A New Year..and a New Hope

I know I have been a bad blogger. I got behind on my book goal, I was given some extra responsibilities at work, and I got a little lazy. So if you can forgive me, let’s move on! I am sure everyone will be excited to know that I was able to complete my 2012 goal of reading 52 books in a year! Since it is a new year and one of my resolutions this year is to do a better job in the blogosphere,  I thought I would start the year by sharing with you the best book I read in 2012 and the worst book I read in 2012. If you want to see all of the books I read, you can find them on my goodreads profile.

The Best Book I Read in 2012

 You know how you have someone you are close to, and there is something they want you to do or try, and you every intention of doing it, but you just keep putting it off, and they keep bugging you, and you finally do what they want and realize you were STUPID to put it off so long? Yeah, well, my husband has been trying to get me to read this book since we started dating, and I always put it off, and when I finally read it this summer, I couldn’t believe what I had been missing!

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury published 1957.

Set in the summer of 1928, this novel follows the antics of 12 year old Douglas Spaulding in Green Town Illinois (aka smalltown America). Each chapter is a different little story about the town and moves the plot along in the summer a little more. Written with Bradbury’s wonderful lyricism, the book takes you through that first taste of summer and anticipation to the last days the season with its cooler weather and shorter days. Reading this book makes you feel like it is summer, at least the way you remember it as an adult. I am actually glad I read this book when I was on vacation, because otherwise I may have had to  take a day off and run barefoot through the grass in the back of my parent’s property. It’s a short read and well worth anytime you want to put into it. His sequel to this Farewell Summer is also  sensational and brings the story full circle.

“It won't work,' Mr. Bentley continued, sipping his tea. 'No matter how hard you try to be what you once were, you can only be what you are here and  now. Time hypnotizes. When you're nine, you think you've always been nine years old and will always be. When you're thirty, it seems you've always been balanced there on that bright rim of middle life. And then when you turn seventy, you are always and forever seventy. You're in the present, you're trapped in a young now or an old now, but there is no other now to be seen.” 

-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

The Worst Book I Read in 2012

I just want to preface this book with a clarifying statement: In general, I find that many of the young adult books on the market today are well written and enjoyable. Although I don’t read nearly as many as I used to, I still pick them up from time to time, especially when my little sister tells me they are worth it. This one wasn’t. I should have known that no good would come from reading a book published by MTV.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky published 1999.

This novel follows a boy named Charlie through his freshman year in high school in the early 1990s. At the beginning he is an unpopular loner who is struggling with autism and the suicide of a friend. He is soon befriended by Sam and her step-brother Patrick who are both seniors and who introduce him to a lot of new experiences. I mean a lot of new experiences. I mean through-out the course of this tiny 213 page book Charlie is in some way exposed to or effected by the following: Alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, abuse (both physical and sexual), rape, teenage pregnancy, abortion,  sexuality issues, and more.  The further I got into the pages the more I kept thinking “What else is going to happen to this poor kid?!”  I feel like Chbosky was trying to tell the story of what it was to grow up in the 1990’s and somehow told EVERY story of EVERY kid who grew up in the 90s.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some bright spots in the book, I thought the relationship between Charlie and Patrick was great and I also thought that the back and forth between Charlie and his older sister was touching and real.  For a book that has been made into a movie and been on the bestseller list, not to mention touted as “awesome” by a few facebook posts I have seen, I was very disappointed. I will probably eventually watch the film, just to see how it translated onto the big screen, but I am not holding my breath. 

 "Anyway, Patrick started driving really fast, and just before we got to the tunnel, Sam stood up, and the wind turned her dress into ocean waves. When we hit the tunnel, all the sound got scooped up into a vacuum, and it was replaced by a song on the tape player. A beautiful song called "Landslide." When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

-Stephan Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Until Next time....peace!