Goodbye, for now.

This is the photo I have been using for my banner recently, a Creative Commons licensed photograph by Flickr user edsalked, and it is of Granada, Spain.   Why, you ask?  Well, because this Monday I’m packing up and heading to Spain to take a month-long intensive language course.  I’m going to begin writing my thesis in a few months and I wanted both the experience of short-term living abroad and the opportunity to bring my language skills up a notch.  I will be living with a family and taking the class at the University of Granada.  I’ve been to Spain before for a vacation, but we traveled  primarily in  northern Spain, so I’m excited to explore the southern part of the country.

Right now, I’m nervous.  I’m nervous about going alone and I’m nervous about the entrance exam I have to take.  I’m nervous about flying and about packing and forgetting something.  I’m trying to forget everything I’m worried about and just be excited, and I think that will take over once I finally get there.

So this blog is going to be pretty quiet for the next month.  I’m trying to avoid English as much as possible, except for phone calls home to my family and boyfriend, so you won’t hear from me for a while.  I won’t be reading in English, but will probably be rereading 2666 in Spanish (an unfortunately heavy book to take on your carry-on), Distant Star, also by Roberto Bolaño and one other book in Spanish I picked up today.

I’ll see you in November!

Top Ten Tuesday – Favorite book quotes

Top Ten Tuesday is a new feature for me that I’ve always seen on English Major’s Junk Food, one of my favorite blogs.  It’s run by The Broke and the Bookish, a new-to-me blog I discovered during BBAW.   Finally this week I’ve decided to participate!

This week’s topic is Top Ten Favorite Book Quotes

1. That’s one good thing about this world… there are always sure to be more springs.” – Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

Doesn’t that quote just sum up the entire series beautifully?  I love Anne.

2. We were lost then.  And talking about dark!  You think dark is just one color, but it ain’t.  There’re five or six kinds of black.  Some silky, some wooly.  Some just empty.  Some like fingers.  And it don’t stay still.  It move and changes from one kind of black to another.  Saying something is pitch black is like saying something is green.  What kind of green?  Green like my bottles?  Green like a grasshopper?  Green like a cucumber, lettuce, or green like the sky is just before it breaks loose to a storm.  Well, night black is the same way.  May as well be a rainbow.” - Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I think this is gorgeous, and so true.

3. “And this is our life, exempt from public haunt,
finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
sermons in stones, and good in everything.” - As You Like It by William Shakespeare

As You Like It is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and I love this quote.

4. “Shredding and slicing, dividing and subdividing, the clocks of Harley Street nibbled at the June day, counselled submission, upheld authority and pointed out in chorus the supreme advantages of a sense of proportion, until the mound of time was so far diminished that a commercial clock, suspended above a shop on Oxford Street, announced, genially and fraternally, as if it were a pleasure to Messrs. Rigby and Lowndes to give the information graüs, that it was half-past one.” – Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

I knew I had to pick a quote from Mrs. Dalloway because I’m pretty sure I tried to quote the whole book in my review.  This one is just wonderful.  I love what it does with the concept of time and clocks, but also the way it uses language.

5. SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL

Just when I begin to believe English is lucky,
full of choices like trumpet and ash, curlicue,
olive, armrest and hostile, I see that its vastness

is urban, lonely: too many people live in its center,
and the environs are losing population fast.
Few are interested in leaving the inner cities of language,

so each tongue shrinks, deletes its consummate
geographies, copse and dell, ravine and fen,
boonies, coulées, bailiwicks, and sloughs.But English is not the only shrinking province.

I watch two French boys on the train
from Turin to Nice burn a pair of earphones,

delighted as the plastic withers, whitens,
sends up its little wick of toxic smoke. Watch
and wow and fuck, all the words they need to test

the butane’s power to make plastic disappear.
Not sure if I can understand their chat, they test me too.
The one with his thumb on the flame looks at me

from under lavish lashes, merest shadow
of mustache riding his budded lips, Diable,
he asks me, how you say him in English?

and I marvel at how few syllables
anyone needs to make a world. – Leslie Adrienne Miller

Sorry, it might be a bit much to quote an entire poem, but this is one of my all-time favorite poems.  I think it’s perfect.

