My Favorite Books at Age 24

It's my 24th birthday today, and in honor of that fact I wanted to write about my all-time favorite books, the ones I try to answer with whenever anyone asks me the dreaded question, "What's your favorite book?" I hate that question because I love all kinds of books but when I answer with just one favorite, I feel like the person asking me pigeonholes me by my answer. I try to give at least a couple favorites so I'm not just the girl who likes to read middle-grade books. And with that, I give you my top favorite book:

I can't tell you how much I love this book. I've read it so many times and I feel like each time I read it I catch something new. The puns, the plays on words, the literal interpretation of phrases... I love it all. I think everyone should read this book.

The Anne of Green Gable books were probably the first "adult" books I read as a young girl. I have the boxed set of all eight books and they are falling apart from how often they've been read. They are amazing and that's all I can say.

Aside from the awesome cover, I love this book because it's so different from everything else. Reading from the point of view of an autistic teen really helped me understand autism a little more and feel for the parents of autistic children. I've read this book several times (in fact I reread it on my 18th birthday) and it brings me to tears every time.

If you had just told me what this book is about, I would not have been interested in the slightest. Luckily, someone gave it to my younger brother when I was about eleven and of course I went snooping around his bookshelf. I'm so glad I read it because I think it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. It's the book that inspired the movie October Sky.

Yes, I'm one of those people. But I really do love this book (and I like 1984, but not nearly as much). I love the creation of new worlds and this one is pretty fascinating. I've read it multiple times (in high school, college, and when I was student teaching in high school) but I still get excited about it every time.

My parents read all of these books to my brother and me when we were younger and I've read them on my own several times since. Once again, I love fantastical worlds and strange places and the Chronicles has them in spades. My favorite (and my mom's least favorite) is The Magician's Nephew because there are multiple worlds!

I love this book, plain and simple. Male point of view, swimming, high school, diversity... I recommend this book to everyone. I love all of Chris Crutcher's books (how could you not like Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes?) but this one is by far my favorite.

Duh.

So weird. So good. I can't even try to describe this one to people without sounding crazy, but it's awesome. And I love how long it is because it just keeps getting crazier! I love me some contemporary magical realism.

One of my absolute favorite covers. How could I not include this book? It's beautiful and sweet and Jerry Spinelli! Everything he writes is wonderful but Stargirl is the best. I got my brother to read it when he was in college and he loved it too. The story is perfect for all ages.

I already knew this, but it's interesting to see it laid out like this: I generally prefer male authors over female. Some other favorites that I love but didn't quite make the top ten: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, Lullaby and  Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk, Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger, Tangerine by Edward Bloor and What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges. I'm also always adding to my list of "new favorites", or the books I recommend to people as soon as I finish reading them. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley is a new favorite, as well as Nothing by Janne Teller. They stuck with me.

Yay for books!

Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt

What it's about (from Goodreads): According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object-an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold-Gritas-it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking-er, focusing on-Sean Griswold . . . all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

What I learned: First of all, let me just say that the boy pictured on the cover is not Sean: in the book, his hair is clearly and repeatedly described as so blond it's almost white. Boy on the cover: not Sean. 

Anyway... it's interesting to me how a fair number of YA books have a main character who goes to some kind of counseling or therapy. I think it's great because I know that it's definitely helpful to some people, it's just something I never really thought about in a book. I also like how Payton is not Caucasian but it's not part of her "issue" in the book. It's just who she is and it's not a big deal.

I thought this book did a great job of showing how a girl who just found out her father had an incurable, progressive disease would react. I completely understand ignoring, being mean to her parents and causing other discipline problems instead of having to face the real problem: her dad's multiple sclerosis. I can't imagine how hard it would be to deal with that kind of sickness in your father, the guy a lot of people look up to as strong and steady.

