Faves of 2011 (so far): The Books

Inkcrush has started a three-part survey of favorite/best/most winning-est books read in 2011 (so far) and I love all the categories (and lists, duh) so much that I just have to join in the fun. (Days 2 and 3 will come in the next week or so.)

You may notice a few books kind of take over this list, but that's okay -- it's only because they're brilliant.

1. Favorite Book Read So Far in 2011 Where She Went by Gayle Forman. As much as I absolutely adore a few other books out there (most notably Anna & the French Kiss), there's just nothing like the love and angst and heartbreak and hope and just plain brilliance of the continuing story of Mia and Adam. Gayle Forman is a powerhouse. 

2. Most Powerful Book: Without a doubt, Leverage, by Joshua C. Cohen. There's something incredible about a book that I'm still thinking about months (and dozens of books) later. Even the cover is powerful and that's only a fraction of the raw story inside.

3. Brilliantly Funny: Flirt Club by Cathleen Daly. OH. MY GOODNESS. You guys, there's no way to actually explain in words how great and funny and sunshiney and hilario this book is. It's just... just brilliant. And it helps, of course, that the characters are completely and hopelessly geeky. Love. It.

4. Best Ache-y, Heart-Breaking, Tear-Jerker Read: Again I have to go with Where She Went. There's something so agonizing about Adam's pain and the lost love that this story revolves around. That, compounded with all the pain we already know from Mia's story in If I Stay makes this category no contest.

5. Most Beautiful Story: Where She Went, again. Now, I get the feeling it's starting to seem like Where She Went has an unfair advantage here, and maybe it does. But only because the book is so brilliant, so perfect, so wonderful, so sad and hopeful and redemptive all at once, and because I love it so completely. 

6. Delicious Rainy Day Comfort Read: Anna & the French Kiss. This book is almost too perfect for words and part of its perfection comes from the fact that it's just so cozy, like sinking into the absolute best pile of pillows or hiding in a blanket fort drinking hot chocolate on a rainy day. Adorable and sweet.

7. Adrenaline-Fueled, Unputdownable Award: Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan. Maybe because I had a bound MS with no cover and no description, but this story really struck me as being incredible and complicated and intensely interesting. I meant to read a couple pages on the trolley and ended up unable to stop reading.

8. The Most Beautiful Prose Award: Imaginary Girls, by Nova Ren Suma. Nova has talked a bit about her more "literary" style of writing, and this book definitely fits the bill but in the best possible way. Unpretentious but beautiful with prose that begs to be read and reread, the writing here is just... astonishing.

9. Most Atmospheric and Vivid Setting: Anna & the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins. For a total settings-junkie like me, Anna was a gift. The setting is just... just... THERE ARE NO WORDS.

10. I-So-Want-To-Go-There Award: Again, Anna & the French Kiss. I just want to pull a blue-skidoo and jump into the book and live there forever.

11. Most Original and Imaginative: Popular, by Alissa Grosso. Maybe you saw the twist coming, but I definitely didn't and thought it was incredibly imaginative. I want to re-read it knowing what happens and see how different the story seems, but I just haven't had time yet.

12. Best Under-Appreciated, Hidden-Gem Award: Rival, by Sara Bennett Wealer. I have a feeling that people are probably reading this one as your standard story of lost friendship or high school competition, but man, it is just so much more than that. So much better than anything "standard." There's a depth to this novel, a real heart that sets it heads and shoulders above so many other similar novels. It's smart and true and wonderful and I want you all to read it, okay?

13. I-Had-No-Idea-I-Would-Love-This-So Award: Anna & the French Kiss, which I was seriously planning to be disappointed by. SPOILER ALERT: I was totally wrong.

14. Most Haunting Story: Leverage, again. Haunting in that scary, heading-to-your-car-at-night-and-looking-over-your-shoulder sort of way. I mean, obviously the characters here are fictional, but they're so real that I was a little freaked out what if they were following me? 

