The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

 From Goodreads.com
   According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and has to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

   I was required to read The Outsiders in seventh grade. For me, already a bookworm, it was no problem. At the time I mostly read R.L. Stine books and this was something completely different. My only problem was trying not to read ahead (which I failed at.) Since seventh grade I have read this countless times. I haven't tired of it and I don't think that I ever will. I have so many post-it notes in my copy it borders on ridiculous. Why?
   I don't know what made me fall so hard when I was 12 years old. Maybe it was Ponyboy's daydreamer thoughts, getting lost in books and sunsets, when the life he had wasn't quite everything he wished it would be. He's different from everyone around him, not quite fitting in.
   As I've gotten older The Outsiders has only sunk deeper into my soul. If you're looking for a love story, there isn't one here, at least not your typical romantic love story. This is a book about the love of family, about friendship.
   I recommend this book to everyone. Seriously, everyone. It may have been required reading for you in school as well, and if it was I urge you to read this again as an adult. If you've never read it, I don't think it's ever too late to fall in love with The Outsiders.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

From the Hardcover:
   The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fraternal twins Esthappen and Rahel fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family. Their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu, (who loves by night the man her children love by day), fled an abusive marriage to live with their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), and their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt).
  When Chacko's English ex-wife brings their daughter for a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever, beside their river...

"The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don't surprise you with the unforseen. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover's skin. You know how they end, yet you listen as though you don't. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won't. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again."

   The God of Small Things made its way around numerous book lists a few years ago and it sounded interesting. I got more than I thought I would from it. It is beautifully written, I fell in love with the sentences. The story took a little getting into, it jumps seamlessly in time. After I became used to the style I was able to concentrate on Rahel and the memories she was sharing. This book has politics, forbidden love, and family drama.
   I also learned a little about the caste system in India that I was somehow ignorant of before reading this book. I love a book that introduces me to new things.
   I'd recommend this book to someone who loves the feel of words, much like Winter's Tale, but this book is less of a time commitment at 321 pages compared to Winter's Tale's 768.

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

From the Hardcover:
Amy and Matthew didn't know each other, really. They weren't friends. Matthew remembered her, sure, but he remembered a lot of people from elementary school that he wasn't friends with now.
   Matthew never planned to tell Amy what he thought of her cheerful facade, but after he does, Amy realizes she needs someone like him in her life.
   As they begin to spend more time with each other, Amy learns that Matthew has his own secrets and she decides to try to help him in the same way he's helped her. And when what started out as a friendship turns into something neither of them expected, they realize that they tell each other everything-except the one thing that matters most.

"Let's don't wait forever for our lives to start. Let's begin them ourselves. Let's be fearless for once and say, we can do this."

I was browsing at the library when the font on this book spine caught my eye, then the title, not that I was looking for another book to add to my already borrowed collection. What the synopsis on the book doesn't tell you is that Amy has cerebral palsy and Matthew suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. Cue one great love story.
   In their junior year of high school Matthew tells Amy something he doesn't mean to, that she doesn't have any friends because she's constantly in the company of aides. Amy then has this idea to hire students to be her aides during her senior year. She specifically emails Matthew that summer to ask him to apply for one of the positions.
   I was perplexed that Amy only had four aides. She was supposed have one for each day, but there are only four. I kept wondering what happened to the fifth day of the week. Sarah is Monday, Sanjay is Tuesday, Chloe is either Wednesday or Thursday, and Matthew is Friday, after a while I gave up trying to find the lost day. I decided maybe there was something I missed about Amy only going to school four days a week (I really don't think I would have missed that though.)
   Aside from that slightly distracting issue, the book was good, an unconventional love story.  Goodreads.com described it as "The Fault in Our Stars meets...Eleanor & Park." I can see Eleanor & Park with a hint of Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Fault in Our Stars. That being said, the story is it's own. Say What You Will is definitely worth the read, I worried the whole time that it would break my heart and kept going at a quick pace to find out how it ended.

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

From the Hardcover edition:
SUTTER KEELY. HE'S the guy you want at your party. He'll get everyone dancing. He'll get everyone in your parents' pool. Okay, so he's not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college and will probably end up folding men's shirts for a living. But there are plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram's V.O., life's pretty fabuloso, actually.
   Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee's clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it's up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee's not like other girls, and before long he's in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else's life - or ruin it forever.

