The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Remember how I got all grumpy during December/January because so many of my podcasts went on hiatus for the holidays? Well, welcome to the summer hiatus season. I have so many hours of the day where I need voices buzzing in my head and not enough podcasts to fill them, so I resorted to downloading a bunch of audiobooks.  I was able to snag The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern on audiobook via Libby and I was excited because one of my most memorable audiobook experiences was The Night Circus by the same author. 

It has not been since Piranesi that I have been so enthusiastic about a book, but also not really known how to describe it. Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds a book in his college library and from there he unravels a mystery to a doorway that leads to an ancient library far below the surface of the Earth. It's a love story, a paean of storytelling, and an ode to scene setting. 

No one can write a setting like Morgenstern. Sure, I didn't know what was going on about 50% of the time in this book, but I was still riveted. I couldn't tear myself away from the multiple storylines and points of view and found myself doing extra chores so I could keep my earbuds in to listen. It's not a short listen, either, clocking in at over eighteen hours. But I wanted to see the libraries, from the flickering light in Zachary's college library to the small library with books behind glass to the ancient library with books written telling stories that have yet to unfold. 

There are magical doors, cats, books, stories, and young love. What is not to like? 

I liked this book so much. If you're not necessarily into plot, but more into atmosphere, this might be a good one for you. If you liked Piranesi and Cloud Cuckoo Land, I think you'll like this one. But if you need to actually understand what's going on or you need a clear ending, you might skip it. Someone on Goodreads described it as Alice in Wonderland except that Alice actually had an end goal. That made me laugh.

For my part, I thought it was really good. 4.5/5 stars

Lines of note (you know I liked it when I stop to write down timestamps in an audiobook - usually you don't get lines of note from me on an audiobook):

"Stories are personal. You relate or you don't. Like I said, everyone wants to be part of a story. Everyone is a part of a story. What they want is to be part of something worth recording..." (timestamp 1:16:31)

Interesting. We all think our lives are interesting stories, don't we? I've got nineteen years worth of blog posts to prove I think my story should be recorded.

"Only if you want to know, honey child." (timestamp 4:09:53)

The endearment "honey child" is actually relevant to a plot (ha! as if this book has a discernible plot) point, but it's also the term that my Grandpap used to call me. My mom was one of ten and I think we did the math once and my grandparents had more than thirty grandchildren. He didn't often know who I was really, but he did know I belonged.  

"A book is an interpretation," she says. "You want a place to be like it was in the book, but it's not a place in a book. It's just words. The place in your imagination is where you want to go and that place is imaginary. This is real." (timestamp 9:43:43)

It's the Dumbledore thing, right? "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?" (Do I even need to say that is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?)

He thinks it might be a week or a lifetime or a moment. He thinks I feel like I have known you forever, but he doesn't say it... (timestamp 11:28:09)

Isn't it crazy how non-linear time is? Sometimes I think, wow! I've been with my husband for a very long time, but other times it feels like we just met. 

They asked if I thought he would have done something, like jumped off a bridge something and I said I didn't think so, but I also think most of us are two steps away from jumping off something most of the time... (timestamp 15:22:02)

Yeah. The call of the void is real.

I reread because I didn't remember where I left off. It's weird not being able to remember your own thoughts even when you wrote them down. Sometimes it's like Kat from before is just someone I passed on the street. (timestamp 17:11:47)

Because I listened, rather than read, I don't actually know if the character is Kat or Cat. Like I said above, I've had this blog for a very long time. Sometimes I'll read something in an old entry and I'll be so shocked that I wrote it. It's like it's from a different person entirely.

The payphone next to me started ringing. Seriously. I didn't even think those worked. I had them categorized in my mind as nostalgic street art objects. (timestamp 17:17:06)

How fun that I just had another quote about a payphone in a book I recently read, I Have Some Questions for You.

All cats are guardians in their own right. (timestamp 18:12:36)

Preach it.