I learned that there's sometimes not a "right" thing to say. There are awkward moments everywhere: talking to your boss, your significant other, your best friend, your crush, your mom, your dad... the list goes on. Sometimes it's inconsequential or funny and other times it's completely serious and you just don't know what to say. I often feel like other people know just what to say to make a situation better and it's just a skill I lack, but I really think that every single person has those moments. Sometimes there really isn't anything to say to make it all better, or understood, or right. Sometimes you just have to fight through the awkward or hard times until it gets easier. It's ok to not have all the answers and to need someone else's help, whether it's a friend, counselor, family member or therapist.

If you've read Sean Griswold's Head, what did you learn? Do you wish you always had the right answers?

The Market by J.M. Steele

What it's about (from Goodreads): High school senior Kate Winthrop is about to find out just how much she's worth.

After stumbling across the Millbank Social Stock Market, Kate is horrified to discover that out of the 140 girls in her class, she's ranked a bleak 71. Sure, she's not drop-dead gorgeous, and her "fashion" choices leave a bit to be desired...but 71?! Determined not to accept her fate as a "junk bond," she and her best friends quickly set out to make her the fastest rising stock on the Market.

Armed with a sexy new haircut and killer wardrobe, Kate puts her plan into effect — and the analysts take note. In a matter of weeks, her stock value soars, and "Blue Chip" status is within reach. But what begins as a fun social experiment quickly turns into an obsession, one that threatens to ruin her reputation, friendships, and a chance at first love. Will Kate survive the highs and lows of the Market, or will her security crash and burn?

What I learned: I think it's pretty obvious what the authors wanted the reader to learn: popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be. Yeah, yeah, we get it. Almost every contemporary YA book has that message somewhere in it and we all know cerebrally that it might be true but I think a lot of us (myself included, at times) still wish we were popular.
I really liked the premise of this book but I wish it were better written. I think it could've been taken a bit further with the stock market angle and fleshed out more there. I never knew who was running the Market and how the girls paid (or who they paid) and I wanted to know more about it.
When my brother was in junior high, a list went around the school of the ten hottest guys in the seventh grade. (There may have been a similar list for the girls, but I only heard about the boys since I have a brother.) My brother was on it and it actually really upset him. He didn't want to be seen like that or get the kind of attention it brought him. I remembered that list from over ten years ago while reading this book and it made me think about my need to rank people. 
I have a horrible, almost automatic habit of mentally ranking the attractiveness of everybody in the room, wherever I am. Sometimes I put myself in there (and I'm brutally honest, usually placing myself in the middle or bottom third, but sometimes near the top) but I usually don't. I have no idea why I do this, though it's probably just an easy way for me to classify people, or put them in boxes so I think I understand them better (though of course that's not true at all). I've always known that it's a very bad habit but this book really made me think how negative the consequences can be. Ranking people by attractiveness doesn't help anyone and it usually hurts almost everyone. Nothing good can come out of it. I cause myself to think wrongly about people and even though no one knows I'm doing it, it's still not right. It's definitely something I'm going to be working on, thanks in part to this book.


If you've read The Market, what did you learn? Will anyone else admit to silently ranking people?

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

What it's about (from Goodreads): From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island. 
Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

What I learned: Libba Bray writes my kind of humor. I love the snarky bits, the making fun of reality TV, the industrialization of EVERYTHING, the beauty product commercials. It's laugh-out-loud funny and I hardly ever laugh out loud at books. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I would watch some of the reality shows mentioned in the book. They are so over the top yet not that far from the current line-up on some networks (ahem, TLC and MTV. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!). I love how Ms. Bray both makes the obsession with reality TV hilarious and a little shaming at the same time. You don't want to admit that it's fascinating to watch other people go through incredibly strange and weird things, but you do anyway.


I went into this book without having read a single thing about it: I hadn't read the summary on Goodreads or even the inside of the front flap! I knew I would love the basic premise and I wanted to be completely surprised by everything, which is almost impossible to do now that almost every book I read has been reviewed (at least once) by any of the myriad book blogs I follow. 


