Gayle Forman (#1): Just One Day/Just One Year

Hello All!

It's been a rather long time since I've posted on here, and even longer since I've had enough of a break to do some real reading.  School finished in May, and almost immediately I started working.  I read a couple books in the main part of my summer, during my internship, but the books that I most want to tell you about were books that I read in my two weeks of actual summer vacation time.  This set of books covers four Gayle Forman books, and before I get into them, I have a little backstory.

Backstory:
My family has been going to the same vacation spot for basically my entire life, and that place is a nice, beach-y place that is perfect for relaxing and not doing much of anything.  One of my favorite things to do there is to read on the beach.  This year, we left for vacation less than twelve hours after I got back from my internship, and I didn't have a lot of time to pick a good book to read.  Instead, the first thing that I did in town was to stop by the local bookstore to pick up a book.  My first book was "Just One Day", by Gayle Forman.  I read this book in a day or two, went back for the sequel, read that in a day, went back for "If I Stay", and went back to find the sequel to that book sold out.  I ordered it from Amazon, read it over the course of this week.  Last night, I was able to see "If I Stay"in theaters, so I have some thoughts about that too.  And here we are.  My thoughts on these books will be split into two posts, as I have a lot of thoughts about both sets.

The Books:  Stop here if you don't want spoilers. You have been warned.
The set of books that I want to talk about is "Just One Day"and "Just One Year" (there is also an eBook called "Just One Night", but I haven't read it yet).  These books are more companion books than a straight-up series.  One book does not chronologically follow the other, but the "second" one starts in the middle of the plot of the first one, told from the point of view of the other major character.  Although I've said that the books aren't told as sequential stories, I don't think that the second one would make much sense without reading the first one...so read "Just One Day" before you read "Just One Year".

"Just One Day" chronicles the story of an American teenager from Pennsylvania, beginning at a theater in London as she wraps up a post-graduation tour of Europe with her best friend.  This girl, through a quick succession of random events, ends up going to Paris for a single day with an actor from a street-performance Shakespeare group.  At first she isn't sure what to think of this guy, but as they spend more time together, she feels herself begin to fall in love with him.  At times, it seems like he feels the same way, but the next morning, she wakes up alone with no explanation from him.

Feeling humiliated, the girl returns home and heads off to college.  After returning home, the main character has a difficult time opening back up to her family and her suite-mates in the dorms.  Her depression severely affects her grades, leading her to effectively switch majors and pick up a Shakespeare class.  Throughout the next semester, she is able to open back up to people and start to heal from the pain, shame, and regret that she held for the past year.  She also decides that, before she can fully recover, she needs answers.  She studies French, gets a job, and finds herself back in Paris.  The book ends just as she meets the boy once again.

"Just One Year" is told from the point of view of the street-performance actor.  It begins on the morning after his day in Paris, when he left the girl.  He wakes up in a hospital unable to remember what has happened to him.  The reader discovers that he left to get breakfast, tried to leave her a note, and was attacked in some way by someone - an event connected to the plot of the first book.  He tries to return to the girl, but finds that she has left, he has no way to contact her, and he cannot remember her name.

After trying to return home and return to a normal life, he decides that he wants to find her.  He then travels to Mexico to try to find her.  After this, he reconnects with his estranged mother in India, stars in a Bollywood movie, and auditions for a new play upon returning to his home.  This books ends with the girl arriving at his door.

My Thoughts
Although these books are not sequential, or perhaps because they are not sequential, the overall experience of reading them was very satisfying.  Although it seemed as though the second book would just be a retelling of the same story, it was just as captivating to see familiar events unfold and twist themselves into the life of a different character.  For example, when the guy goes to Mexico in the second book, the reader knows that he is always just missing the girl.

Each book also does a fantastic job of sucking the reader in and making them see events from different points of view.  Although the reader may not feel the girl's depression, or completely agree with her choices,  it is hard to fault her, knowing only what she knows.  The girl shows a lot of courage and growth, but there is definitely a fragile feeling throughout most of the book, as if something could and will go terribly wrong.

The second book, while quickly reconciling any negative feelings towards the guy, brings a sense of urgency back into the plot.  While the first book showed the slow bloom of confidence in the girl, the second book covers quick changes, global travel, and a larger cast of characters.  All the while, the reader is never truly sure if the guy and the girl will meet up again by the end of the book.  When they finally do meet, there is just enough closure to be satisfactory, but plenty is still left open to the interpretation of the reader.

