Read of the Town: S.

Simple in title but not in content. I actually had a ticket to see them both a Symphony Space, but after the horrid experience I had a few days ago, I chose against it. Plus, their email explained that due to time constraints there would be no personalizing, no posed photography, and if possible they preferred us to purchase a copy of the book there that would already be pre-signed. It would have been helpful to know that ahead of time since I already purchased the book weeks ago for this event. Symphony Space seems VERY disorganized with how they form lines to begin the book signing so I opted not to go. No great loss since I do plan on reading the book anyhow.

I instantly became fascinated with reading this book for the obvious reason that JJ Abrams is behind writing it. For those of you who may not know, he is responsible for the genius behind SEVERAL shows I loved! For instance:

Felicity (1998-2002)
Alias (2001-2006)
Lost (2004-2010)
Fringe (2008-2013)
Person of Interest (2011-present)
Almost Human (2013)

Yeah, he's kind of a big deal I know! And what's even better is he and I share the same birthday! June 27th is a day for great minds.

Now, about the book. It's a bit confusing in that it is a story within a book within a story? I think that's it. The only real news I've seen this book make is about how it's been put together. There are supposed to be loose pages and such throughout the book that help move the story along and librarians say it's a hassle trying to ensure everything is in the book upon its return so they have decided not to stock the book! Isn't that awesome? I admit after I purchased it I have not broken the seal that is keeping the book in its neat box casing. I hate to ruin that seal but I know I will have to in order to read the book. My review of this book will come some time in 2014 for sure.

Synopsis:

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.

The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

S., conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don’t understand, and it is also Abrams and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.