Mini-review: Eleanor & Park

This is a book I read several months ago, but due to a conversation with a colleague I realized I had never reviewed it and that I probably should.  

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Title:  Eleanor & Park

Author:  Rainbow Rowell

Published:  2012

Year I read it:  2014

One sentence summary:  This 1980's, YA, Romance isn't what you'd expect; it's about red-headed, socially awkward, physically and emotionally impoverished Eleanor and half-American, half-Korean, cool-kid Park - two different "outsiders" who discover that true love means becoming "insiders" of something beautiful.

Interesting fact:  Though it won critical acclaim and awards like Amazon's Teen Book of the Year, Amazon's Top Ten Book of the Year, and Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Book of the Year, the novel was censored in some American high schools. NPR addressed this in their pop-culture blog, saying, ""What's worrying about treating Eleanor & Park as a nasty book, or a dirty book, or an immoral book, is that it transforms talking about how to survive ugliness into something that's no different from ugliness itself. It makes the act of telling a story about rising above misery a miserable thing."

Three reasons to read it:

• This book feels like John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska) and Stephen Chbosky (Perks of Being a Wallflower) had a sister and she wrote a high-school romance set in 1980's Nebraska.  I say this because she captures the interiority of adolescence beautifully, aware of the dark, but not overwhelmed by it.  Alternating between Eleanor & Park as narrators, she carefully and graciously uncovers the different ways we suffer pain - be it poverty, racism, abuse, or bullying.  It is a profound book. 
• I read this book in one sitting.  It's that compelling.
• I hadn't read a true Romance for a while - a book about falling in love.  Romance was usually incidental to the fantasy adventure or contemporary novel I was reading.  But Rowell does an incredibly job recounting what it's like to fall in love for the first time.  She takes a few pages just to convey the sensation of what it's like to first hold someone's hand.  It may sound sappy, but it is a breathtaking story of what love is like.

One reason you maybe shouldn't:

• The story does get dark.  There is mature language in an abusive context, which could definitely be a trigger to some.

Great quotes:

Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.

Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.

“I want everyone to meet you. You're my favorite person of all time.” 

I don't like you, Park," she said, sounding for a second like she actually meant it. "I..." - her voice nearly disappeared - "think I live for you."  He closed his eyes and pressed his head back into his pillow.  "I don't think I even breathe when we're not together," she whispered. "Which means, when I see you on Monday morning, it's been like sixty hours since I've taken a breath. That's probably why I'm so crabby, and why I snap at you. All I do when we're apart is think about you, and all I do when we're together is panic. Because every second feels so important. And because I'm so out of control, I can't help myself. I'm not even mine anymore, I'm yours, and what if you decide that you don't want me? How could you want me like I want you?" He was quiet. He wanted everything she'd just said to be the last thing he heard. He wanted to fall asleep with 'I want you' in his ears. 

“Nothing before you counts," he said. "And I can't even imagine an after." 

Reading 2013

Well, if you're interested in the past, here are lists from 2011 and 2012.

The List:

1	Return of the King - JRR Tolkien*
2	The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
3	Great House - Nicole Krauss
4	Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni  (nf)
5	The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
6	Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
7	Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald*
8	Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins*
9	Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins*
10	Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
11	Ender's Shadow - Orson Scott Card
12	London War Notes - Mollie Panter-Downes  (nf)
13	Speaker for the Dead -Orson Scott Card
14	Shadow of the Hegemon - Orson Scott Card
15	Shadow Puppets -Orson Scott Card
16	Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
17	The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
18	A body in the Library - Agatha Christie
19	Stardust - Neil Gaiman
20	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling
21	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
22	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
23	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -JK Rowling
24	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
25	Lady in Waiting - Jackie Kendall  (nf)
26	The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
27	Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince - JK Rowling
28	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling

   29 The Crowd, the Critic, and the Muse - Michael Gungor  (nf)

* indicates a re-read
(nf) indicates non-fiction

General trends:


// I read longer, though fewer books.  I set a goal of 40 books in 2013.  Don't think I'd conjectured the average length of each books would be 435 pages.  You can see below for one of my spiffy graphs.  This shows trends in average number of pages per book and per month over the last 3 years:

// I loooove sci-fi and fantasy [obvi].  I started 2013 by finishing off my re-visit to Middle Earth and another quick trip to District 12, but this only set the stage for journeys into the Enderverse, the Four Corners, Gaiman's Fairyland, and the wizarding world of Harry Potter.  I fully recognize I'm a late (very late) comer to Harry Potter, so I won't even bother "recommending" it, Neil Gaiman speaks for himself, but, a few words on the other two series.

