The folded clock, by Heidi Julavits

The author kept a diary as a child, as many do, and returned to it years later hoping to get insight into what she was like at that time.  She was disappointed.  Most entries began, “Today I….” with a brief notation of a mundane event.  She decided to see if she could do better as an adult – and this is the result.  Each entry begins the same way it did when she was a child, but the dates are non-linear and it skips all around a year’s entries.  The book received great reviews.  I read most of it, put it aside for more anticipated books that showed up on my reserve list (A god in ruins – yay!), and found I could no longer remember a bit of what she had to say.  Perhaps just my aging mind, or perhaps a diary best enjoyed by the author rereading it in her declining years.  I think the fault is mine, however.  223 pp read of 289.