5. “I wanted to tell him that I knew how he felt, though I probably did not.  How can you know what another person is going through when your own life is so different from his?  People had done this to me often enough, telling they knew how I felt because they had suffered this or that loss, felt some sort of pain.  The words were in my mouth to tell Lawrence that I knew what it was not to be able to make the family you want to have, not because you are a bad person or because you haven’t tried hard enough, but because you just can’t.  I could predict his response, his words, polite enough, thanking me for my empathy, my generosity of spirit.  And I could imagine his thoughts, that no, I couldn’t possibly empathize.  Our situations were not the same at all.” – The Untelling by Tayari Jones.

I don’t know how many times I’ve thought this or felt this, on both sides.  I love the way that Jones put that into words.

6.” She supposed that houses, after all – like the lives that were lived in them – were mostly made of space.  It was the spaces, in fact, which counted, rather than the bricks.” – The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.

Maybe you’ve heard me talk about The Night Watch?  I loved it and this quote sums up why.

7. “Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.  It’s like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room had gotten.  And the way you usually act, the things you would have normally done, are like these ghosts that everyone can see but pretends not to.” When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Me is a novel heavily influenced by A Wrinkle in Time, another favorite of mine.  Isn’t this quote lovely?

8. “I think: perhaps there’s a light inside people, perhaps a clarity; perhaps people aren’t made of darkness, perhaps certainties are a breeze inside people, and perhaps people are the certainties they possess.” The Implacable Order of Things by Jose Luis Piexoto

I really should have featured The Implacable Order of Things during BBAW.  I don’t know any other book blogger who has read it and it is amazing.  So beautiful and perfect, though fairly upsetting.

9.” Is it her, will she know
What I’ve seen & done,
How my boots leave little grave-stone
shapes in the wet dirt,” Neon Vernacular by Yusef Komunyakaa

I recently reminded you of my love for Yusef Komunyakaa and these four lines are an example of why.  He takes something that is so simple (the shape of a footprint) and turns it into something so much bigger than that.  I love it.

10. “Days I have held,
days I have lost,

days that outgrow, like daughters,
my harbouring arms.”

“Midsummer, Tobago” by Derek Walcott

Another quote from a poem to round out the list.  Never was there a more perfect description of life slipping away.

I’ve really enjoyed participating in Top Ten Tuesday!  It think I’ll be back next week!

TSS – That book you never thought you’d read, and then you did, and then you felt kind of rude.

SO.  Let’s back up this Sunday just a little bit to last Sunday.  I was hanging out with my sisters, which doesn’t happen very often so it was exciting.  K the Older (15) and I share a love of reading and I’m constantly trying to steer her reading in my direction: less trashy YA, more thoughtful YA!  And so far it has worked.  She’s reading The Hunger Games, Going Bovine, Paper Towns.  Yes!  .  So when I went up to visit last weekend and I saw she was reading Pretty Little Liars, I groaned and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Why are you reading that trash!

K the Older: First of all, it’s not trash.  Second of all, shut up, I’m reading.

Aannnnd that was the end of the conversation.  K definitely didn’t care that I was calling her book trashy because shewas enjoying it immensely and I admit, I didn’t even know what the book was about.  Where did this prejudice come from against a book that I really know nothing about?  Is it the Barbie-like doll on the cover?  Is it the title?  Is it the fact that it’s been made into a TV show a la Gossip Girl, another book that is filed under trash in my mind?  I don’t know, but I’m writing this Sunday Salon post to tell you – I’m eating my words.

Flash forward to one day this week, I’m waiting for something and I need a book to read.  After a quick search through my car, I realize the only books in my car are a stack K the Older left in there after I dropped her off at her mom’s house – all the Pretty Little Liars books.  So, I think to myself, “What the hell, Lu.  K likes it, read it.”

So I read it.  Yeah, I loved it.

