Maggie Again by John Husband is one of those books that just kept popping up on blogs a few months back. The premise of the story sounded so fascinating to me and I put it on my wish list several different times. Fast Forward to about a month ago when I heard about online book publicist Lisa Roe who makes books available to bloggers who are interested in reviewing them. (Go check her out!) Maggie Again was one she had on her list and happily Lisa agreed to send me a copy.
Maggie Again is the story of Maggie, a teenager living in a small farming community in Indiana, Cobbler's Eddy in 1926. Maggie's father decides to move the family to New York City and work in finance. Maggie is lonely and invites three of her friends - all boys - to visit her. They jump on a boxcar in 1926 and when they arrive in New York - the year is 1984 - and 74 year old Maggie's life did not turn out the way she had expected it to.
Maggie Again is an absolutely charming book and the word that kept coming to mind while I was reading it was nostalgia - even though this is a story about time travel it is told in an old fashioned way. I loved reading about the aspects of life in 1984 that surprised and confused the boys. I also loved reading about life in small town America. I think in order to enjoy books like this, one has to be willing to suspend their disbelief. The story is quite magical, and gave me a lot to think about. How does my life now compare to what I thought it would be like? What if I was given a second chance - would I change anything? Maggie Again is a sweet book about friendship - maybe because of this I kept thinking about Nan when I was reading it. I think she'd like this book.
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Blogger must be having a problem because I don't seem to be getting comment notification. If I don't respond to comments on older posts I'm not ignoring you - I just don't know they're there!
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In which she reads books, often cooks, and sometimes does embroidery
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- Tara
- I am a mother of one, voracious reader, and home cook in Minnesota, USA. Please email me if you have any questions.
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14 comments:
Tara, thanks for this review. I, too have seen several reviews of this book and have wanted to get a copy. It does sound like the kind of book that I normally like. By the way, thanks for the link to the book publicist. I hadn't seen this one before.
Hi Tara, this sounds like a good one! I'm glad you had a good experience with Lisa Roe (I did, too!)
I followed the link to the publicist, and now I'm coveting one of the books, but I can't find the Contact info. Am I being dumb?
Eva, go to the site. There's a green tab on the right that says "Home, About, Contact". Just click on contact and fill in the form. Tell her which book you're interested in and she'll send it to you. Good luck!
Lisa, I was really interested in the time travel aspect of this book.
LisaMM, I heard about her from you- thanks!
Eva, ditto what LisaMM said - thanks!
I love to read about books others are reading. This is one of the good bookish blogs! Oh, I see a recipe for cookies nearby- I'm off to explore that next, and to browse some archives.
Cheers.
Oh, I'd read a review about this book before and meant to pick it up! Thank you for the review and the reminder.
Chocolate chip cookies should be more like unbaked cakes. I can't decide if it's because I really like the dough rather than the baked cookie or because I'm really impatient and end up making something like 20 cookies from the recipe. (approx.)
This sounds like a wonderful book! I enjoy time travel, as well as coming-of-age stories. This sounds like a bit of both. Great review!
theelementary, Thanks so much for visiting and for your kind words!
Carrie K, no problem! My husband buys dough and just eats it raw sometimes. There's something to be said for that.
Les, This is definitely both and explores the notion of second chances as well. I think you would like this.
Did you just hear me say, oh my God?! I was reading along happily, thinking, yes, yes, I think I'll like this, and then I came to the end and saw my name! I'm so amazed, Tara. I'm off to email the library. Thank you. I had never read about it on any other blogs. And that makes it special, too. I'm quite wild for time travel. Have you read what I think is one of the best by Jack Finney called Time and Again? I'll bet I've read it three times, and honestly could begin again right now. And there's a YA by Nancy Bond called Another Shore that I liked a lot. Thanks again, so much, Tara.
I got this one from Lisa too. I kept thinking "Charming" the whole time I read the book too. It was really a nice comforting read. So glad you enjoyed it too!
Nan, I did hear you say that, as a matter of fact! Hehe. You are very welcome. I thought of you the entire time I was reading this book. I hadn't heard of the titles you mentioned but I'm going to check them out. Thank you!
Iliana, Charming is another perfect word for this book, I agree.
Buys cookie dough? When it's so easy to make? The horror. ;)
My library and one of my local independent bookstores didn't have this, darn it. Now I'll be forced to search the rest of them, undoubtedly racheting up my TBR book count. Someone's got to do it.....
Carrie K, he's lazy, okay! My library didn't have this either, nor have I seen it in stores...must not have had a huge publicity budget.
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