15. Outside My Comfort Zone but Gosh How I Loved It: Imaginary Girls. I am so not a fan of fantasy or paranormal or anything supernatural, but this book actually pulled off a fantastical twist in a way that didn't creep me out too much and I could still read it and I actually ended up loving the book. 

16. Series That I'm Loving: I haven't read many series books this year, but I did read a few starts of trilogies and the one I'm most looking forward to being continued is Across the Universe, by Beth Revis. There's such a great world and story set-up here that I'll definitely definitely be reading the second book.

17. Most Memorable Voice Award: Where She Went, yet again. I just... it's so... I love it, okay?

18. Completely Awesome Premise Award: The only nonfiction book on here, Odd Girl Out, by Rachel Simmons. I love love love that it's set up around girl bullying and that it tackles the subject so head on. I really should have read it around age fifteen, but whatever. READ IT, GIRLS.

19. Would Make the Best Movie: Ugh, I suck at knowing what books would make good movies because I'm not good at actually watching movies, but that said I really think it would be awesome to see The Last Little Blue Envelope, by Maureen Johnson, as a movie. It has the right blend of heart and funny and sadness and kookyness, I think.

20. Want to re-Read Already: OMG SO MANY, but mostly probably Anna & the French Kiss just because it's so great, you know? Like, just happy-making to the extreme. 

Parts 2 and 3 will be up in the next couple weeks and I'm really looking forward to them. Thanks to Nomes for creating this awesome idea. :)

The Love.

I once read a post by Meg Cabot where she said that there are two types of readers: those who read to escape and those who read to relate. Now, I don't know if she's the first person to say this or if it came from somewhere else (this post was years ago), but it really struck a chord with me. Because I am definitely in the second camp; I've always always always read to relate. To understand others, understand myself, see my own feelings and actions reflected in stories that have nothing to do with me. This is a big part of the reason I'm so drawn to contemporary stories -- I like seeing myself in the books I read.

Recently I reread a favorite of mine, Sara Zarr's novel, Sweethearts. I've heard it referred to as a romance but, to my mind at least, it's definitely not that. But it is a love story. It's about the people who are so much a part of you it's impossible to separate yourself from them, the people you love more than anyone and for reasons that aren't entirely clear. It's about unbreakable, often unexplainable, bonds. And I adore this book not only because of how brilliantly it's written, but also because that feeling of love and connection is something I can relate to, something I know so well.

And Sweethearts captured it perfectly, explaining it so much better than I was ever able to.

There are other books, as well, that sit beside my heart and feel so incredibly personal. Almost as if they'd been written with me in mind. And that's the crazy thing about writing, about books and the authors behind them. It continues to amaze me, in spite of how much I read and how much I know about writing and authors and publishing and books, that these stories can hold so much power. The power to help a person realize something about themselves or someone they love or the life they lead. It amazes me how great and powerful and personal a novel can become to a reader. And to the authors who write these books, all of my favorites, all of the ones that have spoken to me, a million thank yous. Unfortunately, it would take so much space to list you all.

Why I Love Contemporary

(via weheartit)

I love it because there's nothing that special about the heroes of realistic, contemporary fiction. They don't have superpowers or curses or magic or any of that. They're human. Which means that when they succeed it's because of some inner strength - because they want it enough or they work hard enough or they're lucky enough. Or a combination of everything.

I love realistic stories because reading is like looking in a mirror. It's seeing yourself a little clearer, a little better, finding a piece of yourself in a story that someone else has written. And sure, this happens in other genres, but nowhere is it as widespread as contemporary/realistic.

I don't often talk about what I'm reading right now on the blog, but today I have Wendelin Van Draanen's latest, The Running Dream, sitting next to me. It's about a 16 year old runner who loses her leg in an accident. Who has to learn to live as an amputee.