Now I feel like a complete jerk.  I hate being judged for the books I love, but I was doing the same thing to my sister.  No, not every book is for everyone.  At the same time, did I have to call Pretty Little Liars trash without knowing anything about it?  Absolutely not.   I’m about 50 pages from the end, but so far Pretty Little Liars is funny, suspenseful and, sure, a little unbelievable, but I’m turning the pages like there’s no tomorrow and I can’t wait to give you a full review.   There’s nothing like Pretty Little Liars to bring out the last bit of beach-read goodness of summer.  So thanks, sister, you made me remember to be less of a jerk.  You reminded me that I don’t like it when people judge my books without reading them, so why on earth would I judge someone else’s?  You never know when a book is going to surprise you and Pretty Little Liars did just that.  Look for a full review to find out why later this week.

Future Treasures

The last day of BBAW is here and you know what that means, right?  I have to actually start reading books again!  Ha!  Well, more than that, it’s the time to reflect on what we loved about the past week and what we hope for the future.  I thought I would look back to last year and see what I wrote on that Friday in September.  Did I fulfill my goals?  Um, well, no.  I didn’t write a post last year and for some reason that doesn’t bode well for what’s going to come out of this post.

Why didn’t I write a post last year?  I know that I loved BBAW and I would have wanted to tell you that.  I have a feeling it doesn’t have anything to do with that, but rather the fact that I hate to disappoint myself.  So if I set the standard low, then I’ll always surpass myself!

Right?

Well, yes, but is that really enough?  No.  So I have a simple goal, one that I’ve been talking about off and on since my New Year’s Resolutions.  It’s one that is reflected in the new quote on my header:

And this is our life, exempt from public haunt,
finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
sermons in stones, and good in everything.  (As You Like It II.i.1-17)

Shakespeare’s right, there really is good in everything.  My goal is simply to find that good.  It can be so easy to get bogged down in obligation and commitment that we forget what is really joyful about life.  That’s all I want to do in the coming year, find the good and joy in everything I do.  Sometimes I get frustrated with blogging, just like everyone else.  I get frustrated with myself.  I think, “I’m not doing enough.  I don’t write enough posts, I don’t read enough books, I don’t comment on enough blogs.  I don’t have enough followers!”  I have to remember, I am doing enough.  I am doing what I can and that is plenty.   Most of all, remember to be amazed by all the people who are following my blog.  When I remember to stop worrying about the number of followers I have compared to other bloggers, I am completely amazed by how many followers I do have.  There are people out there who believe enough in what I say that they want to be alerted whenever I post.  How unbelievable is that?  Sometimes this feels like a dream.

Thank you, BBAW, for reminding me about all the good in book blogging, of all the joy of finding a new blog, a new friend, or rediscovering an old friend.  Thank you to everyone who has commented on my blog this week, new and old.  I am so grateful for you and everything this blog has brought into my life.

BBAW Day 4 – Forgotten Treasures

Today’s goal for BBAW is to highlight books that you loved but not a lot of people have heard of.

I have a couple books for you today.  So, I try to be a champion for poetry, because it’s something that I love and I don’t think anyone should be intimidated by it.   Just like with novels, there are going to be ones you like and ones you don’t, it’s just about exploring and finding what you like.  Saying you don’t like poetry is like saying you don’t like books, I think you just haven’t found the  one you like yet.  I think this boils down to how you are taught to read poetry.  When you are taught to read stories, you are taught first to love stories.  To tell them yourself, to appreciate what’s beautiful about them.  But poetry is billed as complex, something to be studied and taken apart line by line.  I hate this about the way we think about poetry.  Most of the time, that is not why the author wrote the poem.  It is just another way of telling a story.

