance of timing, persistance, and following your heart.  What happens to a friendship when one person feels more than another?  What happens to a friendship when other relationships become involved?  What happens when you are just in different places emotionally?

"'Live each day as if it's your last', that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that?  What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy?  It just wasn't practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference.  Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you.  Go out there with your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at... something.  Change lives through art maybe.  Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well.  Experience new things.  Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance."  (p. 433)

I loved this book because I really think it speaks to the reality of so many readers.  In the movies, there are so many romances where people are just "meant to be together."  In real life, it's sometimes hard to know with some friendships and relationships whether you should carry on or let it go.  Whether you should remain friends or try for something more.  Whether you should take a break and see what happens or take a break and never speak again.  Relationships are complicated and this book stresses the importance of timing and speaking what's on your mind. 

I'm sure we can all think back to past relationships and remember a time when you maybe should have said more than you did or taken a risk for something.  Or when you look back now and wonder why you waited so long to start something or end something.  You can relate to the characters this book.

I thought David Nicholls' writing did a wonderful job showing the inner thoughts and conflict of the characters.  As a reader, you sometimes felt like you knew a lot more about the characters than they knew about themselves. 

I would definitely recommend this novel.  It may be more of a girly book, but the issues are ones that any reader could relate to. 

The movie "One Day" starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess is already available to own on DVD - I am reading this book a bit late, based on the movie release date. And now, honestly, I am just about to start watching the movie.  (So that I can relive the magic of the book one more time...)