Helloooo!? Is anyone out there? If you are, I apologize for neglecting this blog for so long. I would say that life got in the way, but I really hate it when people do that, so instead I'll just own up to the fact that I was being lazy. (Shocker, right?)
Anyways, I've got some catching up to do, and I'll start with this recommendations post for The Fault In Our Stars, which is quite literally my favorite book EVER.
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Fantastic book. I'd seen it in stores several times, but was skeptical, because the description on the back reads "Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio".
Little too strange for my tastes. But after reading numerous reviews online, I decided to give it a try. Seize the day and all that, right? And it turned out to be a good choice. Vizzini - who actually spent several days in a mental hospital himself - somehow managed to write a book about depression that wasn't, um, depressing. What a novel concept! (David Levithan's
Every You, Every Me could take some pointers from this book). It was entertaining, and relate-able, and everything that a good book should be. Each character was utterly unique - and I mean they had literally nothing in common (other than the fact that they were all kind of, sort of, a little crazy) - which made for an amazingly interesting read. The cover art is also brilliant (and every good book needs good cover art). So go! Read!
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley is another great one. To be honest, it's been a while since I read it, so I don't know how much detail I'll be able to go into, but just know that it is an amazing read. It takes two completely different stories (so different they take place on different continents) and weaves them together throughout the book. The end is so shocking I dropped the book (I swear I am not kidding). All I can say is, those two awards on the cover are very rightly deserved, and I am anxiously awaiting Mr. Whaley's next book.
Here is the little (big) blurb on the back, since I didn't actually say much about it:
Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . . In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone's eating "Lazarus burgers." But as absurd as the town's carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax. Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances
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