I am not a quick reader, but I blazed through Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda in one sitting. I haven’t seen the movie yet and didn’t know much about the book before I saw it while browsing bookstores on a recent trip, but I’m really glad I read it. The story begins as teenage Simon is blackmailed by a fellow student who inadvertently read Simon’s email exchange with another boy Simon knows only as Blue. They’re both closeted and want to keep […]
I Wanted You to Love Me Like You Used to Do
I first read Eleanor and Park a few years ago. A friend had asked me to join her at a reading by Rainbow Rowell, so I read this in preparation. Eleanor and Park is the perfect introduction to Rowell, and just a wonderful book in general. Probably most of you know the story by now. Two teenagers–Eleanor, a misfit with a terrible home life, and Park, an average Joe who feels alienated from his family and classmates, meet, connect, and eventually fall in love. Teen […]
My vitriol was a guiding light through this teenage romance.
I’ve got three books I need to review before this one, but none of the others had the impact on me that this book did (even though they were all objectively better, I think). First: three-fourths of this book is terrible. I don’t mean bad, I mean it was a grapefruit-sized pustula seeping boric acid. I hate-read this book. I wanted misery to befall the characters so that I could feel something other than hate. This book was so bad, I contemplated not even writing […]
“I want everyone to meet you. You’re my favorite person of all time.”
I want everyone to read you, Eleanor & Park! I have so spoiled myself over the past few weeks, reading brilliant wordsmiths like Rainbow Rowell and Laini Taylor whose emotive descriptions are devastatingly apt. This book is ADORABLE. It seems like almost everyone I knew in high school fell in love exactly like this; teenagers have a way of each feeling uniquely disenfranchised, and meeting someone else who complements your weird and loneliness feels like finally the universe has done you a solid. Eleanor and […]