Galley Talk

CS Richardson's novel The End of the Alphabet (Doubleday, Aug. 7) is a stunning accomplishment. To say so much in so few words is breathtaking. Although it's a novel about a man who discovers he has less than a month to live, I'm buying multiple copies and shelving most of them on my inspiration shelf. If Alphabet doesn't become the next Tuesdays with Morrie, there's something wrong with the world. And of course it's nothing like Tuesdays—because it's so much more. I plan on telling my customers to give it to the one they love; someone who has lost, or is losing, someone; and anyone who needs to hope, who needs to cry or who needs to really dream. I see this becoming a book that everyone will want to share with a friend after reading it. Of course all the book clubs should read it, but really, The End of the Alphabet should be in the hands of every chaplain, marriage counselor, hospice worker and funeral director in the country. It's that powerful.