Seven: the Magic Number!

Claire Cook's novel, Seven Year Switch, is highlighted as July's Read-Around-the-Clock selection. This book is a good fit for this time of year, as one might say it is the perfect “beach read.”  A beach read is a delicate and complicated combination of characteristics: it must be light enough to make you smile while simultaneously being absorbing enough to make you risk sunburn because you simply can’t stop turning the pages (books are the cause of approximately 85% of any bookworm’s sunburn).  Luckily we live in the mountains and there are many cool and shady places you can relax with a good book.   But if you do vacation to the beach and take along something to read … don't forget your sun screen with this one!   

In this story Jill Murray's husband left her to raise their daughter alone, seven years ago, and now has reappeared on the scene wanting another chance.  He seems sorry for the past and is trying to make up for lost time by being an “A+ Dad.”  Anastasia is ten years old.  She barely remembers her father, but is truly head over heels about having him back in their life.  Jill isn't too sure about this reunion.  She has struggled over the past years and is just beginning to recover from his abandonment, when her ex returns.  They say “every seven years you become a completely new person.”   I would recommend this novel to single moms, or those who enjoy romance.  Cook portrays realistic situations and characters you can relate to in her novels and this is no exception.   Though the main character, Jill, is telling the story from her perspective, male readers might enjoy seeing into the mind of a woman.  Most men are at a complete loss when it comes to understanding women.  Readers will easily “become” this character as they follow her inner thoughts and fears while facing life at the turn of another seven years.

Claire Cook is an inspiration to many as she reinvented her own life at the age of 45.  She began working on her life-long dream, to write a novel, while waiting in her mini-van for her daughter who was at swim practice.  At age fifty Claire's novel Must Love Dogs was made into a blockbuster movie.  She has since written 14 bestselling novels along with two nonfiction books: Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention and Shine On: How To Grow Awesome Instead of Old.

Since the Read-Around-the-Clock Book Club meets at 7:00 p.m. in July,  after library hours, so the discussion will take place in the park behind the library.  Meet us in the picnic pavilion to talk about any book you've read with “Seven” in the title … even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (all ages are welcome) … at 7:00 p.m. on July 7.

There will be cold drinks served … Seven-up of course!