I don't know anything about losing a limb, but the hospital scenes are almost painful to read. They're real. The horror of seeing yourself in a mirror that first time after being in a hospital bed for days, the food you can't hardly eat and the longing for real food. The complicated and confusing emotions that come with all the "get well" wishes and cards and flowers.

She hit the nail on the head and I love it because, even though I'm not a runner, I can relate to the protagonist. And I know that when she gets through this -- when she makes it to the end of this journey, it won't be because of magic or spells or supernatural creatures. It will be because of her. And because of the people around her. The very human, very fallible people around her.

And that's the kind of strength I love seeing in characters. Real strength. Human strength. I can relate to that.

Why do you love contemporary? Or whatever genre it is that's your favorite -- what makes you adore it so much? Also: I've been doing a few of these more personal reading posts lately; what do you think of them?

FIVE: Books That Had A Personal Impact

For me, reading is an intensely personal thing. There's not much better than finding a book, character, or even just a passage, that I can truly relate to and that seems to speak to me. I love books that help me understand people better, understand myself better, or, best of all, give me that aha moment. You might know what I mean: Aha, I'm not the only one! That feeling.

Here are five books I read this year that became incredibly personal to me, in no particular order. Warning: Mild spoilers below.

1. I Now Pronounce You Someone Else

Erin McCahan

I mentioned in my review of this book how much I hated Bronwen's mother. But there's more to the story than that. I hated the way her mother treated her, the way she didn't seem to like her and sometimes didn't even seem to love her. As if Bronwen was this annoyance that she had to deal with and she should just make herself as unobtrusive as possible. I hated that she made Bronwen feel as if her needs, wants, and opinions didn't matter. The way she totally neglected her. I'm lucky enough to have an amazing family -- parents that I get along well with and who are completely supportive and a sister who is my best friend. I have always known that what I want and what I think is important to my parents and have never been made to feel unloved or neglected. But I know that not everyone has that. And I know that sometimes what's even more painful than outright abuse is the more insidious neglect of a son or daughter. It's possible to be neglected even with a roof over your head and food in your stomach. It's possible to be unloved in a seemingly perfect and normal family. And it sucks. This book reminded me so much of someone I know who did grow up in that kind of family and, yes, it helped me understand them a little better.

2. Some Girls Are

Courtney Summers

I know I've already talked about this book so much on the blog, but it warrants another mention. In the last two years I lost two people who I considered my best friends, including one whom I had been best friends with for a decade. And by "lost" I don't mean that they died. I mean that we were friends and then we weren't at all. Both of the friendships had been bad for me and by the time they ended I realized that. They were extremely toxic friendships that made me stressed, sick, feel bad about myself, and second-guess a lot of the things I said or did around these friends. I didn't (thank goodness) go through the type of bullying that happens in this book, but I still had friends who didn't understand me, who thought they knew how I should act and what I should say and what I should wear. Friends who lied to me. Who gave backhanded compliments. Who made me a very confused and messed up person. I'm not blaming them; I truly think that some people just don't work as friends, but no matter where the blame lands the fact is that they were very, very bad friendships and I saw that experience of toxicity reflected in Regina and Anna's friendship and it helped me realize - again and again - how important it is to get out of those types of relationships, whether they be romantic or platonic.

3. Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins

I don't know what it was about this book, but it really and truly blew me away. It was, in my mind, the perfect ending to the Hunger Games trilogy, but more than that it was just really, really amazing. It broke my brain. It gave me a reading hangover. It showed me how powerful a book can be. I don't know how to explain it except to say that it had been years since I had read something that - through sheer force of story - made me feel so much. It's so rare for a book to come along that I not only love and think is amazing, but that somehow seems to reaffirm the power of the written word and of story. And the fact that this happened in the genre I adore, the genre I want to write in (YA, not dystopian) is even more amazing to me because it proved that YA matters and made me proud to be a part of the YA community. I know it sounds crazy, but Mockingjay made me a little crazy.