So that’s why I want to recommend Yusef Komunyakaa’s book Neon Vernacular, a collection of his poetry that spans his entire career. Look, this might not be the book for your.  And honestly, the last half of the book was not for me.  But I can still recommend this book because the first few sections and the first couple dozen poems are stunning.  I mean, beyond amazing.  I reviewed this book originally for a class and I just… I don’t know.  How do you describe the way a good poem makes you feel?  It makes your heart catch in your chest.   That’s how I feel about many of the poems in Neon Vernacular.  That’s the other benefit of poetry, if something doesn’t light your fire, there’s another poem on the next page.

So, I’m feeling ambitious this morning.  I’ve given you a poetry book you need to read, now how about a comic?  What I want to tell you about is not a graphic novel, because it is a series of comics based on Joe Sacco’s real travels to parts of the world that you and I only hear about on the news.  Joe Sacco is a journalist whose chosen medium is the comic.  I have read two of his books and both impressed me immensely.  They are Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde.  It’s easy to watch a conflict on the news and take a side, without remembering that there are humans on both sides of the fight.  Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde humanize complex conflicts in modern history.  What I like best about these graphic memoirs is that Sacco is often very aware of his own biases and works diligently against them.  Especially in Palestine, where Sacco readily admits his own prejudices at the beginning of the book, we get to witness his change in perspective and that simultaneously alters our perspective.  I can’t recommend these two books enough.

Okay, I was trying to decide if I was going to keep this post going and recommend even more, and these are all the books that I wish I could write another post on and there are more of them.  So you know, I’m just going to keep recommending.  I don’t read a lot of middle grade

fiction, but when I do I almost always love it.  (So why don’t I do that more often?)  This year I read the middle grade fiction novel Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee.  This book is just… amazing.  The narrator is smart, young Anu, who goes for a walk with his grandfather one morning and his grandfather has a heart attack and dies.  Yes, it’s a very heavy topic for a MG novel, but at the same time, Looking for Bapu is told with such heart and humor.  Just thinking about this book makes me happy, even though it reminds me of one of the saddest times in my own life.  This book is perfect.

Next a YA book that I think everyone should read, but that has had minimal exposure on the blogs.   I read and reviewed Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande, along with Fat Cat also by Robin Brande, and my goodness these books are amazing.  Their young female narrators are just like you and me, unsure of themselves, but they make the decision to be brave and stand up for what they believe in, with novel-worthy results.  I don’t think I can articulate any better than I did in my original review why I loved these books, so please head over there and read it.

Finally, I guess this post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t make the complete rounds, so an adult novel that everyone needs to be reading: Under the Skin by Michel Faber.  This book is not for everyone.  In fact, it’s downright disturbing most of the time.  But this book is one of the strangest, most unique books I have ever read.  And… that’s about all I can tell you.  You will spend every single page and every moment you are reading this book trying to understand and comprehend what is happening.  But that’s not to say the book is especially challenging or inaccessible, it’s just that engrossing and strange.  Really this novel is fabulous, but not for the squeamish.  I honestly hope that doesn’t put you off, because Under the Skin might just become one of your favorites.

So… have I added to your TBR yet?  I really hope so!  Now I’m off to see what you have added to mine.

BBAW Day 3 – Unexpected Treasures

Welcome to Day 3 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week!  The goal of Unexpected Treasures is to highlight a book, genre of books or author that you tried because a book blogger recommended it and what that experience was like.

I’m going to start big and broad and go smaller, so the first one might be a bit of a shock to people who read my blog regularly, but the first thing that bloggers really influenced me on was… bringing Young Adult fiction back into my life.  Yes, that’s right.  Before I started blogging, I was reading exclusively literary fiction.  Once I finally kicked that habit (thank god), I realized what I had been missing.  I loved YA fiction when I was a YA (not all that long ago), so why was there some mysterious switch that flipped as soon as I turned 18?  You’re in college now, so put those silly books away!  Well, clearly that’s ridiculous.

Now, about 40% of the books I read are Young Adult oriented and I’m perfectly satisfied with that number.  I’m not sure I can ever imagine going back to reading just literary fiction ever again.  It was a little depressing, if I’m honest.  And I would have missed such great books!  There are the obvious ones, like The Hunger Games and The Knife of Never Letting Go, but what about Fat Cat and Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature? Those are amazing novels and I would hate to have missed them.

