The public library is closed, you're tired of digital books, you've finished scavenging from the little libraries all around you, and you need something to read. If you rarely purchase from bookstores, it is time to ask your friends to loan you something from their shelves. If your friends read a lot, and do spend money in bookstores, this will be a good option.
Many years working in public libraries have made me aware that people have odd relationships to their books. The books may be worn out, of no interest, outdated, the pages yellow, and taking up space, not to mention very heavy if you need to move, yet they hang onto them. Therefore, your friends' shelves may contain old treasures that you haven't seen for years.
Fortunately, the latest book I borrowed was a great read. Published in 2000, A Trip to the Stars by Nicholas Christopher was a long complex novel with lots of imagery, yet plot-driven and full of fascinating details about stars, spiders, the lost City of Atlanta, and many other unusual topics.
The beginning of the book is terrific. A recently orphaned ten year old boy is taken to a planetarium by his young aunt, now his guardian. On the way out, he looks up to find himself with a completely different woman, who kidnaps him and catapults both him and his aunt into new lives.
The book is rich in characters as Alma and Loren become Mala and Enzo, embarking on separate adventures before they meet again 25 years later. A major theme of the novel is loss of both objects and people and the characters criss-cross the planet as they attempt to regain what is lost.
I recommend this title as an immersive and constantly interesting fictional world.
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