These books handle a lot of different situations very well, and there is very clear character growth throughout both pieces.  While some parts might seem a bit far-fetched, the plot stays pretty grounded in reality, which I really appreciated.  The characters all seemed real and distinct, and acted (and reacted) like real people to the situations they were presented with.  This set of books easily ranks as one of my favorite realistic fiction pieces.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed each of these books.  I would definitely recommend reading them, and fairly quickly in succession.  Next time, I'll talk about the other two Gayle Forman books that I've read recently.

Until Next Time

An Appology...and Some Catching Up

Hello my lovelies....for, if you are still here with me, you are incredibly lovely.

This semester has been one heck of a ride, and I know that I set this up to be a literary blog, but I really need to get my feelings about school out.

Firstly:  The Bragging
This was my best semester yet, and my first semester where my GPA has been above the 3.6 range.  (Which is good...because I have to keep a 3.6 overall to stay in honors).  I took a lot of challenging classes, didn't sleep much, stressed a lot, and am overall very proud of how I did.

Secondly:  Admitting to Some Faults
So if you know me in person, you probably heard me worrying quite loudly about thermodynamics...and I'm happy to say that most of my worrying was unfounded.  I had a fantastic professor, thoroughly enjoyed the subject material, and survived (though it was still tough)

Thirdly:  The Books
I didn't really have a lot of time to do much reading, between classes and homework (and to be honest, a large list of TV shows that I watched).  I got a few novels done before school started that I don't believe I've talked about here, and since I've been home for break, I've read 1.5 books.

Fourthly:  The Culture
Since returning home, I've taken a couple trips into the city, which I will be talking about in a culture post in the near future.

Fifthly:  The Future
I am gearing up (pun 100% intended) for a summer internship that I'm super excited for.  Additionally, I am getting super pumped for my 7 month study abroad in Shanghai.  I will probably be talking more about both of these as I start packing, traveling, and working.  If anyone wants a post about resumes, travel tips, or anything business/internship/college-related, I am more than happy to oblige (though I might do some of these anyway without requests)

I am currently reading Death Comes to Pemberly by PD James, and (more slowly) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2014!

Until next time!

Theme-Breaker Post!

Content Alert:  If you are here for the books, this isn't a post for you.  I had a really exciting weekend, so I wanted to share that with you guys.  Will be back to posting about books in the very near future (I've got a couple posts lined up, so hopefully it won't be too long).

So first things first, I've told you that I'm an engineer.  I might not have told you that I'm minoring in Chinese.  Unfortunately, I couldn't take any language classes this past year because of scheduling difficulties (which is basically the story of my academic life).  To make up for lost time, I've been taking Chinese 201/202 this summer.  I just got my grade back for 201...and I got an A!  I know you might not care all that much, but it makes me really happy.

And now on to the exciting weekend.

On Friday, I had an adventure with two of my best friends, and some of my favorite people on the planet.  We went "thrifting" at Plato's Closet (I use quotes because Plato's is a little more upscale than my usual thrift store).  We then went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby...which was probably a mistake and I probably will not be going there again. 

Saturday was the real adventure though.  I started out my day by waking up at approximately 10:00 AM - significantly earlier than my usual wake-up time.  I then got in the car with my mom, rode to the train station, and boarded a train bound for New York City. 

I love trains.  Trains are awesome.  What is not awesome about trains is when there are screaming children both in front of, and behind, you.  There is no escape from the loudness and the screaming.  Also, the lighting in train cars is atrocious.  You can try to sleep, but you will always fail.  Also, a note to people that use public transportation:  I do not want to hear your music.  Not in any form.  Please don't sing along to your earphones, hum loudly, or blast your tunes.  Nobody wants that.

After switching to a new train, we finally made it to the city.  We walked about fifteen blocks down from the station, into Chelsea, and started thrifting. 

The first place we went was called Housing Works.  There are a lot of these throughout the city.  Like most thrift stores, they are fueled by donations.  They also donate their money to charities that are fueling the fight against AIDS.  We went to three of these in total, the first in Chelsea, near another thrift store (whose name I can't remember, but which was a good bit more expensive).  The second was closer to the East Village, and the third was up around 50th Street, a few blocks over from the Broadway theaters.  We also stopped in a jewelry/home furnishings antique store, which was fantastic.