4. The History of Love

Nicole Krauss

I'm going to be honest here and tell you that it's rare for me to find a mainstream novel that I love as much as most YA. A lot of the mainstream or literary books I read leave me with a 'meh' feeing. This book is the exception. As the title says, it's about love. About all kinds of love, from romantic to friendship, to family. Everything. And there's something about this book that's so incredibly beautiful, so raw and honest and amazing. As if a little piece of my heart fell into place when I read this book; it's that good. The writing is beautiful, the stories are great, but it's the raw, raw emotion that really got me. It made me so happy and so sad both at the same time. It's one of those books, one of those reading experiences, that there really are no words for.

5. The Unwritten Rule

Elizabeth Scott

This book touched on a couple of issues for me, but the main one was, unsurprisingly, the friendship between Sarah and Brianna. Though the situation with me and one of my friends was completely different, this book helped to explain everything I'd been trying to explain to myself about what went wrong in that friendship. In a lot of books someone is right and someone is wrong and friendships either last forever or fall apart and the girls end up enemies. They don't always show that sometimes the friendship needs to end but it doesn't mean that your feelings for that person end. It doesn't mean you don't still care about them and want the best for them. There's a lot of confusion that goes along with ill-fated close friendships, and this book did an excellent job of laying that confusion bare for the reader.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Fall for Anything, by Courtney Summers

The Summer I Turned Pretty, by Jenny Han

FIVE: Favorite Lines of 2010

The official FIVE for today is covers, but I was a little unsure of how to tackle that one so instead I'm going with something I absolutely love from books: great lines. Here are five favorite quotes from books I've read (or reread!) this year, in no particular order.

Envy, by Anna Godberson

She thought of Henry and Diana on the stoop, gazing at each other with the confusion and sadness of two puppies who have just stumbled into their first puddle and not yet come to understand what has happened to them.

Girls in Pants, by Ann Brashares

They were growing up. It was inevitable. But please, God, she couldn't do it if it was a trade-in. She couldn't strike the bargain if growing up meant drowning out the friendship that stood at the very center of her life, the thing that gave her strength and balance.

serafina67, by Susie Day

If I was a movie then that is what would happen. But things don't get cured and mended and tidied up like that. I am not cured and mended and tidied up either.

The Treasure Map of Boys, by E. Lockhart

I know they're not getting divorced or anything, but when your parents argue it makes the whole universe seem like it's tipping, like everything could change if they got mad enough at each other, like the world isn't a safe place.

And of course, that's true, isn't it? The world is not a safe place.

Envy, by Anna Godberson

[Diana] went to her window and looked at all the twinkling windows and above them all the faint stars. How many false impressions lived out there? she wondered. How many hearts broken through carelessness and failures of nerve?

No One Like Me

First! A note warning my mother not to read this post. Because it will probably make her sad. JUST SAYIN.

In reading a recent post by Cindy Pon, in honor of PoC (Persons of Color) Literature Days, something she said hit me despite the fact that I am definitely not what you would consider a person of color. She said,

As much as I loved books and stories [as a child], I don't recall ever reading one that had an Asian person in it. No one like me.

No one like me, that's the phrase that stuck with me, that jarred something loose inside of me. Because although I can't relate to the racial aspect of it, that feeling of no one like me is one that I know and remember all too well. It comes back to me - this feeling - every now and again. It's a recurring thought I have, a feeling like there's something missing from Children's and YA lit. Something I've been looking for as long as I can remember, something that I still haven't found.