Thank you book bloggers, you have saved me a lifetime of monotony!

Next I’ll talk about two authors that seem to be wildly popular in the real world as much as the blogging world, but that I had never heard of: Neil Gaiman and John Green.  I know!  Now, I had unknowingly heard of Gaiman through the movie Stardust, but other than that both authors were completely unknown to me.  With both of them, it is like I have discovered an entire world of literature that I didn’t even know existed.  Even though my experiences with Gaiman have only been so-so, what I liked about the novels I’ve read (American Gods, Coraline and Good Omens) I liked a lot.  I think one of my next goals should be reading another Gaiman novel!  Now, for John Green, not only did I have plenty of very charming YA books to read (An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns so far), I also was exposed to Nerdfighteria.  Now, I exist only on the outskirts of this amazing group of young people, but it’s fun to sit back and just watch them be amazing.

Finally, most specifically, is a book that I probably never would have picked up if I hadn’t seen a review on a book blog: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.  I don’t have a specific link to the first review or second review that made me pick this book  up and I don’t think my review really does justice to how I felt about this book.  I loved it, loved it, loved it.  It recalled everything I loved about literature as a child, literally with its references to A Wrinkle  in Time and more basically with its delightful characters, structure and plot.  I probably never would have picked up When You Reach Me and I’m so grateful to book bloggers for making that happen.  I’ve already given this book to one of my sisters as a gift, with a copy of A Wrinkle in Time, too and I plan on giving it to my younger sister as well.

So there you have it, wonderful books and genres and authors that I never would have tried if it hadn’t been for fabulous book bloggers.  Thanks, everyone!

BBAW 2010 – New Treasure Interview Swap

My favorite day of BBAW is already here!   It’s the interview swap, a great chance to meet new-to-you book bloggers.  Last year I was introduced to the wonderful Steph, of Steph Su Reads and this year I get to introduce to you Melissa, of One Librarian’s Book Reviews!  First of all, Melissa is a librarian, which is pretty much the coolest job I can think of.  She’s also a lovely artist and a fabulous book reviewer.  Please go check her out!  I got to ask her some of my favorite questions from last year’s interview swap, so let’s get on with it!

Tell us about your blog.

My blog essentially started for a way for me to keep track of what I’ve read and what I thought about it.  I tend to be one of those who forgets very quickly what a book is about and if I’ve read it or not.  I also started including ratings on swearing, sex, and violence, since I usually like to know if a book has a lot of stuff like that in it before I pick a book up.  I’m currently an academic librarian, but I seem to have an unusual fondness for middle grade and teen books, perhaps to escape from all that boring adult content.

If you had to live in one book’s world/time/place, which book would it be and why?

This is a hard one for me.  I have a fondness for dystopian and post-apocalyptic books, but really would never want to live in them.  I guess I have to go for an old favorite.  I’d like to live in the Shire from Lord of the Rings.  It seems like a simple, happy, and beautiful place to live (after the rebuilding of course).  A simple existence sounds very good when life gets crazy.

What do your family and friends think about your blog, do they read it?

I know one of my sisters reads it regularly, since she often talks about books I suggested that she liked. I don’t think anyone else from my family reads it regularly.  I know I’ve had a few friends check it out before, but I also don’t think they are regulars.  I guess I don’t have many friends who are as crazy about reading as I am!

What advice do you have to give to new book bloggers?

Try not to worry about followers or having a lot of readers.  Worry about just the content of your blog and how you can make it even

better.  It’s hard lots of times not to think about it, but it is much more fun and less stressful, when you only have to worry about what you think of your blog.

In five words, tell us what you think makes a great book.

Exciting plot, realistic characters, style.

What is your favorite thing about reading?

Entering a new world or life and seeing things from a different person’s perspective.  I like that we can, in a way, really see the world through someone else’s eyes.  Fantasy for me is all about imagination and all the things that we wish were real or are glad they aren’t real.

What genre of books do your favorites (generally) come from?

