Though Brad teases me for reading Young Adult novels (and that I’m often excitable and moody like a 14 year old),I refuse to stop being the way I am. I’m not saying that I restrict my reading to the 13-19 section, but there are a lot of gems in YA that shouldn’t be ignored! I’ve just gone on a bit of a stint with a few teenage-centric novels and I thought I’d share my favorites/opinions with you.
This was my second John Green book (the first being The Fault in Our Stars, the most recent critically-adored novel by the Printz award winning author). I kept looking through his works and trying to decide if I wanted to read another one. I am so glad I did. Though I’ve read three of his books so far, this one is my favorite. It might actually be one of my favorite books ever. The story is about a teenage boy (Miles a.k.a. Pudge) obsessed with famous last words who decides to attend a boarding school in an attempt to make friends and change his rather boring life. Friends come quickly for him, including the beautiful, confused, funny Alaska Young. What happens next is best left unknown to the reader. But it’s written so well. Brutally honest, raw, with all the confusion of hormones and heartbreak, and a heavy dose of existential and philosophical questions. I can’t even describe it because I knew nothing of it while I was doing, and I’m so glad I didn’t.
This is a beautiful book I would recommend to anyone.
I literally finished this book yesterday. It was a quick read, but I enjoyed every part of it. The story is told in the form of a long letter, written by Min to her now-ex Ed. The entirety of their relationship is covered in this letter, which is basically Min’s “Eff you!” to Ed. The book is lightly illustrated with pictures of items that defined the special moments in their relationship, which all end up in a box that gets tossed on Ed’s front porch with the letter. Going in, you know the relationship is over. But that didn’t keep it from breaking my heart. I loved it’s honesty, it’s run-on form of writing like a real girl would do in her moment of anger and sadness.
Anyone who has gone through a break-up (whether its first love or not) will relate to this story.
You’re probably thinking “Been there, done that” but I honestly didn’t read this book until a couple of weeks ago. And I probably wouldn’t have read it if I hadn’t seen the trailer for the movie, reminding me of it’s existence and piquing my interest. I tried to read this back in college. I think I made it through two pages and got bored. I didn’t let that keep me away from trying again. I wasn’t a big recreational reader in college anyway. So I went for it. It was another easy read, and hit a lot of aspects of life (suicide, homosexuality, drug use, sexual abuse)that might not have been talked about so openly when it was released back in 1999 (or when the book actually takes place, in 1991-1992). I honestly am not sure how the movie will turn out, but I’m definitely going to see it. I know this book has some avid fans. However, I appreciated Looking for Alaska so much more (John Green NEEDS to have one of his books adapted into a movie already). Since this book was written in letter (kinda diary-esque) format in the language of a 15 year old boy, it reminded me a lot of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was narrated by a 9 year old boy. And that kind of bothered me because he seemed so much younger than I would’ve thought. Then again, maybe teens are too witty for their own good these days? I don’t know.
So those are some of the books I’ve been reading lately. I’m up for any recommendations you might have!
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