And I don't know how to say it without sounding morbid, but I want books about sick children. I know. It's terrible. But growing up I was one of those kids; the ones you knew in school who had some something wrong with them but you didn't know quite what and you didn't really want to ask, they seemed okay enough. I had one of those diseases that I never knew how to explain. Heart problem I said, and people didn't understand and I didn't now how to bridge that gap. I didn't know how to explain what was wrong, even to my closest friends. It was just something. Some part of me that wasn't obvious and mostly you could ignore it except I never could. Even now, a mostly-healthy young adult, I'm acutely aware of things I shouldn't be and I don't go very long without thinking of it. It's a part of me so deeply ingrained that separating Jordyn from Sick-Jordyn is impossible. I have no idea who I would be if I didn't have that heart defect, if I hadn't gone through what I have because of it. I would be a different person. It's crazy to think that a health problem, something that I never knew how to explain, that bankrupt my parents, that almost killed me, could be such a part of my identity, but it is. And though I never wanted it to be, it always has been.


As a kid, just like now, I read books trying to find something to relate to within their pages. Looking for characters or situations that were like my life. And I found a lot. I found characters who were smart, were quiet, loved their family, fought with their mothers, etc etc etc. I found ones who lived in small towns, who liked a boy who liked someone else, who prayed every day, who had a younger sister. All of those characters were there. What I didn't find was the girl who got too worn out running around at recess, who sometimes went four hours away for a doctor's visit, who sometimes wasn't sure - in the most simple of terms - what the future held for her. Life or death? 


When I did, on rare occasions, find those books, those characters - guess what? More often than not the sickness they had was cancer. And it killed them. Newbery Syndrome aplenty for some of the few characters I related to most. It never seemed to happen that the kid actually got to live. What this means is that none of those books talked about what happens after all the doctors and the surgeries and what ifs? Though they often managed to be incredibly touching, they always ended the same way. The sick kid never got to be the lucky kid.

But guess what?

Sometimes you live. And years go by and you have different worries and things change and you're so glad to think about normal things, the way you never could as a kid. Except.
Except that it changes you. You don't get to be like everybody else, and I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say that. When most of the kids in my sixth-grade class were getting braces, I was having heart surgery. I was in a back brace. I am never going to get to redo those years, live them over again as a normal kid, and that makes me a little bit different than everyone else because so many of the things everyone else did were things I couldn't even think about.

I found a lot of my life, of myself, reflected back to me in books I read growing up. But there were other parts, bigger and more important pieces of the puzzle, that not even fiction knew what to say about. I kept looking for that books about someone like me, and I never found it. Now, as a young adult, I continue to look and wish for that book, despite how different my life is and how sometimes the constant doctor visits and surgeries feel a lifetime away, and other times they feel too close for comfort. I don't know why I keep looking. Maybe because Jordyn and Sick-Jordyn are the same person, maybe because I'd like to have someone else - even a fictional someone else - understand what it's like. For me now, too aware of everything my heart does and incredibly, incredibly lucky and overwhelmed at everything I've done and am doing and, with luck, will still get to do. At this life that I never quite imagined as a child. And also for me back then, so sick and so scared and so alone.

So I ask you: what experiences or pieces of yourself do you look for in literature? Or do you continue to look for despite never/rarely finding?

Top 10: Books You Have to Read at Least Once

I tried to limit this to strictly-fiction books, but there was one memoir I couldn't help but include. If you haven't read these books, definitely add them to your list. Most of them are pretty short and a lot of them are children's books, so it's not as if reading them is a huge time commitment. In my opinion, these really are the books that everyone should read.

1. The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

One of the best books I have ever ever ever ever read. It's survived so long and been translated into so many languages and is at the top of this list for a reason. The story here, the childlike wonder and possibility contained in this small book is truly amazing, and to say I love it would be an understatement.

2. To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee

Honestly if I had to choose a book as the definitive Great American Novel, this would be it. Anyone (like, ahem, me) who wasn't forced to read this in ninth grade english is really missing out if they don't pick up a copy on their own. Boo Radley is one of the most iconic literary characters and Atticus Finch is one of lit's greatest heroes, not to mention the writing, story, and significance of the title is absolutely stunning.

