Apologies for not posting this Friday! I was out sick, but wanted to get this up before the weekend was over...This weekend's book is a preview copy of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. It has been getting a ton of good buzz and even has a blurb from one of my favorite teen authors: "This sexy, smart, tender romance thrums with punk rock and true love. Readers will swoon for Eleanor & Park" - Gayle Forman (If I Stay, One Day)
Bono met his wife in high school , Park says. So did Jerry Lee Lewis , Eleanor answers. I'm not kidding , he says. You should be , she says, we're 16 . What about Romeo and Juliet?Shallow, confused, then dead. I love you , Park says. Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers. I'm not kidding, he says. You should be. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.
I've heard lots of people say they love this book, but other people say it is a teen book written for adults. So whoever gets this book...I want to hear back about what you think of it! There are 21 people waiting for this one right now, but you can skip the list if Random Number Generator picks your comment. For a chance to be included in the drawing, tell me about the last time a book made you feel like you wanted to swoon. If it has never happened, tell me what you think it would take.
Winner will be selected with Random Number Generator on Thursday March 28, 2013. Be sure to leave a name with your entry, and check back to see if you won. To win you must be a teen (6th-12th grade, or 12-18) who uses a Sno-Isle Library.
6 comments:
For a book to "make you swoon", the number one thing is that whatever relationship is being portrayed in the story NEEDS to feel real. Real as in that it seems like it's a possibility for others and yourself, that the characters' actions and personality can apply to yourself and/or real people.
<>
Of course, one or the other character shouldn't be someone that's rude or seriously hurts character number two; because, obviously, that's not going to make you swoon. However, the characters shouldn't be picture-perfect either, because again, it's not feeling real. It's not that perfect relationships in books give false expectations of what a relationship should be, but that it's not going to make you feel as much as a legitimate one will; everyone has problems and in a relationship you will work them out together.
<>
There have been a fair amount of books that made me feel really good feelings; when I look at my GoodReads account of what I've recently read, one of the best books was If I Told You So by Timothy Woodward; and related to your blog entry that it's classified as both a teen book and an adult book; it's pretty in between!
Andrew...you should totally read Just One Day by Gayle Forman. I love all her books, but this one struck me as particularly swoon-worth, but lots of great stuff about figuring out who you are and journeying into adulthood.
Ahhh, so many great authours have left me swooning over their romantic ways. In comes in so many forms and sometimes I even swoon over a relationship that is dysfunctional and irrational because it is all the more intresting and complex. I have to say that it's all those romantic guys in novels who seem so intune with how a girl thinks and what their partner is looking for that really makes a relationship intresting. I would have to say that the Tiger's Curse series kept me swooning throughout and was very intresting with the love triangle scenario. I also loved the relationship in Before I Fall and the sequel, it was heartwrenching and thoughtfully done.
The relationship definitely has to feel realistic and the character has to have something that makes me relate to them in some way, making me feel like I'm them and feeling their feelings. The author should have written in a way that elicits emotion from me whether its pity or yearning. It has to be able to give me hope about the future and teaches a lesson and isn't just shallow and cliche. The books that were able to do this were "Just One Day", "Dear John", "Between the Lines", and some of the Maximum Ride series.
Random # Generator picked 1, which means I'll be sending this copy of Eleanor & Park to Andrew at the Mill Creek Library! Be sure to review it for us :)
Post a Comment