Between stops, we found ourselves in Madison Square Park.  This was the first time I'd ever been there, but if you have the chance to go in the near future, I say take it.  It is a really nice park, and there is currently a large outdoor art installation in progress. 

After two Housing Works, the antiques store, and the thrift store that I can't name as of now, my mother and I decided that we had thrifted enough for a while.  We started making our way to the closest subway station.  On the way, we stopped at a small Macaron bakery.  Those suckers are expensive as anything, but really fantastic. 

A quick subway ride brought us up to the Time's Square area.  What we found there was something I had never seen before in the city: A street fair.  Our first stop at the fair was the Google+ Local booth.  We wrote reviews for some of our favorite city places and got a free shirt.  I freaking love Google (and I'm not just saying that because they run my blogging website or will one day own the world or anything like that). 

Some quick things that I learned from the fair:
1.  People really like pocket watch necklaces.  I saw more of those at the fair than anything else.
2.  Smoothies, crepes, and kebabs are the new fair food - move over deep-fried life-shorteners. 
3.  Honestly, I think a lot of people had multiple booths, or there is some sort of universal fair supplier for clothing, jewelry, and food...

After the fair, we shuffled off to the last (and oddly enough, smallest) Housing Works on our itinerary. 

Walking back towards Times Square, we found a cute, not too busy Italian restaurant and decided to try it out for dinner.  Man, did we make the best choice ever.  Maria Pia on West 51st Street is one of those places that is down a short set of stairs from street-level, easy to miss, and one of my new favorite things in the city.  Their pasta was fantastic, the staff were very nice, it never got too loud, and it had a very welcoming atmosphere.  Go there.  Do it.

We had tickets to see Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella that night, and we finished dinner just in time to get in line before the house opened and we could go in.  Cinderella is currently showing at The Broadway Theater, which is 1) gigantic and 2) gorgeous.  The show was spectacular.  It is perfectly cast, the music is moving and beautiful, the costumes are awe-inspiring, and it is just generally an uplifting show. 

This version is NOT the Disney version, but it is so much better!  The plot does not solely revolve around Cinderella going to the ball and marrying her prince.  In this show, Cinderella stands for something.  She goes to the prince to get him to see the way that the poor were being mistreated.  The fairy godmother's message is that dreams don't come true on their own, and every person has the power to make their dreams come true.  I would most definitely see this show again! 

I didn't have time to wait at the stage door that night, which was really disappointing.  Despite that, Saturday was one of the best days of my life, and probably one of my favorite New York experience.

Your regularly scheduled book-posts will be returning soon, I promise.

Until next time.

tl;dr:  Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella is fantastic, Maria Pia has the best Italian food I've ever had, Macarons are crazy expensive, respect other people on public transportation, thrifting is generally a win-win scenario for all involved.

Impulse Library Picks (1)

Hello All,

I have been taking summer classes at a nearby school, so "fun reading" isn't as abundant as I had anticipated.  I have, so far, read a few novels, so I've got at least a few quick posts to do until I'm finished with my next book.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I came to this book partly because I happened upon it in the library and hadn't found enough other books on the journey.  Don't get me wrong, I love John Green's work.  The Fault in Our Stars made me cry.  Katherines was the last solo novel of Green's that I had not read, mostly because every source I'd found had told me that it was the weakest of his books.  After reading it, I'm not entirely sure that I would agree.

Part 1:  The Plot
    Very simply, this is a "rebound" story.  The main character (Colin) is dumped by his girlfriend (Katherine, as you might have guessed).  He is miserable and his best friend really wants to help, so they road trip.  As the story progresses, we see various stages of Colin's life - his history with Katherines, his relationship with his intelligence, his relationship with his peers, and his ambitions in life.
    Colin makes it very clear that he was a child prodigy, but not quite a genius.  This prompts Colin to struggle towards genius status.  He is wrapped up in the idea that he needs to work harder to prove to those around him that he hasn't let them down, hasn't wasted his potential.  To accomplish this, Colin believes that he needs to make a big discovery and leave his mark on the academic world.
    While on his road trip, Colin insists on stopping at a landmark in a small Southern town.  This "quick stop" becomes a road-trip-halting stay with the owner of the biggest job-producer in town, a factory.  Colin and his friend stay at this house and work to collect the history of the town from various sources.  There is love, emotional growth, betrayal, and attempts at hunting.