3. Tuesdays With Morrie

Mitch Albom

The one memoir I couldn't leave off of the list, this book is truly one of the greats. No matter how inevitable the events, it will make you cry, and it will make you look at things in a different light. Mitch Albom is a great writer in any of his books, but this one is a special sort of masterpiece just because of what it is: life's greatest lessons, from a dying man.

4. Once There Were Giants

Martin Waddell and Penny Dale

Okay, so apparently this book is out-of-print. Never mind, you can maybe (hopefully?) find it at a library at least. In any case, it's one of those great-but-sad children's picture books, in the vein of LOVE YOU FOREVER, only much more happy and I'm pretty sure this book came first. Anyway, it's seriously great.

5. Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

This is another book that, if you weren't assigned it in school, you missed out. It's about censorship, thought, society, family, war... all that good stuff, all wrapped up in a tidy little compelling story. It's not the most uplifting, it's not the most depressing, but it is very thought-provoking and really just a great and long-lasting book that everyone should read. (Or, if you're really not going to read it, at least see the movie, which isn't half bad.)

6. Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Dr. Suess

Dr. Suess really needs no explanation.

7. The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster

There are a few books on here -- and this is one of them -- that I fear won't affect you quite the same way if you read them as an adult. This is one of the greatest works of and about imagination that I've read. It's a sort-of fairytale beginning with a cardboard tollbooth, and really is just a flat-out wonderful children's book and I hope you all read it when you were ten years old.

8. Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson

OHMYGOODNESS I LOVE THIS BOOK. There are two chapters here titled "The Fastest Kid in the Fifth Grade," and the second one had me crying my eyes out. If by chance you don't know what this incredible book is centered around, I won't ruin it for you, but if you do know you've probably read the book and know just how great and amazing it is. Though the movie is incredibly good, it still doesn't do justice to the actual book. Which, no matter how old you are, you should read if you haven't yet. Katherine Paterson is a master and this book is her best masterpiece.

9. The Rules of Survival

Nancy Werlin

As you might be able to tell from my blog, there is a LOT of really incredible and amazing YA out there. But as for a book that everyone should read, it's this one that takes the cake. This book -- a story of child abuse and survival -- is heartbreaking, shattering, and insanely intense. It's also, because of the narrator's perspective and the way the story is framed as letters to his younger sister, absolutely beautiful and amazing. 

10. [Insert Your Choice Here]

[Splendid and Talented Author]

Everyone, I think, should have at least one book that they love. And not just that they love, but that they can't help rereading time and time again, that seems to change with every reading. A book that almost feels alive for how much it grows with you, changes you, and seems just as incredible (if not more) on the fifth reading as it did on the first. I have a few of these books, but right at the top of the list is the incredible epic that is GONE WITH THE WIND.

I'm only a little crazy, and this is my SPEAK.

this is a post in response, and in support of laurie halse anderson's censorship post. (You don't need to read the first post to understand this one, but it's definizzie helpful.

There is a certain passage in Samantha Schutz's I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAZY that felt as if she had pulled my own deepest fears and then, with the skill of a writer, told me exactly what to do to combat them.

I had (have) panic attacks. The first time I thought I was going to die. After that they got easier; I knew what was happening. But still they came, even after I read DON'T PANIC and learned about the fight-or-flight emergency response. I could (can) control my breathing, my reactions, but I couldn't (can't) always stop them from happening.

I'm at school and something, some tiny little thing, sets off the anxiety inside of me. It's a dark room, the only light coming from the art projector, and I'm in the first row but it doesn't matter. I have to get out of there. I'm spinning, dizzy, so much dizzier than I normally get, and my eyesight is fuzzy. My heart -- I feel it beating in my chest -- is fine. It's the rest of me that's out of whack.

Another time I'm at home. At the grocery store. Doing schoolwork. Watching television. And they keep coming, over and over, all the time and then, later, less frequently. Finally much less frequently. They get smaller, less terrifying. But then a big one will come and, all over again, knock me over.

