false 3496228 11 Everything counts... Grace Lisa Vandenburg orders her world with numbers: how many bananas she buys, how many steps she takes to the café, where she chooses to sit, how many poppy seeds are in her daily piece of orange cake. Every morning she uses 100 strokes to brush her hair, 160 strokes to brush her teeth. She remembers the day she started to count, how she used numbers to organize her adolescence, her career, even the men she dated. But something went wrong. Grace used to be a teacher, but now she's surviving on disability checks. According to the parents of one of her former students, "she's mad." Most people don't understand that numbers rule, not just the world in a macro way but their world, their own world. Their lives. They don't really understand that everything and everybody are connected by a mathematical formula. Counting is what defines us...the only thing that gives our lives meaning is the knowledge that eventually we all will die. That's what makes each minute important. Without the ability to count our days, our hours, our loved ones...there's no meaning. Our lives would have no meaning. Without counting, our lives are unexamined. Not valued. Not precious. This consciousness, this ability to rejoice when we gain something and grieve when we lose something—this is what separates us from other animals. Counting, adding, measuring, timing. It's what makes us human. Grace's father is dead and her mother is a mystery to her. Her sister wants to sympathize but she really doesn't understand. Only Hilary, her favorite niece, connects with her. And Grace can only connect with Nikola Tesla, the turn-of-the-twentieth-century inventor whose portrait sits on her bedside table and who rescues her in her dreams. Then one day all the tables at her regular café are full, and as she hesitates in the doorway a stranger—Seamus Joseph O'Reilly (19 letters in his name, just like Grace's)—invites her to sit with him. Grace is not the least bit sentimental. But she understands that no matter how organized you are, how many systems you put in place, you can't plan for people. They are unpredictable and full of possibilities—like life itself, a series of maybes and what-ifs. And suddenly, Grace may be about to lose count of the number of ways she can fall in love. 3537837 book 12 6 2008 Addition total:410|5:42|4:170|3:138|2:49|1:11| 410 1413 831 162 4 1 false false Thu Jan 08 17:48:30 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 17:55:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 18:57:56 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 19:27:45 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Nov 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 13 10:31:31 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 17 10:14:00 -0800 2008 http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6296...

Another review I read referred to this book as quirky which I think is a good description. It is a strangely disturbing but at the same time humorous read. It is certainly a novel with a very unusual theme.

Grace Lisa Vandenburg counts...more...]]> 0 1 false false Sat Jan 31 18:38:34 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 18:41:06 -0800 2009 obsessive/compulsive disorder that demands that she count EVERYTHING and live by the rule of numbers. This can be rather demanding,...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 13:11:10 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 13:14:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Jan 03 05:13:32 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 10:10:14 -0800 2009 3 1 false false Sun Jan 04 15:15:13 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 15:17:31 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 15:25:43 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 15:44:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 18:19:54 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 18:35:46 -0700 2009
Addition is the story ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Apr 24 22:45:33 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 23:00:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 06:56:41 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 07:24:54 -0700 2009
She meets a guy who's willing to unde...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 23 14:30:28 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 15:11:06 -0800 2008
Anyway, has a really slow start, get through that and it's quite good! The plot ...more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 14:06:37 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 14:16:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 18:12:55 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 07:20:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 18:22:48 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 12:36:05 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 17:27:20 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 17:14:53 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 18:49:43 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 18:59:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 26 07:35:10 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 07:40:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 04:57:08 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 05:10:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 06:57:44 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 04:34:02 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3496228