Part 2:  The Katherines
    To be perfectly honest, the plot piece that I found least convincing whenever I heard the book described was that the main character only dates girls named Katherine.  It seemed very contrived and silly out of context.  Okay, it is also contrived and silly in context as well.
    Turning that around, though, do not let that silliness stop you from reading the book.   
    In my opinion, Colin's history with girls named Katherine is part of his attempt to become something greater than himself.  The first girl to become interested in him was named Katherine, and they met because her father worked with Colin in his studies.  This time in his life is deeply tied to his prodigy status.  He is taking special lessons and is constantly aware that he is different from his peers.  As he grows older, the fear that he is losing his edge is ever-present.  He has dated a few girls named Katherine, and then it becomes an obsession.  He will only date a girl if her name is Katherine.
    As Colin grows older, and loses his "prodigy" label, he is worried that he won't be able to become a genius.  He sees no way that he can control that fate - he isn't able to force himself to have a brilliant idea that will land him in the history books of academia.  He can't keep himself from changing in that aspect, but he can keep one thing constant - he can date girls named Katherine.
    Although it seemed like a silly plot point at first, the whole "dating Katherines" aspect of the book has really grown on me.    

Part 3:  The Formula
    While on his trip, and still sulking about the loss of his most recent Katherine, Colin thinks he can finally make his Major Contribution - the thing that will propel him squarely into the role of Genius.  Colin tries to think up a way to mathematically graph the course of any relationship.  He assigns values to various personality aspects to the two people entering into a relationship and uses those numbers to predict how long the relationship will last and which person will be dumped at the end.  Once he starts this idea, he gets hooked.  He perfects it to fit all of his past relationships, and it is almost ready to release the formula and earn recognition, when all of the events of the summer come together and click into place.  Colin has done a great job of mapping his past, but just as his past as a prodigy cannot predict his future (will he be the genius he has always wanted to be, or will he hit the ceiling of his intelligence and live his life as an average citizen?), taking bits and pieces of a person's previous relationships cannot be used to predict how they will act in the future.  There is no way for a person to use math to predict the future of a relationship, just as there is no way for Colin to force himself into the history books. 

Part 4:  The Message
    Colin is a very interesting character, and very unique.  He has a lot of quirks, but the most universally relate-able part about him is his need to be remembered.  He doesn't want to be just an average person - he needs to be better, be smarter, and be important.  Colin fears being left behind and forgotten, so he pushes himself to work harder and be better, and this is something that everyone struggles with.
    It takes a trip to an unknown town to teach Colin that to live is enough - he doesn't have to do anything extraordinary for his life to have meaning.  This story is about how Colin gains his confidence, and seeing Colin outgrow his old perceptions of himself and society, and to find his new place in his world. 
 
The book is not a very difficult read, but well worth the time you put into it.  I found myself laughing out loud a lot throughout the book, and I definitely recommend it.

Until next time.

Teen Fiction

Hello.

As you can see, it has been a long time since my last post...significantly longer than I had intended.  School, especially during finals, has a way of sucking all the time out of everything.  I haven't made much of a dent in Les Miserables, but I'm here today to talk about something that I was not anticipating to be addressing so soon:  "Teen Fiction".  Very specifically, whether or not it deserves any attention from self-respecting readers of any age.

The short answer:  Yes.

And here's why:

It is important to acknowledge, first and foremost, the people read for many reasons.  People read to escape their problems for some period of time.  People read to find the strength or guidance that they need to carry on.  People read for entertainment.  Teenagers are no different.

It is also important to accept that teenagers who want to read can often feel alienated from reading that is required for school.  School Reading forces us to analyze symbols and foreshadowing.  Some people enjoy this, for some it varies by book, and some people cannot stand it.  This does not mean that they hate reading, they just don't like the concept of reading as School has defined it. 

And this is why "Teen Fiction" will always be important.  It gives (at the very least) students a place where they can learn to appreciate reading as it truly is:  a story being told to an audience.  They don't have to dissect it if they don't want to, and they don't even have to really know that they are looking to these characters for guidance.  These stories present readers with things they can relate to, things they can't relate to, depictions of reality, situations far removed from reality, and any mix in between.