I'm dying. I'm going crazy. Oh gosh, what is wrong with me?

And then I read this book, about a girl dealing with anxiety disorder, and so many things started to feel like they might be okay. Like maybe I wasn't completely insane, maybe this wouldn't last forever, maybe I wasn't the only crazy person. This book? The particular passage in this book?

It didn't save my life, but it saved me. It showed me (because in truth, I had forgotten) that I was braver, stronger than the anxiety. That my life was bigger than the panicked thoughts in my head, the blurred vision and shaking hands. It reminded me, again and again, that I had been through worse and I would get through this and I would not give up, because whatever insanity I was feeling inside would not win.

Books do that. They help us when we forget how to help ourselves. For me, it was I DON'T WANT TO BE CRAZY. For others it might be SPEAK, by Laurie Halse Anderson, or TWENTY BOY SUMMER, by Sarah Ockler, or any one of hundreds of brilliant, insightful books with a thimble full of questionable material in them. I don't think that every book is an incredible beacon of light and hope, and I know if I had children there would be some books I might not want them to read. But I also know that, if I were a parent, I would want to be the one making those decisions, and I wouldn't want a book that might be the exact right thing for my child to be pulled from library shelves because it mentions sex, or drugs, or cussing. Looking at what's wrong in a book, or what you don't agree with, is an incredibly narrow viewpoint. Look at the whole book. Look at what it is, what it says, not just what you're afraid it might be saying.

Top 10: Contemporary Middle Grade Novels

A while back I listed my Top 10 contemporary YA novels, which in addition to being incredibly fun and giving me the chance to think about a few of my all-time favorites, got me thinking about other favorites. Specifically the books I had to leave off of that list because they're middle grade. There are some truly incredible middle grade novels, and here's my list. Of course, I had to leave out series, which just gives me an excuse to make more lists. (So, yes, you can look forward to more Top 10s from me.)

1. ALL ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE, by Lynne Rae Perkins. As far as sad and heartbreaking reality, this book has it covered. From the very first chapter, when the main character tells us that Maureen used to be her best friend, this story tugs at the heartstrings. One of the most difficult topics to find good, honest stories about is the breakdown of a friendship, and Perkins tackles it perfectly here. There's no great tragedy or harrowing, emotional scene, yet this book has touched my heart like no other and every time I read it I have the same wonderful, complex reaction all over again.
2. BLOOMABILITY, by Sharon Creech. My goodness. If you haven't read Sharon Creech, you haven't really read anything. This book is simple and complex all at once, with vivid characters, and incredible setting, and a story that's impossible to describe. It's about possibility, it's about the here and now, it's about being completely and absolutely alive. And it's wonderful.
3. FLIPPED, by Wendelin Van Draanan. This is the sweetest, simplest, most beautifully-crafted young love story. From the very beginning, when Julianne crashes in with her muddy shoes and socks, disrupting Bryce's perfect life, to the ending that feels so perfect after so many years, this is one story that's so great and so sweet I just wanted to hug the book after I finished it. This was, quite honestly, maybe the only novel me and my best friend could agree on when I was younger, and for that reason alone it was special.
4. HEARTBEAT, by Sharon Creech. There's so much about Creech's writing that's so perfect. This novel-in-verse paints incredibly vivid pictures of the people and things populating the main character's life. Her sick grandfather, pregnant mother, and the best friend who's confusing when he never used to be. The book takes one brief glimpse into the life of a twelve-year-old girl and, like no book I've seen before, makes it profound and confusing and beautiful and relatable.
5. THE VIEW FROM SATURDAY, by E.L. Konigsburg. This was one of those books that didn't look like much. The cover had a strange color, the story wasn't altogether clear, the four character's timelines came together and apart and sometimes confused me. But then everything came together in these surreal, that-would-never-happen moments that were so acutely real it didn't matter how unbelievable they were. I learned about calligraphy, tea, sea turtles, and the answers we give when we don't know the real answer.
6. CRISS CROSS, by Lynne Rae Perkins. There's no way to describe this book. There's really not. Incredible comes pretty close though.
7. THE EGYPT GAME, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. We learned about ancient Egypt in middle school and I was obsessed. The mummies! The pyramids! Everything was so weird and strange and out of the norm. And then I read this book. And there were these kids who were also obsessed with Egypt, and suddenly it was like the coolest thing ever. The best story, the most awesome setting. Just everything about this book had me hooked.
8. THE GIRLS, by Amy Goldman Koss. Mean girls for pre teens, this book wove a story I felt I knew intimately. The cold shoulder, the knowing you did something wrong even though you don't know what, the blank, seeing-through-you stares of girls who you used to think were your friends. Like ALL ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE, this was a story I knew inside and out, and to see it written there on the page was nothing short of amazing.
9. THE MOFFATS, by Eleanor Estes. To be honest, I read this ages ago. I found it in the dusty old stack of the library I practically grew up inside of. I don't remember the story, but I remember the family and I remember feeling like it was the most incredible, enchanting thing ever. I read the book, returned it, and I've never seen a copy of it since, but it remains one of the best books I've ever read.
10. SNAP!, by Alison McGhee. This book made me cry so much. It's such a... well, such a story. It's the type of book that, for me, there's just no words for. It's like the ink, the pages themselves, are made of sadness. And yet, for all that, there's a feeling at the end like I was better for having read it. Like it was hopeful, if get-me-the-tissues sad.