"Besides, it doesn't matter if it's real. It never does with dreams. They aren't anything anyway but lifesavers to cling to so you don't drown. Life is an ocean, and most everyone's hanging onto some kind of dream to keep afloat. Me, I'm just dog paddling on my own, but Aimee's lifesavers a beauty. I love it. Anyone would if they could see the way her face beams as she clutches that thing with all her strength.:"

Sutter Keely reminded me very strongly of Holden Caufield from The Catcher in the Rye, a book I had to force myself to finish. The Spectacular Now was easier for me to read, mainly because of Aimee. Aimee who even I loved through the eyes of Sutter. I felt immense sympathy for her as Sutter tries to boost her confidence while trying not to get attached. He is changing who she is without realizing it. She gains much neeeded confidence but looses the respect of her peers, and her grades start to slide. I kept hoping Sutter would realize the damage he, along with his Seagram's, was causing.
  This book was honest. Addiction is hard to end and this book shows that. If you're one of the many people who love The Catcher in the Rye this is the book for you!

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

From the dust jacket:
"Eleanor...Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park...He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
   Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds - smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try."

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

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but let's face it, certain cover art draws you in and entices you to read the teaser. A girl with frizzy, curly hair connected to a boy by music? Count me in. While reading Eleanor & Park I didn't think of much else. I felt so much sympathy for Eleanor, the oldest of 5 siblings, in a two bedroom house, with a controlling step-dad. And Park, with more privileges than he realizes. Park lets Eleanor sit by him on the bus by default her first day, no one else would scoot over, so begins their year of bus rides.
   This book brought back the feelings of first love. I adore how Park loves Eleanor, for herself, even though she doesn't seem to love herself. He tries to make her see her beauty especially when she can't. It was beautiful. This would be a fantastic book to take to the beach or on vacation. It's a simple story but it kept me enthralled until the end.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

From the book jacket:

"August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school-until now. He's about to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid, then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?"

"Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way."

 Wonder has an unforgettable cast of characters. It's told mostly from Auggie's viewpoint but other characters narrate too. I liked having the inside track to how Auggie was feeling. I also loved seeing how the other characters saw Auggie. I started this book while eating breakfast, good thing it was a Saturday, I didn't leave my seat until I finished. I felt every up and every down on this funny, sad, magnificent journey with Auggie. He burrowed into my soul very early into the story, and he's still here. This is a book I expect to stay with me, that will be read again and again. It was difficult to chose just one quote from this book. It is full of beautiful snippets of wisdom, that shouldn't need to be said, but unfortunately, they do need to be said, and so I leave you with just one more quote:

"Kinder than is necessary. Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed."

I think this book has something to offer everyone regardless of age. I believe it's meant for a younger audience but I never let that stop me.

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer

From the back of the book:
"What does it mean to be normal? This is the story of two odd children who grew up and fell in love, the way they fit and the way they fell apart, how he became an astronaut lost in space, and she became the perfect wife whose 'perfect' wasn't real.
      A debut of singular power and intelligence, Shine Shine Shine is an adventure between worlds, and a stunning novel of love, death, and what it means to be human."

"Sometimes it comes that that desperate state, when you have to cling to each other and be alone. When no one else can truly matter. She thought, Ours is one of the epic loves of our generation. Possibly of all time. Who cares if no one sees it, walking by? This story is a love song. Who cares if history won't remember?"

I've read this book twice and I love it. I'm not sure why it isn't more popular. I felt for the characters almost immediately. Told mostly from Sunny's viewpoint with the occasional snippet from Maxon in space, it did take a few chapters to get used to the writing but after that the story flowed well. It fills you in on the present, then jumps back to Sunny's birth. From there it's back in forth in time. As time progresses in the present I came to care more for Sunny and Maxon through their past.
     The story itself is captivating, add to it the ultimate lessons, a mother's love, being who you are vs. who you think you should be, friendship, and more, this book is magnificent.

You might like this book if you enjoyed The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky or Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

Shine Shine Shine on Amazon