"January"'s Book: Time Keeper

Being behind on Book a Month looks a lot worse than being behind on Book a Week. I assure you I'll be back where I need to be in no time. The new font is thanks to not copy/pasting it here from RYM.

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Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

Fantasy (2012 - 224 pp.)

I'd read quite a bit of Mitch Albom's work for the Detroit Free Press (an inevitable consequence of having watched so much Pistons basketball in their mid-2000s heyday) but never any of his fiction. Time Keeper follows the concurrent stories of Dor, a man who becomes Father Time; Sarah, a seventeen-year old high school in New York City; and Victor, an exceedingly wealthy octogenarian who also lives in New York City. The lessons they are able to teach each other, especially the ones the fantastically doomed Dor teaches the urbanites, form the basis of the book's substance. Most of the time Albom builds up to these moments by humanizing the characters through background stories that portray life in New York City, or in Dor's case, that inject prehistoric fantasy. (One offshoot of this is that Albom gives himself a perfect opportunity to use the word "karst".)

Overall, I thought it was well-written and interesting, albeit lacking that it factor that made a book like Night Circus so endearing. As much as I enjoyed it, I feel like having not read it wouldn't have altered my life much. Albom's characters are good, realistic fits; Sarah, for example, feels like a believable teenage girl. His settings are good, reflecting their surroundings yet not overly dense for this type of writing. The plot felt already done, which is my main qualm with what ended up being a good page-turner. The didacticism is a bit of  a turnoff for such a light read yet it is of a relatively benign variety (e.g.: the reader isn't stuffed full of political protests or anything) so it doesn't affect the reading experience much. Albom's faith is evident throughout, which I personally like but may not resonate so much with other readers.

The best quotation from Time Keeper occurs near the end, during an exchange between the eponymous character and one of the people he discovers. It happens near the end of the book but doesn't spoil anything, unless you thought a charming Christian easy read would be killing off characters A Song of Ice and Fire-style.

DOR: "There is a reason God limits our days."

VICTOR: "Why?"

DOR: "To make each one precious." (206)

If you have a night free and are a fan of Albom's work, check this out.

Ease of Reading: 10

Educational Content: 2

The Week: Millennials Are Not Who You Think They Are

Last June, I blogged about Generations, a (the?) seminal book of what we now call generational theory. Yesterday, The Week posted this article about Millennials. It appears I'm not the only Generations fan. (For the record, I like The Week article. It's nice to see these Greatest Generation/Millennial comparisons float around considering the shared affinity for technology and civic duty.)

CYOA

Breaking news: I have just finished writing a choose your own adventure book. Once I have the formatting perfected, it should be ideal for e-readers. The effort took me three non-consecutive days (one in August, one in October, and today) and totals 17,464 words. Hopefully it can be up soon! It was a fun one to write.

I Have a New Profile Pic

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MatthewGordonBooks

It's me, in my hometown's beautiful Royal Ontario Museum, wearing a shirt with a griffin on it. Far more fitting than the old one, which was from 2010.

Also, read the stories on there if you haven't already, etc. A couple new ones should be up within the next few months, playing more on the game/puzzle theme. Romantic stuff will have to wait.

Chairman of the Whored

This story has nothing to do with me except that a character has the same name as me. I never knew exactly who I'd be as a fictional character. As it turns out, I'm the colleague and friend of a lawyer-turned-prostitute who, well, seems to like her quite a bit. From Dark Haven Book Reviews:

For her parents’ sake, Leila the lawyer becomes Charlotte the whore. It’s a financially lucrative business, and now with only a few jobs needed to finish paying off the debt, there’s light at the end of this sordid tunnel. However, the unexpected brings her whoring and professional side crashing together when her boss, Joseph Merchant, with her colleague and friend, Matthew Gordon, hire her for a night. A one night ménage tryst opens the door to emotional and sexual ramifications that affect them all. Her boss, may be the choreographer of their ensuing sexual dance, but it’s still up to Leila to choose her partner and decide the life she’ll lead.

Being in law school makes this passage feel oddly fitting. (NOTE: In case it wasn't already clear, this character bears no resemblance to me that I can tell from this review.)