And So Our Journey Begins..

It’s hard being left behind.

The opening words of The Time-Traveler’s Wife sit heavy in my heart. As I explained in a previous post, I’m usually the one leaving on a jet plane – heading off to international conferences, navigating my way on various modes of transport to trawl through university library archives. I am never the one left behind.

Until tomorrow, that is.

Tomorrow my most special people will be held tight in my arms. I’ll breathe in the scent of their hair. I’ll brush my cheek across their cheeks. I’ll feel the swell of their inhale and exhale as it reverberates through their frames. We’ll cry, we’ll kiss and we’ll part. And then oceans, mountain ranges, and whole continents will spring up between us – the separation of an entire hemisphere.

I know in my heart already that Clare, the heroine of our summer story, speaks the truth – it is hard being left behind, that it’s hard to be the one who stays. But tomorrow my whole body will know it for the truth.

Maybe that’s why our Summer Read-Along journey through this beautiful novel begins today. A distraction, perhaps, but also a comfort – the comfort of knowing that, even though as I stand in the departures lounge tomorrow, I am not alone. That I belong to a community of readers – this community – you.

I know that as I read about the love and the loss, the trials of separation and the joy of reunion, the displacement of self and the recovery of identity, that I’ll be reading it in good company. And while we’ll all be at different points in the book at different times, and even though some of us have read it before and to others the story is completely new, we are reading it together – and together we will explore how this story speaks to our soul and calls us back to ourselves.

How it works

First thing to say is that everyone is welcome! It doesn’t matter if you’ve read it before. It doesn’t matter if you find out about this read-along late in the game. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female – this journey is open to all that wish to take it.

I am going to post about my own personal response to The Time-Traveler’s Wife every Friday for the next 4 weeks, and I’m going to include a space for you to add a link to your own blog posts sharing your own personal response – you can find code for a special Summer Read-Along button, along with the posting dates here.

If you do not have a blog, or would rather not post your response to your blog, then please don’t let this prevent you from taking part. You are more than welcome to share your thoughts, your feelings, your responses, in the comments box on my Friday posts.

On Mondays I am going to be sharing a round-up post to highlight some of the links and comment responses where you’ll be able to catch up on anything that you may have missed from the community.

I am also planning a Twitter chat for the 6th July and a Teleparty on the 20th July – please make sure that you add yourself to my mailing list to ensure that you don’t miss out on the details for these events.

And lastly, I’m hoping to have an offline discussion circle in Edinburgh. If you want to come along, please email me to let me know and I’ll let you know the details once I have them.

If Edinburgh is an impossibility for you then host your own circle!! I would love to hear about it if you decide to, and if you want to write up how it went, what showed up in conversation and share it along with a few photos of the event, then I would love to showcase your story circle on my site. I’ll be putting together a list of reading group questions related to the book which you are welcome to use to kickstart discussion.

Ok, any questions, get in touch in the comments box, but for now, I’m off to spend the day with my family.