(SPOILER SECTION, highlight to read)
I loved the story of the beauty queens but was less enamored of the pirates and their ridiculously fake reality show. I kind of felt that the pirates were just thrown in there so the book could have some romance since it's a teen book and every YA book has romance in it. I'd actually like to read a book sometime that has hardly any or even none. The Corporation and MoMo B. ChaCha stuff was entertaining but again I almost would have preferred the whole book just to be about the beauty queens. It would have ended up being a completely different book, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. I loved that MoMo B. ChaCha was obviously a caricature of Kim Jong Il (who, if you don't think about it too much, is hilarious if you read about him). I didn't see the need for ChaCha and Ladybird's relationship and some of the details at the end of the book were hard for me to picture (like how the stage was set up in relation to the compound in the mountain and ChaCha's boat... it was all a bit confusing for me). I also wasn't a fan of how Taylor just went crazy after getting shot with the tranquilizer darts. It seemed like a strange way to kind of get her out of the main action.


Anyway, what I learned from this book...epilogues can be great. I loved this book's epilogue though I have generally hated others in the past (Harry Potter and Mockingjay, anyone?) It was actually one of my favorite parts and I loved seeing where all the beauty queens ended up. Obviously this whole book is a little far-fetched and full of fantastical things (which I generally love) but I do wish more of the book had just focused on the beauty queens and their survival on the island (still interspersed with commercials, of course, because I loved those!). I love how Bray made you think about feminism and femininity and self-sufficiency without making you feel hit over the head with a lesson. I also thought about the way advertising is so sneakily ingrained in our lives and how it's almost impossible to escape. I definitely want to be more careful about noticing what the world tells me I should wear, drink, eat, like, do and enjoy, instead focusing on what I really want to wear, drink, eat, like, do and enjoy.

Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams

What it's about (from Goodreads): Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control....


What I learned: While it started out a little slow, once I got into it I could not put this book down. I stayed up late to finish it because the story sucked me in and I had to know what happened next. I love books that take place during a relatively short amount of time and this one did not disappoint. By the time Lacey leaves the library I couldn't read fast enough. I wanted to devour the words so I could know what was going to happen. I was by turns scared and curious. Actually, I'm not going to lie: there were a few pages that had me scared enough that my heart was beating faster than normal. I also love books where I can't necessarily tell what is actually happening and what is happening in the mind of the main character and I got that from Lacey and her mother. I like a little confusion when I read, apparently.


This book is intense. I couldn't help but think of Holly Schindler's A Blue So Dark while reading it, since they both have themes of moms with mental illness but this book takes it further and scarily deeper. I seem to keep picking up books with some kind of mental illness in them but this book is different. It shows exactly what it's like for a person when she is the only one dealing with someone who has an illness. It made me, once again, realize that there is no way that you can know what is going on in someone's life and what they're dealing with at home. Lacey mentions that she gets made fun of at school for the one time her mom showed up disheveled, asking Lacey where she put her medicine. I know I often laugh uncomfortably when I see someone acting strangely but I wouldn't laugh at someone who was obviously physically ill. Mental illness is exactly like a physical disease except it manifests itself differently and it is in no way funny. In some ways it's more frightening than being physically sick because it can alter someone's entire personality. I definitely want to read this book again at a slower pace now that I know what happens and see what else I glean from it.


If you've read Miles from Ordinary, what did you learn? Did anyone else get scared at some points?

Other Words For Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

What it's about (from Goodreads): When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York--and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari's family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future.

When misfortune befalls Blake's family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

What I learned: This book is beautifully written and opened my eyes to how some people experience their teen years. I was lucky(?) enough to be the oldest child in my family and therefore never had to live up to an older sibling's high standards or make up for his or her downfalls. I hope my brothers and sister don't feel that way about me (I'm pretty sure they don't, in either case) but I can't imagine what it would be like to know that your parents feel that your older sister didn't exactly grow up the way they had hoped so now you had to fulfill their dreams. I think it would be terrible. You would have to balance your relationship with your sister and your relationship with your parents while at the same time navigating high school with its myriad of relationships to balance. 