Most of my original favorites (the ones I’ve had for a long time) were classics – Count of Monte Cristo, Little Women,Anne of Green Gables, Bleak House, Lord of the Rings.  Most of my newer favorites are teen books (which I read a lot of) and are either fantasy or dystopian in nature.

What do you do when you aren’t reading or blogging?

I work at my little college library and keep track of resources and a whole lot more there.  I’m the only person who works in our library, and even though it’s small, it seems like a lot for one person to do.  I would like to start painting and drawing again – I haven’t done it in a really long time, but I used to enjoy it a lot.

Thanks, Melissa! (See, I told you she is a fabulous artist!  And she has an adorable nephew!)  If you head on over to her blog, she’ll have my answers to some of these questions and more.  I’m afraid I sound very inarticulate in most of them, but they’re there!

Head on over to the BBAW website to read more interviews.

PS. I can’t find the photo credit for the photo of the Shire, so if anyone knows where it came from, I would really appreciate it!

First Treasure – New to Me Book Blogs

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is here!  If you didn’t participate last year, BBAW is basically one week of the year when we all give each other virtual hugs and tell each other how awesome we are.  At least, that’s what I did last year!

The first day of BBAW is all about highlighting a new-to-you book blog that you have discovered since last year.  Sometimes I think it is easy to get stuck in your little corner of the blogosphere and never venture out.  Hopefully during BBAW this year I’ll find even more great blogs and new friends.  Since last year, though, the best new book blog I discovered (actually through a post by Eva) is Reading & Reviewing.  Run by Karen Elizabeth, R&R has one of the most unique concepts for a book blog I’ve ever seen.  Yes, she reviews books, but she also turns those book reviews into their own piece of art.  With each review, Karen Elizabeth includes a photograph of herself and the novel illustrating some aspects of the book.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Beyond her beautiful photography, Karen Elizabeth’s reviews are insightful and well-written.  Hopefully I’ve convinced you that Reading & Reviewing is a book blog you need to have in your blog roll!

TSS – A little meme for your morning

Most recently seen at: I was a teenage book geek & Bart’s Bookshelf.  Answer the questions with book titles you’ve read this year!

In high school I was: Waiting (Ha Jin)

People might be surprised I’m: Born Round (Frank Bruni)

I will never be: The Maze Runner (James Dashner)

My fantasy job is: Flight (Sherman Alexie)

At the end of a long day I need: Love is the Higher Law (David Levithan)

I hate it when: Flyaway (Suzie Gilbert)
I have lots of flyaways. 

Wish I had: A Year By the Sea (Joan Anderson)

My family reunions are: Remarkable Creatures (Tracy Chevalier)

At a party you’d find me: Runaways (Brian Vaughn)

I’ve never been to: Palestine (Joe Sacco)

A happy day includes: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)

Motto I live by: A Good and Happy Child (Justin Evans)

On my bucket list: Mendoza in Hollywood (Kage Baker)

In my next life I want to be: The Great Perhaps (Joe Meno)

September 11th

Today, for September 11th, I thought I would repost my review of Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan.  This review was originally posted on April 12th.

_________________________________________________________________

Sometimes I like to tell you the  story of how I came to read a book, because the story is so coincidental, and the book is so amazing, it’s as if divine intervention put the book in your hands.  You didn’t choose it, it chose you and there’s really not a whole lot you could have done about it.  Now, I requested Love is the Higher Law from the library, so I had some hand in it, but I never expected to read it the day I picked it up from the library, I never expected to read it one sitting, I never expected to love it.  I requested a random book from David Levithan simply because I know Will Grayson, Will Grayson, a join effort by Levithan and John Green, is out and I wanted to be at least a little familiar with Levithan.  I picked Love is the Higher Law, because I had seen a good review over at Bending Bookshelf and I had little interest in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  Plus, Love is the Higher Law is an awesome title.  I only started reading it as soon as I got it because the library lost one of my holds and went searching for it.  So, what does a person like me do when they have to wait somewhere for a long time?  We read.

