Reading

In terms of prose, I have not grown much this year. I still read 6 1/2 hours every week and have a good time with my books. I have grown some in nonfiction texts. But the main area that I have grown in this year is in poetry. Although my writing of poetry is still very very very bad, I have gotten better at noticing the subtleties while reading it. Shakespeare has also gotten much easier throughout this year.

My Top-Ten List of Books (in no particular order) aka books that spoke to me in a meaningful way:

1. Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

2. Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler

3. The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia

4. Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies by Laura Stampler

5. Jesse's Girl by Miranda Kenneally

6. Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

7. Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana

8. The Romantics by Leah Konen

9. Optimists Die First by Susin Nielson

10.The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

First Piece of Evidence: Reading Response on Girl Against the Universe.

Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes hit me in the heart like someone slapped me. The basic premise of this book is that a girl blames herself for numerous accidents that happened in her past and thereby refuses to take part in any social events, fearing that something bad might happen. (Consider this a form of PTSD.)  She goes to a psychologist who gives her challenges to complete her goal. (This is referred to as "shrink homework" throughout the novel.)

Usually, I am not a realistic fiction reader, so I was quite skeptical of this at first. But as I read, I noticed things. I noticed how Stokes writes thoughts like speech. I noticed how she writes about one person in a vastly different way than she might write about another. Stokes doesn't write in the traditional way where the protagonist gets SO CLOSE only to have it all collapse in front of her. No, Stokes writes it so that the protagonist climbs so high the accident only makes her see more truth than ever before. 

No, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to think that everything is my fault, so I will not pretend that I can. I have never been to a psychologist, so I can't even pretend I know about that. I can only say that Paula Stokes can, and she uses it brilliantly. It is a story of overcoming pain without being a tear-jerker. I wish that I could simply say how great it is, but I cannot. I can only recommend this book to you, and hope that when you read it you get the same meaning out of it as me.

Second Piece of Evidence: Reading Response to Mirror in the Sky.

Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana cannot be done justice by any words other than its own. I know I said the same thing in a recent post about Girl Against the Universe, but it's very true. It's general premise is that there is a planet a long way away called Terra Nova which is a mirror planet to our own. Each of us is present on Terra Nova; however, when faced with a decision it is likely that we would have made a different decision on Terra Nova.

Khorana depicts the life of a teenage girl during an event such as this spectacularly well. She captures the idea of trying to balance this news while still maintaining a normal social life. She uses phrases that intensely magnify the significance of everything.

However, I thought the book was a calm novel until I got to chapter twenty-five. Before this, it was just little bits of news and how it affected her family. Khorana focuses mainly on Tara's small town. But in chapter 25, Khorana goes deep. She vividly depicts a scene in which a woman known to have a specific double on Terra Nova is burned alive by an angry mob. The imagery is so good that I have not yet been able to get this image out of my head.

Khorana is not capturing the science fiction aspects of Terra Nova. She is capturing the effects of something like Terra Nova on earth, and it is a refreshing perspective I have not seen anywhere else.