I have been extremely blessed in life to be naturally resilient to life's hardships. Granted, I haven't experienced much true hardship, such as a death in my family or friends, but there have been a few rough spots, as there are in anyone's life. It doesn't have to be something huge to affect you, though. Ari has to deal with her older sister's post-partum depression, her best friend's betrayal and her boyfriend breaking up with her. None of these things are horrific and too much for any teenager to deal with, but it's hard - and probably not right - to judge the "difficulty" of incidents in people's lives. I definitely got upset after one rough break-up in college and cried at least once a day for more than a month, but I could always suck it up and go to work or class. I wasn't the most fun person to be around, but I wasn't in need of a doctor. But just because I can deal with life's difficulties without needing extra help (knock on wood) doesn't mean that other people can. Ari struggles with depression, as do a fair number of teens and adults, for a number of reasons. I thought this book was extremely well-written and the most realistic depiction of a teenage girl I've read in a long, long time. I can very clearly see any teenage girl or guy going through the same things Ari goes through and responding exactly as she does. There's no unnecessary drama in the story. It's a quiet, well-told story of a girl who experiences normal life, with all  of its ups and downs.


I know that sometimes I tend to judge people who can't just "snap out of it" but I know that is wrong. I know people whose lives have been changed by the right medication and I can only hope that one day if I need some help that the right remedy will exist and I am willing to accept it. 


This book isn't really about depression, by the way, but that aspect of it is what stuck with me after reading it.


If you've read Other Words for Love, what stuck with you? 

Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

What it's about (from Goodreads): Star basketball player Chelsea "Nitro" Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college-and everyone's admiration in her hometown. But everything changed senior year, when she took a horrible fall during a game. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.

As a graduation present, Chelsea's dad springs for a three-week summer "boot camp" program at a northern Minnesota lake resort. There, she's immediately drawn to her trainer, Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who's haunted by his own traumatic past. As they grow close, Chelsea is torn between her feelings for Clint and her loyalty to her devoted boyfriend back home. Will an unexpected romance just end up causing Chelsea and Clint more pain-or finally heal their heartbreak?

What I learned: This book has been receiving a little criticism in the blogosphere in regards to Chelsea's cheating. I'm not going to say anything against it - though I definitely think that cheating is wrong - because it's a realistic depiction of high school relationships. There are lots of things that happen in books that I don't agree with, usually teenage drinking, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be in books because that's an accurate portrayal of (some) teenagers' lives. I really felt for Chelsea. I'm not a star athlete of any kind and I was never in any danger of getting an athletic scholarship to college, but I've taken ballet most of my life and I can't imagine being unable to dance. There have been times when I've thought about what I would be like if I broke my leg or had something happen where I couldn't dance anymore. I'd be devastated and much less of my life depends on dancing than Chelsea's on basketball. The author did a great job of making the reader understand how much it hurt Chelsea, both physically and emotionally, to have a career-ending injury.
It's so hard for me to judge Chelsea and Clint's relationship because I've never personally felt an immediate, can't-be-denied attraction to someone like they did. I find it a little hard to believe but just because I haven't experienced it doesn't mean other people haven't. Isn't that kind of the point of books: to experience things we wouldn't otherwise? I mean, this whole blog is based off of the idea that I learn something new from every book I read, so I don't want to have experienced everything I read!
I learned that there is nothing neat and clean about relationships. They are messy, messy things, no matter if they're familial or romantic. I knew this already, of course, but I haven't seen or read a story exactly like Chelsea and Clint's before. There is something between them that rational thought isn't necessarily going to stop from happening. I know Chelsea's dad feels bad for Chelsea but he has a hard time dealing with the loss of a superstar daughter himself. Life is complicated and there is rarely one right answer to all of its problems.


If you've read Playing Hurt, what did you learn from it? What did you think about the cheating issue?