And I read.  And then I got in my car and all I wanted to do was keep reading.  Then I got home and I read and I read.  I cried a little.  And then I read some more until the book was over and all I wanted to do was keep talking about it.  Maybe I’m a sucker for books about September 11, but I can’t help it. 10 years later, I still want to tell you where I was and what I was doing.  And I still want to talk about how none of my sisters remember it at all because they are so young, and that, among everything else, will probably define where our generation ends and begins.  Because I remember what it was like before.

The point is that, not only do I want to tell you, but I want to hear it.  I want to hear where you were, and what you were doing and how this huge thing changed your life.  That’s what David Levithan does with Love is the Higher Law. Essentially, this book is about grief.  It’s about grief that’s bigger than one person, than one family, than one city.  It’s about a grief that holds over an entire country, but that each individual person feels acutely in some way, shape or form.  Yes, this book has plot and there are characters, but who the characters are doesn’t really matter, because it could be you or me or your next door neighbor.  The thing about grief is that it is the most universal and yet most individual feeling in the world.  Explaining what grief feels like seems impossible, it’s too much bigger than words.  Somehow, though, David Levithan manages to make this a story that’s even bigger that September 11 by the end.  This book is about 3 New York teenagers who are trying to sort through their feelings about what happened, while at the same time dealing with going away to college for the first time and trying to find love.

Claire, Jasper and Peter become friends through coincidences.  Claire and Peter are acquaintances at school, who are both at a friend’s party.  Jasper is there too, a friend of another friend.  Jasper and Peter have a flirtation that does not end well.  Jasper and Claire randomly meet each other again and have beautiful conversations.  They form an odd friendship, the three of them, but it is the best kind of friendship.  How it began is too coincidental, too strange to even seem real.

The narration switches from three main characters and I think out of all of them, Jasper was the strongest.  I would have liked more Claire and Peter, but Jasper really carried this book.  More than anything, I think the alternating voices give different perspective to the event itself.  Claire was at school, but ended up leaving to find her little brother.  They walked with the rest of the elementary school to a safer part of the city and her description of what that was like was absolutely terrifying.  Jasper was house sitting for his parents, who are visiting family in Korea, and slept through the whole thing.  Can you imagine going to sleep and waking up to find the entire world has changed?

If I could, I would quote this whole book to you.  But I will settle with this conversation:

She went on, “There’s the drown of things and the swim of things, I guess.  I’ve been going back and forth, back and forth.  I feel the weight of it. [...]  Have you talked to people about this?”  Claire asked me.  ”I mean, about what happened?  I’ve tried, but it never works.  I don’t know what I want from it, but I’m never satisfied.  I can’t talk to my mom about it.  And even my friends are strange to talk to, because they’re all caught up in their own versions, and every time I bring it up, they make it about them.”

I almost forgot she’d asked me a question.  Then she paused, and I said, “Oh.  Me?  I haven’t really talked to anyone….  I mean, what’s the point?”

This wasn’t really a question meant to be answered, but Claire looked out to the water and gave it a shot.

“I think the point is to realize you’re not alone.” (103)

I think everyone should read this book, because we’re not done talking about September 11th.  We’re going to have to explain to kids what it was and what it meant and how things were different before.  How will we do that?  How will I explain to my children where I was and what I was doing and how confusing and terrifying it was for a 12-year-old? There are no answers to those questions, I know that.  The readers who are the target audience for this book are kids like my sisters, they were there, but they probably don’t remember it too well.  This book will explain something, will explain the loss we all felt.  But they aren’t the only ones who should be reading it, so please, get out there, grab this book and read it.  It’s beautiful and heart breaking and one of the best novels I’ve read this year.

So go read this!:  NOW| tomorrow | next week | next month | next year | when you’ve exhausted your TBR

Also reviewed by: Mrs. Magoo Reads, Book Addiction, Reading Rants!, The Book Obsession, Read this Book!, She is too fond of books, Bending Bookshelf, The Reading Zone, Read What You Know.