It’s Two-Sided Tuesday time!  This week I want to talk about a book that was on my list of favorites for last year.  As I walk through Barnes and Noble I keep seeing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon on the book club table.. and every time I see it I remember how much more I loved another book that was very similar to it.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is about Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic boy.  His neighbors dog, Wellington, is killed and Christopher is at first blamed for the murder.  So Christopher takes it upon himself to become a sort of Sherlock Holmes and investigate for himself.

I loved the book at first, but as it progressed I found myself comparing it more and more to a book I had read before it.  I think had I not read this other book I might have enjoyed The Curious Incident more.. but as it was it lacked the heart and emotion that I’d found in the other.  That other book is Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.

I loved this book. LOVED it.  GoodReads says: Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear–part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify–and he’s always attended a special school where his differences have been protected.

It may be because of this that, being a musician myself, I fell in love with this book so much.  The idea of someone hearing music such as Marcelo does and being so innately… good was a fascinating one to me.  Like The Curious Incident, Marcelo gets caught up in a sort of drama, a more legal-type mystery, but throughout it all, Marcelo is learning what the real world is like.  Spiritual matters are explored through various religions and more than once while reading the book I had to put it down and gather my thoughts and control my emotions.  I was deeply touched by this book and encourage everyone I meet to check it out.

My actual review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time can be found here.

My actual review of Marcelo in the Real World can be found here.