So, what books are on your list? Have you read any of mine? (If you do decide to make your own list -- and I hope you do! -- link me to it so I can check it out.)

The Right Words: Goodbye, my friend.

This week's quote is from THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU, by Heather Duffy-Stone.

It's like she's mad at me for everything that's wrong in the world. It's like she's mad at me for breathing. And there's nothing I can say. I'm trying so hard to keep our friendship. What happened to it?

Oh, gosh. This one about makes me want to cry. Because I had a long, horrible, tear-inducing friendship breakup. And I was mad at her for so much and she was mad at me for so much. And sometimes it was like nothing she could say was right and nothing I could do was right because we'd already gone so far, broken so much between us. And I was trying so hard to keep our friendship, but in the end I just couldn't. It was too much.

~~I'd love for you to participate in this feature! And if you do talk about a quote you're particularly fond of, leave your link below so I can check out your blog!

Also, my YA Lit Chat buddy, Kelsey Sutton, is having a giveaway on her blog. SO YOU SHOULD DEFINIZZIE CHECK THAT OUT.

The Right Words: I've been there, too.

My quote-book is something of a journal. I write down the lines that I especially love and in reading through the book it's easy to see what was on my mind at certain points in my life. Though some of the quotes are humorous and some are beautiful, the majority of them form a picture of who I am and who I was at certain points in my life.

With this in mind I'm starting a new feature on this blog: The Right Words. I'll take a quote that I love and share it with you guys, along with some backstory or the reasons behind choosing it. This feature is a bit more personal, but will also show some really great books.

The first quote is from SEA, by Heidi R. Kling, and it's one of the most recent additions to my quote-book.

Spider had that easy way about him that people who have never had anything bad happen to them seem to possess.

It's horrible to say this, but sometimes, with some things, there's no way to understand what it feels like unless you've been there. I don't know what you've gone through and you don't know what I've gone through. Empathy and imagination goes a long way in rectifying this, but there are still certain events in life that can only be understood by people who have been through the same (or very similar) things. I know for a fact that there are some people in my life who I could never discuss certain things with because I'll get that blank stare and try as they might, they don't get it. By the same token, I have friends (one in particular) who I can say one little thing to and they know what I mean immediately. Because they've been there too.

~~I'd love for you to participate in this feature with me. If you do a The Right Words post, please leave a comment linking me to it so I can check out your blog!