I wrote a formal review of Ender's Game as part of my 31 days project, but here and here are thoughts I shared while reading the 1st book.  I can't recommend Ender's Game highly enough, but I'd also suggest it's parallel novel Ender's Shadow and direct sequel Speaker for the Dead (an anecdote of which I shared here).  I've forayed further into Shadow series, which is a fascinating political and psychological saga.  I'm hoping to finish the Ender Quartet, which I hear is highly philosophical.  Card's fiction is a thought-provoking delight.

As for the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, I did my best to give it a proper review here.  Name of the Wind, Rothfuss's incredible novel debut gripped me from it's earliest pages and once he sets up the frame narrative - there's no going back.  Both it and its sequel, Wise Man's Fear, are innovative fantasy while maintaining some of the familiar qualities I love most about series like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (though intended for a more mature audience than either of those series).  I finished these two in August and yet still find myself wondering about the characters as if they were lost friends.  I eagerly await the 3rd and final installment!

All that said, I have enjoyed indulging more in my love for sci-fi, fantasy, and the wonderful spots where they blend.  It's saddening that these are so often relegated to niche literature in academia... but that's a thought for another post.  I have loved these literary journeys and I'm looking forward to a few more in 2014.

// I only just realized looking back at this list that I didn't read a single pre-1900's book this year.  Gatsby, published in 1925, is the earliest novel on the list.

My teenage self would be appalled.  My 23 year old self is rather thrilled.

// Another theme that emerged in my reading habits was learning more about WWII.  Not facts.  Stories.  It was the focus of London War Notes and The Book Thief, but it crept up in plenty of other books too.  London War Notes (passage here) was a heart-breaking and beautiful bi-weekly column written for the New Yorker by an American living in London throughout the war.  Interestingly, The Book Thief, though fictional, was a harrowing tale of "the other side" - how many Germans experienced the war.  As a side note, I think it would be very interesting to read The Book Thief in conjunction with The History of Love.  But these contrasting perspectives make it obvious how unnecessary and tragic the war was - not for one side or the other, but for humanity. 


As for 2014, I'm excited to announce that I'll be taking part of Jon Acuff's "Empty Shelf Project."  I've already cleared the decks and have some books in the wings - so look forward to filling it up! 

I thoroughly enjoyed my literary wanderings in 2013.  More than finding new friends, I found new parts of myself.  These stories lent me courage where I was running low, joy in some dark moments, and love - so much love - for other people.  I couldn't really ask for much more.

Have you read any of these?  What were some of the trends or highlights for your reading in 2013?

31 Days of Books: The Fault in our Stars

Introduction:  I've recently been made aware of the "31 Days" project that takes place across the blogosphere each October (you can read more about it here).  I've decided to do highly condensed reviews of some of the books I've most enjoyed.  The questions you see below are the questions I'll answer for each book.

[via]

I hope you enjoy "31 Days of Books."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Title:  The Fault in our Stars

Author:  John Green

Published:  2012

Year I read it:  2013

One sentence summary:  Green examines the more tender, less reverent side of life from the perspective of Hazel Grace, a 17 year old suffering from cancer.

Three reasons to read it:  

• It's a reminder at how fleeting and fragile life is and to spend it generously.
• Green excels at navigating romance, loss, and humor, with a running philosophical commentary.
• Catharsis is necessary; pain demands to be felt.

(Bonus reason: film adaptation coming 2014)

One reason you maybe shouldn't:

• It could be a dangerous trigger (or at least a bit too much to handle) for some people.

Great quotes:

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal” 

“It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” 

"You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you."

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

Wake up calls...

It's always good to get reminders that make you pause and "chin up." 

