The House on Teacher's Lane

Before I tell you about the book, throw on your shoes and RUN not walk to your local book store and buy a copy of this fabulous book. Or, click on over to Amazon and buy a copy of The House on Teacher's Lane. Go ahead and buy a digital copy while you are at it. I'll wait.

Are you back? Good. Now I can tell you all about why you need to read this book NOW. The House on Teacher's Lane tells the story of the adventures and misadventures Rachel Simon and her husband go through while remodeling their house. While that alone would make it an entertaining tale, what makes this book truly amazing is Ms. Simon's masterful storytelling abilities and her knack for pulling you in so you feel what she's feeling. On top of that, Ms. Simon makes some truly profound observations about life, love, and friendship. I truly treasure my books and, while they always show wear and tear from being read and reread, I can rarely bring myself to mark in a book. Ms. Simon made comments so profound and so relevant that I found myself marking passages with a highlighter. For example, she says that "Family was the very house in which my thoughts had come into being, and they remained around and inside me all the time...But friends? In the house of me, my friends were the rooms themselves, each a private haven where I could be a different version of myself, as could they, each decorated by our unique camaraderie." I truly love that description of family and friendship. For me, it captures the essence of what family and friends are to me. And later, when Ms. Simon is musing about what brings two like souls together, "what gets us to recognize and speak to others who rhyme with us", she concludes that while she may never understand that, the one thing she can do is "Just keep paying attention. Look around. See all that you don't let yourself see." I think that is incredibly important advice for all of us. What I truly adore about this book is all these brilliant observations seem to just flow as part of the story. Not once does it seem like Ms. Simon is being preachy.

Guys, I could go on and on about this book but I don't want to tell you all the secrets about it. I want you to have the immense pleasure of discovering this book yourself. I do have one last teaser for you. Like any excellent story, there is a completely unforeseen twist near the end. Now, go pick up that copy of the book your rushed out to buy earlier and get reading.


*All quotes come from the book.
** The only compensation I got for this review was a copy of the book.