Oh, How I Want to Love This

I usually read the dedications and forwards of review books, mostly because they often give me insight as to what the authors were thinking when they sat down to write.  This insight helps me decide whether books are successful representations of their creators' visions or not.  Of course, not all authors provide this peek into their brains, but those who do often make their books more enjoyable.

That's in part why Michael Murphy's It Should Have Been You was a disappointment.  Murphy's notes about how the book came to be written were compelling and made me eager to read the fictionalized account of a story he'd heard from other sources.  But Murphy's too much of a reporter to give the fictionalized account a fictional, rather than journalistic, edge.  That's fine in a news feature article, but doesn't work for romance.

Like I said in the review and here, I really, really wanted to like this book, but in the end, while I'd made the intellectual investment, my heart wasn't engaged as the story warranted.

When Goth and Geek Get Together

Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett is a charming story of high school angst and love between a really nice guy (the kiss of death, right?) and a foster child who's been moved from family to family so many times that she's essentially numb.  At first the span between them looks enormous until readers get a glimpse of their hearts.

Bennett not only makes a girl whose bad attitude should repulse readers sympathetic, but also makes the budding love believable.   Jen is a character whom every mother will want to pull into a hug and reassure that everything--primarily high school and her teenage years--will be all right.

Perks of Being Made into a Movie

My review of Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower went live on AAR today.  With 2,700 Amazon reviews (and probably more by the time you read this) and an average of 4 1/2 stars, the book seemed like one I would really enjoy.  I liked Daddy Long-Legs which was written as a series of letters, so why wouldn't I like Perks?

The answer is in the review.

My inital plan, before I read the book, was to read and then watch the film to see if the movie was even close to the written text.  Now, I'm thinking I can skip that step.  If the book didn't intrigue me, why should the movie?  Since I have no good answer to that question, I see no reason to waste my time.

Besides Once Upon a Time is about to start a new season, so I need all the free time I can get to watch what I tape since my husband refuses to watch it with me.  That's okay.  I'm fine to savor quality fairytale time by myself.

Goode Is Good

Foster High, in John Goode's series, doesn't sound like a high school I'd ever want to attend.  The older I get, the more I hope things are changing for teens since just the hormonal changes and identity crises are enough to bear without adding the trauma of social pressure and, God forbid, education for more stress.

My review of End of the Innocence went live today at All About Romance.  It's one of the genuine angst books.  Genuine, in this case, means angst born of real suffering.  When football player Kelly is outed, his former friend Brad, who came out earlier, knows that life won't be pleasant for him.  That Kelly, the player, has been an ass most of his life won't help him come to terms with who he really is because no one but the gentle, lovable Kyle will really stand by him.  The irony is that Kelly is the person who gave Kyle the most trouble about being gay.  Talk about reaping what one sows.

I loved the way the narrative went back and forth from the optimistic Kyle to the realistic Brad.  As I said in the title to this blog, Goode is good, right up until the end of the book when he gets a little didactic.  Until then, angst is the name of the game and will make older readers glad they aren't in high school anymore.

Fortunately for all of us, the quicker we forget those painful years, the better.  The quicker we get on with our real lives, the happier we should be.  And the faster we learn who we really are, the quicker we can move into adulthood.

Meeting the Movie Star

For some reason I seem to be on a YA (young adult) roll these days--and honestly loving it.  I'm still perplexed as to why these books are categorized as YA.  Seems to me that if they had male protagonists and didn't have romance at their core, they would be called "coming of age" novels and shelved in the adult reading section.  But look at life from the viewpoint of a woman in her early to mid-20s and have that look include romance, and suddenly the book isn't about coming of age, but is assigned a YA label.

Today my review of E.M. Tippetts' Somebody Else's Fairy Tale goes live at AAR.  It's the marvelous story of a dedicated college senior who's had a difficult past, but has pulled herself up out of her navel gazing and gotten on with life.  When she accidentally meets a superstar as she's standing in a group of extras on his movie set, she blows off his interest.  She doesn't have time for superstars in her life plan. 

What Tippetts is doing is debunking one of those fairytales so many men and women have about meeting

Easy to Enjoy

My review of the YA (young adult) book Easy by Tammara Webber went live this weekend on AAR.  I'm still confused by the YA designation in fiction books.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away (Nebraska), I was a library page and then a library aide.  Back then, when the University of Nebraska / Lincoln housed one of the largest displays of dinosaur bones, YA books were meant for junior high and early high school readers.

Easy might be read by those readers today, but because of its theme of consensual sex and its milieu of frat parties, dorms, and large lecture classes, I can't imagine it makes much sense to young adults in the early years of high school.

But that's not what bothers me.  What bothers me is that the readers who should be reading it--those who are just going off to college or are in their first year--will be missing a very good book, not to mention some good tips on how to cope with being alone on campus for the first time away from family.

So my real question is why we need to segment the adult designation for books.  Why can't we just call these books fiction without having to designate what age "adult" will enjoy them?  Can't I as an adult enjoy a book that centers around adults of any age?  Or must the standard be that adults begin life in their mid-20s?