'My Name is Memory' by Ann Brashares

I'm reading 'My Name is Memory.'  What an interesting book.  A man with a complete memory lives through multiple lives, always seeking the same woman who remembers only the life she's living.  See, I was the girl who read 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' at least twelve times.  I bought it at least eleven times and gave it away again after each time I read it.  Maybe it's time for me to buy it and read it again.  The only other book I've read more than twice is 'Little Women,' which always made me feel better when I was sad as a girl. 

Richard Bach's books were my first introduction to the concept of reincarnation.  What a beautiful idea, that I could be reborn so that I could keep learning.  I was brought up to believe in science.  Oh, my parents took us to church every Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, my dad taught me that science was my foundation.  My brother and sister are still students of science.  I am too, in a way, but I've become more mystical as I've grown older.  I'm almost ashamed to admit it. 

So here's what I tell my scientific friends, if I even have the courage to tell them anything at all:  No one really knows what happens after we die, so it makes sense that I believe in what supports me and my community in the best way.  I want to believe that souls continue in time.  In fact, I still talk to the people I love who have died.  It surprises me to think how often.  Ready to call the nice men with the white coats and the syringe?

Mike, Nick, and I have a small family and sometimes we feel a little isolated.  Mike's mom died before we were even married.  My dad died before we ever met.  Yet, there is comfort in thinking about how much they both would have loved Nick, even for him. Sometimes, I get verklempt thinking that Mike's mom would have loved how much I love her boy and her grandson.  The idea of the continuation of souls helps us to feel less lonely in the universe. 

And my cats.  Our cat Seth has always tried to push me around and I won't stand for it.  I've joked with people that he's a bad husband from a previous life.   I can't even go into the details about the cats without feeling silly.  I think I've gotten myself worked into a reincarnation story with them.  It may feel ridiculous but it's a story that resonates with me, so I let it go around in my head.  Notice that I can't tell the story out loud to you.  There are some things that belong firmly in either fiction or in silence.  I'll stick to silence for now.

So you can see why Brashares' novel would spark something for me.  It's giving me a feeling similar to that of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger.  In fact, if you liked one, you will probably like the other.  Sometimes, I wonder about how a book might have sparked another.  'The Time Traveler's Wife' definitely came first.  Did Ann Brashares read that and start writing from there or was there something in the air the way four different inventors will often come up with similar designs within months of each other?  I like the possibility of synchronicity, but leaping from the shoulders of giants isn't off limits either.  What story doesn't begin where another left off?

So I sat in the sun today and read 'My Name is Memory,' occasionally stopping to wonder if I've loved Mike before.  Yes, the sun has finally come out here and Nick, his friend, and I went to Wild Waves to enjoy it.  For the first time, I actually sat back on a lounge chair and read.  Oh, I slid down tubes, got flushed, floated in the river, but then I sat back and read in the sun.  And this was a lovely book to sit with.

Thank you for listening, jb

Thank you for listening, jb