I have to admit that this week was a bit of a struggle when it came to what I would blog about  (which is code for “the reading in my life has been slow-going lately”).  Thankfully I had an epiphany this morning while staring at my fiction spinner picks, contemplating how long I could make it without a cup of coffee and eating cheddar cheese rice cakes.

And that epiphany was Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love. I probably read this book in 2006 (and it’s past due for a second reading), but it’s been one of my favorites ever since.  The History of Love is a novel about a novel (also called The History of Love) and its effect on the lives of its author Leo Gursky, his lost love, and his dead son.  This same novel also touches another family, that of fifteen year old Alma Singer (named after a character in Gursky’s The History of Love), her quirky brother Bird, and their recently widowed mother, who has been offered the job of translating The History of Love from Spanish.   These two stories combine as Leo and Alma search for others who may be connected to Gursky’s The History of Love but eventually find each other.

I don’t want to give too much away, but here is one of the passages that has stuck with me for years, and I can’t resist sharing it. This conversation takes place between a young Leo Gursky and the woman he loves.

“If I had a camera,” I said, “I’d take a picture of you every day. That way I’d remember how you looked every single day of your life.” “I look exactly the same.” “No, you don’t. You’re changing all the time. Every day a tiny bit. If I could, I’d keep a record of it all.” “If you’re so smart, how did I change today?” “You got a fraction of a millimeter taller, for one thing.  Your hair grew a fraction of a millimeter longer. And your breasts grew a fraction of a–” “They did not!” “Yes, they did.” “Did NOT.” “Did too.” “What else you big pig?” “You got a little happier and also a little sadder. Every day you become a little more of both, which means that right now, at this exact moment, you’re the happiest and the saddest you’ve ever been in your whole life.” (pg. 90-91)

Lovely, yes?  I thought so too.  After you read The History of Love, look for Nicole Krauss’s new book Great House, which comes out on October 5.

P.S. Here’s some literary trivia for you.  Nicole Krauss is married to fellow fiction writer Jonathan Safran Foer.  Cutest literary couple? My vote is yes.  -Kaycie

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