A Northern light by Jennifer Donnelly

So, yesterday while I was tutoring my student for my LTED 626 class I started to read A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. I paused after reading the first page and just sat there...breathless..I read it again, and I found my eyes nearly welling up with tears. I wanted to call across the desk to my student and tell her "Oh My God! This book is amazing already!!!!" The character is describing the perfect summer day, bringing in so many images, awakening all of the senses, I know first hand exactly how she felt, wanting that day to go on forever. For time to stand still...for a moment to last longer...to want to live inside a moment. i often think about how sad it is that time just keeps on going and all of our good memories happen so fleetingly...I just want to hold on to some...I remember a day i spent at the beach with my son when he was a year old...it was early evening in September and there was something magical about that day. I loved watching him run through the crashing waves chasing seagulls, the color of the sky, the people flying kites, the smells from the grills...everything about it, i remember wishing that I could keep these moments alive forever! (I guess that's what we do when we write, now I just reminded myself of Tim O'Brien in The Things They carried) Anyway, I loved the book from the first page. I love the setting and how she is painting it, i have always loved reading and watching The Little House on the Prairie because of the description of the daily life, preparing and cooking the food, doing the chores, making the clothes...I am not sure why but that type of life has always appealed to me, it just seems so natural, real, and necessary. So needless to say, i am thoroughly enjoying this book. The Hubbard's, The Weaver's, the Loomis's are all so well described I can see this whole town and its people. I have many questions, like how does Mattie get to work at the Glenmore? (right now I am on pg. 135) why does Weaver say he hates the place? (when he is at the Glenmore, he says the place takes away everything beautiful..or something? I don't have the book right in front of me!) I cannot wait to continue reading!!