reading rainbow

poshdeluxe book club: how to max out yr library card

as mentioned previously on le blog, the austin public library has become my own personal crack den this summer. you guys, i’m like a whirling dervish of reading!!! which does not make sense cos reading requires you to sit still!!!! that is how crazy fiendish i have become!!!!! like i can’t even talk about it without using copious amounts of !!!!!!!

except ha ha i do that all of the time anyway.

let’s just say that, at this point, even levar burton would be a little afraid of me.

consquently, i have a TON of books to share with you guys, although i’ll spare you the ones that i really didn’t enjoy, cos a) i can’t use v. many !!! in bad reviews, except for the time i wrote about the “twilight” series and b) i have better things to do with my time, like READ MORE BOOKS.

and YES, there is actually a GROWN-UP BOOK on this list. be amazed, be amazed.

and so, without further ado, i call today’s meeting of the poshdeluxe club to order!! ordery order order!

some of you guys have probably read this book, cos as you can see by the pink sticker, it’s a national bestseller. and you know why? cos it has THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COVER I HAVE EVER SEEN.

seriously, major pants for that cover alone. note to publishers: i am a sucker for pie, also.

obvs i picked it up cos of the delectably melted ice cream (with sprinkles!), and i was happy to discover that what’s inside is actually just as good as a tasty sundae (high praise indeed!). basically, this book centers around three women: a mother (janice) and her two daughters, margaret (20something) and lizzie (teenager) as they deal with the sudden departure of paul, the husband/father. paul just made a shizzload of money in the stock market, and he’s decided to take it all and start a new life with janice’s best friend, beverly. obvs, he is a jackhole. janice immediately slides into a v. v. bad drug habit (this part of the book made me squirm almost as much as “requiem for a dream” minus the nightmarish ending), while margaret tries to deal with the mountains of debt she’s piled up as a consquence of trying to publish her own magazine out in LA. lizzie, poor thing, was already having problems with popularity in high school, esp. given the route she chose (here’s a hint: her name is on the boy’s bathroom wall).

i think what i loved most about this book is the believable and completely relatable perspectives offered by these three women. when you read about lizzie’s high school anguish, yr heart will whisper, “it gets better!” when you watch margaret slowly lose her idealism as everyone else around her succeeds, you’ll shake yr head and say, “gah, that was SO my 20s.” when you start to understand janice’s need for absolute control, you’ll probably make a mental note: “never, ever, EVER buy meth from the pool boy.”

janelle brown has written a funny, dark and absolutely compelling novel that will leave you emotionally exhausted… and triumphant. oh yeah, i totally pumped my fist in the air while reading SEVERAL TIMES.

ok, that’s enough with the grown-up stuff. let’s move on to the YA, shall we!

i read “perfect fifths” a little while ago, but i never got around to reviewing it, which is ridiculous because I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH. beginning with “sloppy firsts,” megan mccafferty created my favorite YA heroine of all time (no, seriously), jessica darling. JESSICA DARLING, I WANT TO WEAR A T-SHIRT WITH YR NAME ON IT. that’s how much i love you.

and, it just so happens that mccafferty ALSO created my possibly #1 YA crush of all time, marcus flutie. OH MARCUS FLUTIE YOU DRIVE ME TO DISTRACTION.

i wish i actually owned these books so i could force them onto anyone in my near vicinity. here’s why this series is perfect:

1) the dialogue is totally believable and made me laugh out loud, like, a lot.

2) the series spans from high school into jessica’s mid 20s, and the character development is pitch perfect. as i went through the books (at break neck speed), i felt like i truly got to know jessica, marcus and the other characters. like, i’ve had several moments where i’ve thought, “i need to text jessica about this!” and yes, i realize this is a sign of mental illness.

3) the third and fourth books were, honestly, hard to read. but i *liked* that, because while yr early 20s can be super fun and crazy, they can also be really hard and confusing and just, well, the suck.

4) did i mention that marcus flutie is like the hottest thing ever?

5) one of the characters, sara, uses quote fingers (and says “quote” and “unquote”) just like the girl in “say anything.” anytime sara graced a page, i laughed super hard.

anway, READ THESE BOOKS. AND THEN CALL ME so we can gush about jessica and marcus like the real people they are. i mean, in my head.

to quoth the great kathleen kelly, “read it. i *know* you’ll love it.”

+++++++++++++!!!!!

ok ok i’ll make these last two short so that other club members have time to give their own recs!!

john green is my second favorite male YA author (after frank portman), and i think this is my favorite book of his so far.

colin is a child prodigy who has just graduated from high school and realized that he may never actually make it to genius (i.e.  discovering something cool) status. he’s also just been dumped by katherine, known as k-19 cos he’s dated 18 other katherines. seriously. in an effort to shake off colin’s depression, his best friend hassan (LOVE!) takes him on a road trip, which leads them to a month-long detour in the town of gunshot, tennessee. lots of redneck adventures ensue, while colin works on creating a theorem that will predict the outcome of any and all romantic relationships.

yeah, this book is awesome. there’s crazy math (explained in the appendix!), lots of arabic (hassan is muslim, and he and colin pepper their convos with arabic slang), weird and fascinating footnotes (i went “whoah!” a lot) and a BOATLOAD of anagrams. plus, it’s just a really great coming of age story. huzzah!

ok, lastly, i’m finishing the third book in the uglies series:

i’m sorry to say that “the hunger games” has pretty much blown the pants off of all other books about distopias, ever. still, the uglies series is a fun read, and i love the premise: basically, it’s the future, and when you turn 16, you have an operation that turns you from an ugly (a normal person) into a pretty (a supermodel). since everyone looks alike, no one feels left out, and the world lives in harmony. ha ha, right. things go to pieces the minute tally youngblood, our young heroine, steps onto the scene and becomes involved with a revolution against the pretty surgeries (and, consequently, the government itself).

these books are WAY better written that twilight, but there’s definitely some emotional complexity missing, at least for me. the adventures are fun and a bit breathtaking, and the futuristic gizmos are totally sweet (hoverboards, anyone?!!), but some of the relationships develop either way too fast or in a stilted, unnatural fashion. there were definitely a few EYE ROLL moments for me, but overall, it’s an enjoyable series that giddily explores the topic of evolution and the value (both real and superficial) of our apperances.

whew! ok i’m done, i swear.

i know i took forever but please don’t leave the meeting without sharing!!! have mercy on a poor, cracked out addict!

what are you guys reading? gimme the good stuff!!!

LINKS

you guys, i need to start prepping my tear ducts NOW cos the film version of “the time traveler’s wife” is finally coming out and THE TRAILER ALONE JUST SLAYED ME.

dear pantsers in san francisco: please go to the new wayne thiebaud show and bring me back something pretty!!!!!

i tweeted this site last week but CUTEST BLOG IN THE WHOLE WORLD EVER: my milk toof!!!!!

in light of our recent discussion on the 2009 song of the summer, j. sent me this v. v. helpful quiz.

if you haven’t seen it yet, sarah haskins’ new video is, quite possibly, her best yet. the swanson broth bit made me laaaaugh.

have you guys heard of this new kids’ show, “destroy build destroy“? uh, this might possibly kick the pants out of “sesame street.”

worst anti-drug movie ever.

© 2009 Poshdeluxe.