A friend recommended this book to me years ago and I ordered a copy and put it on my shelf and did not read it. Then, a few weeks ago it was suggested for summer reading in a newsletter I subscribe to, which just happened to arrive on a day I needed a new book to start, and so I decided to pick it up based on these two recommendations, but not actually knowing anything about the book. I really enjoyed it, but I made the mistake of going on vacation between finishing it and actually sitting down to write about it. Or maybe I didn't sit down and write about it right away because I didn't have a whole lot to say about it, even though I enjoyed* it. In any case, this was a good book. I'd recommend it to a lot of different types of readers. It's accessible, without being dumb; exciting, and also intelligent.
*Can we talk briefly about the word enjoy? I use the word enjoy rather a lot. Years ago some British person - I have zero recollection who it was - pointed out to me that the British use "enjoy" completely differently than Americans, and that it is usually used in the context of something unpleasant. This made a big impression and has fascinated me since. I've kept an eye/ear out for this British usage, and yet have never come across it, though I believe I kind of do understand the sense. One might say, "We are enjoying our third straight week of this heatwave," for instance. There's a touch of irony in the enjoy, but it's almost just a synonym for experience.
