I had The Perks of Being a Wallflower for quite some time but didn’t get around to reading it. Then I saw it on someone’s pinterest board and remembered that I had it and decided to finally tackle it.
I am so so so glad I did.
This book was truly wonderful. I enjoyed all of it and it will stay with me for quite some time. There were many many parts I underlined, but here are a few because I know I will want to remember.
- Here’s another thing to remember: hope keeps you alive. Even when you’re dead, it’s the only thing that keeps you alive
- But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.
- It’s like when you are excited about a girl and you see a couple holding hands, and you feel so happy for them. And other times you see the same couple, and they make you so mad. And all you want is to always feel happy for them because you know that if you do, then it means that you’re happy, too.
- “I would die for you. But I won’t live for you.” Something like that. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people.
- So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.
- We accept the love we think we deserve.
I know Ship Breaker won awards and it was also highly recommended by several friends. But I found it hard to get through for some reason. I didn’t feel a lot of connection to any of the characters and maybe that played the biggest role in my not caring too much for the book. I find that I need to connect with at least one character if I want to care about the story.
I know it’s a series and I have the other books. It was pretty violent and I decided I needed a break before I read the others so I haven’t tackled them yet.
However, I do think I will.
It’s been a while since I read an art book but I decided I had to have Artist Unique when I heard about it. One of the things I struggle with is finding my own voice in art. And I thought this book might help.
And it has. Not a huge amount but it did help me think about what makes someone’s art unique and gave me a lot of ideas about different techniques and types of art to try. It also helped me discover some artists I didn’t know.
And finally it encouraged me to seek my own path. To not worry. And it’s a journey I am happy to take. This one is recommended.
Since I am a big fan of Elizabeth Berg, there was no doubt that I would read Once Upon a Time There Was You when it came out. And while I enjoyed her wonderfully detailed characters and soft, deep observations as I usually do, I didn’t like this book as much as some of her others.
I find she’s marvelous at connections, relationships and women and I felt like those topics were less a part of this book than some of her previous ones. Alas, I will read anything she writes because I like the way she writes. Her words have a way of speaking to me.
I just hope the next one is more like the older ones.
I wanted to read Friendship Bread as soon as I saw it on the Goodreads newsletter as well. It took me a while to get to it and, as you know, I haven’t read a grown-up book in a while. I must admit that this book took longer to read than usual but that’s mostly because it came right in the middle of many of my mixed media classes and I spent most of my treadmill time watching videos instead of reading.
However, it was a wonderful book. I liked the characters and enjoyed reading the story even if I found it a bit predictable. It wasn’t a super-clean ending but it was one of those “everything’s going to be alright so you can stop reading and be happy.” kinds of books which I must admit I much prefer these days. Enough with the sad books already.
It also made me want to bake and if I weren’t seriously watching what I ate, I totally might have done this bread just to see how it tasted. Sweet novel and worth my time.
I wanted to read Divergent as soon as I saw it on the Goodreads newsletter. I am not sure what pulled me to it but I kept thinking about it. And I was worried that when I finally get my hands on it, I might not actually like it.
But I did.
I got into the story from the very beginning. I liked the voice of the main character and the others, too. I liked the plot. I liked the pace (well at least until the end when it just seemed to go way too fast). I just really really enjoyed it and I am now looking forward to the next books by the same author. Especially since I hear this is a trilogy.
Yey for another new author I love. Oh, and, I found out that the cover art was done by an old friend of mine. Which made me love it that much more.
Two friends recommended Wake and the premise sounded fascinating. And it was fascinating (the premise that is.)
But the book was written in a style that just did not speak to me. It’s obvious that it was a specific choice by the author and it might have worked for some people but it kept distracting me.
And, for me, it got in the way of the story. The story was ok. Also not as interesting as the premise. I know this is a series and I might be tempted to read the rest because I did like the characters but I am hoping that the others are written in a less choppy style.
Or at least written better.
I picked up Flipped because several people said it was great and looked cute.
This novel was for younger adults than even I usually read for so it felt a bit elementary but I really liked how the voices of the two characters were so distinct and so different and it was a wonderful example of how the same events can mean different things to different people. There were some wonderful little bits about middle school, too.
All in all, I enjoyed this story and am glad I read it.
But it, too, won’t make the top of my list for 2011.
Since I am on a Young Adult kick, I decided to pick up Just Listen by Sara Dessen. She’s a well-loved author and this was supposed to be a good book.
Parts of this story seemed so familiar as I read it that I kept wondering if I’d read it before and just didn’t remember. I think I must have just read an excerpt in a magazine or something because the rest of the book wasn’t as familiar. All in all, I enjoyed this but didn’t think it was as deep or character (or plot) driven as some of the other novels I’ve read recently.
Not a waste of time but not a total favorite either.
My friend Kathy recommended 20 Boy Summer. She told me the very basic premise it sounded interesting so I decided it was worth a read.
And I did like it but I didn’t love it. Maybe that’s because I thought it was going to be absolutely great and it’s hard to live up to that. So I have another book by the same author too and we’ll see how I feel about that one. In the meantime, this is a nice, enjoyable book and a sweet premise. And relatively true to teenage-hood.
I don’t know what it is about young adult novels but it seems to be what I enjoy reading lately.
After reading and loving Looking for Alaska, I wanted more of the same author so I picked up Paper Towns. I wasn’t sure if I liked the book or the author.
As it turns out, I love both.
The author did not disappoint at all. I loved this book as well. Now I have to go find more book by this author. It’s always fun for me to discover new authors I love. Even though it’s a young adult novel and I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, if you like well-written books with interesting characters, this is recommended by me.
Yey for new-to-me authors!
My friend Kathy recommended Looking for Alaska. And I am so glad she did.
Whomever says Young Adult novels aren’t as pithy as mainstream fiction is completely wrong. I still think I love these novels because that’s the period of my life most rife with angst and overflowing emotion, etc. And that’s why I love the characters in these too. Cause so are theirs. Everything is a huge deal. But that period of your life is also full of so much promise. So much indestructibility. So much possibility. Also so much despair. Lack of hope. Loneliness. Being misunderstood or not understood.
Alas, it’s a turbulent time.
Which, to me, makes for wonderful stories. Especially when written so well. I love stories that are deep, meaningful and make you ponder and smile with deep gratitude and acknowledgement. And that’s how this was for me.
I loved this story.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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