by CK Kelly Martin
I hate some of the book covers for these teen novels. Do they really need to make the cover so literal to what happens in the book? Let’s find a red head, put her in a bikini and next to a pool. Done. Perfect! They make them look so bad… But I guess it’s a good way to judge a book, because I’ve found lately, if it has a bad cover, it’ll most likely be pretty much what you expect it to be. And while this book wasn’t bad, it wasn’t that good either.
Again, I think the main flaw here is that the author tries to jam pack every possible scenario into this girl’s life. She almost got sexually assaulted, her parents are divorcing, she doesn’t have the confidence to like guys anymore, she betrays her best friend by having a relationship with her boyfriend. Could these be too many things happening at once? And I feel like it’s a cheap copy of Speak.
“I missed places I’d never been.”
by Deb Caletti
I really hate these generic book covers. There are so many and you kind of can’t distinguish them from one another. All her book covers (at least the ones in Canada), look this bad. But the book was surprisingly beautiful. All these stories weaving together. It took a little while to keep all the side stories straight, but once I did, they all had these little insights. Love can be a drug. And men, seen as a vehicle or means of love, can be a drug as well. And on the flip side, women can be their own danger for men.
I’ve been blessed to have found love. Not just from my parents, but from my brother and sister, my husband, and my friends. I’ve had good examples of love. But I’ve seen examples of bad love. And I’ve loved others out of my own need. There are just so many fucked up versions of love and it can be hard to feel confident that what you have or what you’ve found is actually LOVE.
“She said a marriage is like a well-built porch. If one of the two posts leans too much, the porch collapses. So each must be strong enough to stand on its own.”
TPL DVD: A very thought provoking film. I wonder what my generation will end up doing, what will we look back on 50 years from now? Is our generation one of Facebook and social media that helped us connect while remaining alone? A generation that outlives our finances while turning our noses down at consumption?
“Sometimes if falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.” –Nelson Mandela, 2005
by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I completely disliked the movie and now I know why! Because they totally fucked up it up when they adapted it! How the authors let the film companies get away with it, I don’t know. Another thing that was a diservice to them… The original book cover! God, it looks like a teen porn, which is so not what the book is about. I think the newer one brings a bit more relevancy, even if it does have its oh so clever use of headphone wiring.
There were some really touching parts of the book, especially the part about tikkun olam. But most of all I like the grit to it. There’s no fairytale happy ending. There’s no super sweet stereotyped characters. They all feel real. Man, I wish there had been stories like this when I grew up! No, we got Sweet Valley High, goddamn 80’s.
But mostly I love how the book captures those rare times when life feels limitless. When you find someone you know will impact you in more than that one moment. It reminds me of how I met my One. That surreal Hollywood style, unrehearsed kiss in the rain that started everything.
“We’re sparking, and part of me just wants to sit back and watch. We’re clicking. Not because a part of me is fitting into a part of her. But because our words are clicking into each other to form sentences and our sentences are clicking into each other to form dialogue and our dialogue is clicking together to form this scene from this ongoing movie that’s as comfortable as it is unrehearsed.” -Nick
“I want more touch.” -Norah
“If we do it right, it’s going to feel like holding hands.” -Dev
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Pretty good read that was relatively original and unpredictable. I loved all the sub-plots, seeing how all of these people’s lives intertwined and overlapped with one another. My very favorite chapter was boy-Robin. His sentences were never ending and I don’t think there was a single paragraph break. It was like listening to someone ramble on and on, yet I still remained completely interested in what he had to say.
I have to admit I got annoyed with the symbols throughout the book whenever Naomi spoke. I’m not sure if in the end it was supposed to be sign language, which would have made it a tiny bit better. Also, I didn’t really like the movie Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, so I was a little surprised, but not shocked it was by the same authors. And, I really do wonder about the movie adaptation of this book, cause to be honest, I kept picturing Blake Lively rather than Hayden Panettiere as Naomi.
I felt this book tied in really well with how I’ve been feeling about friendship. That I’ve never had one that lasted more than 4 years in one location. I don’t know what the hell happens to friends when they’ve known each other for more than 4 consecutive years. All my friends are like Morse code, beep, beep, beep, beep, silence, silence, silence… beep. The friends I keep are the ones that can deal with the silence.
“No. No no no no. It is not easy. Things that matter are not easy. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying you’re friends is easy. Being friends is not.”
“And I think that as hard as we try, it still sometimes feels like we all speak different languages. Even if we share all the same words, meanings can be different. And the mistake isn’t in speaking the different languages, but in ignoring the fact.”
Wow, was it all about pushing to the extreme? Was she out there trying to experience life, using him to give her that edge, while he was being used and looking for love? And then in the end he got the experience and the acting career from the pain of looking for love and she settled back into main stream status quo? Or was he always just using them? Talk about a mind fuck.
“So, who are you supposed to be?”
“No book in the whole world can teach you how to feel. You have to figure that out for yourself.”
Nice twist ending. Didn’t really see that one coming. And I guess there are some people who will never change and dying because of their ways is fine by them, it’s just a by product of their lives.
But there’s something to be said about being brave and taking action. And sometimes when someone else has taken the lead the whole time, others learn to just follow and despite what they hope to achieve on their own, they’re crippled by those they rely on.
“I think you’re constipated, in your fucking soul.”
by Kim Echlin
I don’t think I could ever not know what happened to my loved ones. I guess in the end Anne did know what happened, but being so close, yet so far away from the truth, drove her a little crazy. Maybe at the end, the people who know what happened hold the power. I can’t imagine such terror. I can’t imagine an entire country terrorized. An entire country grieving. I wonder what that does to the mindset of an entire nation. Can you ever recover from that? Does time heal all wounds?
“What we shared was so simple. I remember thinking, I am so awake.”
“Things do not suddenly happen to us. Things happen step by step.”