I thought I'd share a few videos, articles, etc... that inspire me.  It's easy as a young adult to see potential and think it should equal results.  But physics teaches us that to convert potential energy into kinetic energy (heat, light, motion), it requires a force applied or work done.

An article that Kati wrote today catalyzed this post.  You should go read it.  Here's a great bit:  "The world doesn't need any more amateur world changers - it needs disciplined young adults, with fires that have burned so long that they aren't flames on wicks, but coals, steady, hot and hard to blow out."  SO good!


Some of you may have seen the TED Talk called "30 is not the new 20."  Incredible!  Meg Jay is a psychologist who specializes in 20-somethings.  Here she articulates the physiological and neurological changes that make the decades of the 20's one of the most pivotal of your life.  I.e. Make the most of it!

The late David Foster Wallace (author, professor) delivered a commencement address to Kenyon College in 2005 entitled "This is Water."  The attached video is a portion of the speech set to some great videography.  He argues beautifully that the true value of education is awareness and empathy.

This year, author John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, half of the Vlog-Brothers) delivered the commencement address for Butler University.  Read or watch the speech for some  My favorite bit:  "Try not to worry so much about what you are going to do with your life.  You are already doing what you are going to do with your life."  He talks also about the fact that his job description didn't even exist when he graduated college - so don't give up hope quite yet :)

Some of these writer or speakers may seem to contradict one another.  But contradiction is also part of navigating the 20's (and life in general).  Hope you get a chance to be inspired by one of these.

What has encouraged you lately?

Gifts in print

So spoiled by my friends yesterday.  I received the gifts that show how well they know me.  Things I wouldn't have even thought to ask for - but was so happy to receive!!

A few items:

This amaaaazing Sherlock Typography poster from Cami.  You guys... I kinda almost cried.

Obviously I'm a huge fan of Sherlock... but I'm also a huge fan of quotes and typography. So this is an instant winner! 

Honestly, unikoideas has some fabulous stuff on etsy!  But did Cami get it off Etsy?  No.  She actually ran into the guy when we were in Portland a few weeks ago.  How great is that!

And the Nerd-quote from John Green?  Thank you Melissa!!  I shared this quote with her a few weeks back and yesterday I opened her (2nd) gift and unwrapped a framed print.

This is me.

Completely me.

And then, as just part of her present, I received a particular vogue issue I'd been eyeing from Kayla.

We're all just a bit psyched for Gatsby coming out and the Grace Coddington/Mario Testino shoot with Carey Mulligan is ravishing!!  As a bonus, there's also a shoot with Tom Hiddleston (woot-woot!).

I received several other lovely presents accompanied by beautiful, sincere cards.  These were just a few of the tangible gifts.  A few of which have found their way onto my wall :)

Also, for a sneak preview of the costumes, check out the adorable Kayla JANE-ine ;)

So...guess who was planning to start 10-on-10 this month? And guess who forgot to charge her phone the night before? Ugggh :P

So instead of a proper 10-on-10, you get some hi-lights / random moments of the week :)

[Breaking fast with this lovely lady :]

[I read a book on Monday... a whole book on Monday. One of the most delightful  parts was an ongoing debate on the "breakfastization" of eggs - particularly scrambled.  Why is it that you can put bacon on a sandwich and it gets treated with equality; but put scrambled eggs on there - it's a breakfast sandwich?  Above is a sound counter point.
Jury's still out for this reader.]

[One of the absolute hi-lights of my week :D ]

[Oscar Noms!!!!]

[Kept warm this particularly chilly week by a gorgeous scarf hand-made by best friend :]

[I have this wonderful gift gracing my cubicle]

[Friday was "Cleaning Day" at work.  Bob cleaned out his top drawer.  When I came in and saw this, he goes, "Just say it - I'm weird!" haha... well, Bob...]

["Crawley Sister" conversations re: said hi-light of the week]

[Barry Manilow on Ice - first live figure skating experience ever...and I loooved it!  My favorite skaters were this husband/wife team from Russia - incredible!! Barry was  pretty great too.  A very fun time.]

[Thanks to Christine and my Mom for a fabulous Friday evening!]