Additionally, it is a very dangerous thing to shame an entire genre based on something as stupid as a "Teen" label.  Saying that something is for teenagers, or about teenagers or their interests, does not make it less important, good, or necessary.  Sure, there are "Teen Fiction" novels that are sub-par; there are "Teen" books that I've read that I wouldn't give a re-read.  But then again, there are books generally regarded as Classics that I did not enjoy and would not read again.

Telling teens that the books they read are "less than" other books, just because they are marketed towards teens, does society on the whole a great disservice.  If we tell young people that what they read isn't worth the paper (or, I guess, the pixels) that it is written on, why would they want to continue reading?  And if the next generation stops reading, who is it that really suffers?  I don't know about you, but I would much prefer that coming generations keep reading "Teen Fiction" if the alternative is that they don't read at all.

Until next time.

**Note:  This is a topic that I feel very strongly about, and I don't think that one post will do it justice.  It is very possible that I will attack it again in the future.  Leave a comment with your ideas and I will probably respond in future posts on the subject. 

In which I begin to talk about books - Around the World in 80 Days

So I've been crazy-busy since I last posted, and I've only read a few more chapters of Around the World in 80 Days...which is lame because it is not a long book.  I just want to summarize some of what I've been reading until I have more read.

The basic plotline so far:  Mr. Phileas Fogg is a respectable English gentleman who does respectable English things.  He goes to his social club, is very punctual, and expects everyone around him to be exact and punctual as well.  When we meet him, he has recently hired a new servant (because his last one was not exact enough).  This servant is a Frenchman named Passepartout.  On the day that Passepartout is hired, Mr. Fogg enters into a bet with his friends.  He bets a substantial amount of his savings that modern travel can get him around the entire world is 80 days.  Once he leaves, the entire country is in a temporary uproar, everyone with their own opinion about the likelihood of his success.  Then, it surfaces that around the time that he left there was a major bank robbery in London.  The first major stop on his journey is the Suez Canal, where there is a British officer waiting to try to arrest him...fortunately for Mr. Fogg, things don't go according to plan.

My thoughts:
1.  I'm not sure if I love or hate the fact that Passepartout sounds like "Passport".  Google translate also tells me that his name means "happening everywhere"...which is sort of what the character wanted to avoid.  Passepartout sought out Mr. Fogg because he heard that he was the most constant person in all of London.  Once he enters Mr. Fogg's employ, he does nothing but travel and worry.

2.  At first glance, it seems like Mr. Fogg's actions are very out of character and unpredictable, but after thinking it over, his story reads just like any other cliche adventure - the unlikely hero enters into a bargain (a bet, orders from a superior, etc) and must travel outside their comfort zone to faraway places to accomplish their goal.  Where Mr. Fogg differs from these other travelers is that he takes no pleasure in his journey (thus far).  He does not venture above deck on the steamship, he does not converse with others (even the people that he plays cards with).  He acts as though nothing has changed, even when his entire way of being has dramatically shifted.  Between predictability, cliche, and peculiarity, Mr. Fogg just might be one of the more interesting characters I have read about in a long time.

That's all I've got for now.  Hopefully I can get some more read this weekend.

Until then.

Language and Life

Note:  This post falls under the categories of "life" and "language/culture":

So I have been studying Mandarin Chinese for six years, including three years of Honors and one year of AP.  I plan on completing a minor in Chinese.  Chinese has sort of been a big part of my life.

Ever since I started studying Chinese back in middle school, I have wanted to visit.  I almost had a chance to do so in high school but it got too expensive and the group of interested students was too small.    Another thing that I have known for a very long time is that I want to study abroad.  Originally, I was going to go to Ireland or England, but in the past few years, I have become very adamant about going to China.  Even though it's been a thing that I have wanted, going to China has always seemed like one of those dreams that never actually comes true.  Like, in my head, everything is great - I meet cool people and have adventures and have no problems adjusting.

Just today, I started my application for a combined study abroad/international internship program and the whole concept has gotten a lot more real.  It is really starting to hit me that I will be half-way around the world for roughly six months.  I won't be able to come home for school breaks.  I will struggle with the language and probably some culture-shock.  I might become a hermit, though I really hope not.  All in all, I am a lot more nervous now than I was before, but I'm not entirely certain that it's a bad thing that I am worried.

I guess it all just boils down to the old adage - Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Here's to some venture, and hopefully some gain.  Wish me luck as the season of applications begins!

Until next time.