Book it

This morning on the train ride to work, I finished the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  It's a super quick read but I really enjoyed it, in part due to all of the references to bands and books I love like The Smiths and The Great Gatsby.  The book was originally released in 1999 and while I sometimes feel like I'm going on 60, I was actually still in high school way back then so it really brought me back to that time.  I was always interested in reading the book but never got around to it, even though several years ago my cousin Michelle told me that I should because "it mentioned the Smiths and made we want to listen to them!"

A movie based on the book recently came out and I've been wanting to see it.   But not before reading the book since I didn't want anything to be spoiled. So I bought the novel on iBooks and downloaded it to my iPad. It's the 5th book I've purchased since I bought my iPad a couple of months ago.  It's the 5th book I've finished since purchasing my iPad.  It's the first time in a long time I've ever made it to a 5th book.  And I'm kind of proud of myself.

I used to read ALL the time. As a kid, I'd order books from Scholastic any time my teacher passed out orders forms to the class.  My parents were more than happy to give me the money for them because who doesn't want their kid to read books?  I was really into The Pizza Hut Book It program and thought it was the coolest thing ever that I could get a personal pan pizza just for reading something I would've read anyway.  I had a serious collection of R.L. Stein and Sweet Valley High taken up crazy amounts of space on the shelves in my room. I'd be elbows deep in boxes of books at garage sales and street fairs, scrounging around for anything that looked interesting.  I traded Anne Rice novels with my best friend. I actually enjoyed writing assignments on A Separate Peace and A Boy's Life in Mr. Patino's English class and going to the library during the summer to stock up on books for summer reading always felt ridiculously magical to me.

I worked in my high school library the four years I was a there and even considered going into Library Sciences for a while when i entered college. Though, I'm glad now that I didn't because apparently it's a very competitive field now.  I'd buy books like crazy on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble and always had at least one non-school related book in my bag.

During my first year in New York, I set out to read a lot of the books that most people read in their high school or college English classes but that I was never assigned.  Books like In Cold Blood, 1984 and The Bell Jar.  I read biographies about Truman Capote and Marie Antoinette and re-read some favorites like The Stranger and The Picture of Dorian Gray.  I even found myself refusing to see a movie that was based on a book until I had actually read the book, like with Little Children and Notes on a Scandal. 

And then somewhere along the way, I just kind of stopped.  I started spending train rides listening to music on my iPod, most of which was new to me thanks to the music industry jobs I had.  And I started making friends and spending less time at home and more time out going to shows and bars and out to dinner and whatever.  Before I knew it, ages had passed since I'd read anything other than amNY.

At about the same time, I also stopped writing.  I suppose for the same reasons: I wasn't home much and didn't have a lot of time to.  But the weird thing is that when I tried to write, I couldn't.  I had things to say but didn't know how to put them.  I had completely forgotten that in order to write you have to read. 

A college professor once told my creative writing class that to write well, you HAVE to read.  And not just read things that people make you read and not just once in a while.  You have to read all the time and make a real effort to do so.  And I hadn't really made an effort in a long time.

And then one day a few months ago, my cousin asked me if I wanted to meet her at the Apple store in Grand Central.  She said that she wanted to look at iPads since she was thinking about getting one.  I told her that I'd only go if she didn't buy one.  I didn't want her to buy one cause it would make me ridiculously jealous.  She said she wouldn't. And then she bought one anyway.  And I was jealous.

Over the next few weeks, she rarely put the thing down. She either played games on it, watched something on Netflix or read the newest issue of People.  Seeing her with it all the time totally filled me with envy.  I really wanted one but I couldn't really justify the cost knowing that I already had a trinity of apple products (iPhone, iPod, MacBook). And then she told me that she had downloaded the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy because everyone at her job was reading them.  She HATES to read.  Seriously. Never in our entire lives have I ever seen her finish a book.  Yet she felt that she might actually be willing to read the 50 Shades of Grey books because they were conveniently located on her trusty iPad, available at any time. And then it occurred to me that maybe if I had an iPad (or some other tablet or e-reader), it would encourage me to get back into reading.  I researched various devices and asked friends for their opinions on what they would get.  The recommendations overwhelming swayed in Apple's direction. So I brought my lunch to work for a while and tried not to go out much and plunked down the money for an iPad 2 (super cost efficient).

I of course downloaded all of the obligatory, free novels that everyone should have on their e-reader of choice including Frankenstein, The Odyssey, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. (Yay for the Public Domain!) And then I purchased the following over the next several weeks and read them all:

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (recommended by Lauren)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (recommended by my co-worker Rebecca)

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (recommended by Curtis who was correct in saying that it's more terrifying than the movie)
Life After Death by Damien Echols (ended up enjoying it even more than I thought I wouldm which I didn't think was possible)

*and of course*
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (now I can finally discuss it with cousin Michelle)

I only just downloaded The Perks of Being a Wallflower from the iTunes iBook store last week and didn't expect to finish it so quickly.  So now I'm faced with choosing my next book sooner than I had anticipated.  I'm thinking maybe The Mists of Avalon which Robin recommended the last time we hung out.  Or maybe Gone Girl which was the last novel the book club at work read. Whatever I end up choosing, I'm looking forward to the next story I let into my life.  Even if its electronic, it still feels really fantastic to have a good book in your hands. And I'm happy to be reading again.

Nothing will happen to me

When we were at Barnes & Noble on Sunday (killing some time before seeing Mirrors) I bought the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian. It was so good that I've already finished reading it. The film version comes out tomorrow and stars the fantastically talented Toni Collette and the very suave Aaron Eckhart. While I haven't seen it, I hear that Summer Bishil, who plays 13 year old Jasira (the main character) does a phenomenal job. I read a profile of her in I think Paper magazine a while back and it made me really want to read the book.

Without giving too much away, Towelhead really made me think about how we see ourselves, how we see others and what makes people do the things they do. While Jasira could be considered a very lost little girl who often does things when she knows she shouldn't, you can't help but feel sorry for her. A lot of her actions are just reactions to things in her life that no child should have to deal with. And who says any of us wouldn't have done the same things at her age, especially if we were confused, scared or just lonely. While there are times where you just want to shake some sense in to her, at others you just want to give her a hug because you realize that's what she really needs. I think a lot of people will empathize with her.

The title Towelhead will surely shock some people as well. But I'm sure that is its intent. Racism is definitely a strong theme in the book, especially since it takes place in 1990 when the US is involved in the Gulf War. When Jasira's Irish mother sends her to Texas to live with her Lebanese father, she encounters racism from kids at school, the 10 year old boy she babysits next door, and even her own father, who, although he claims not to be a racist, does not want Jasira to hang out with Thomas, a black boy who she likes at school. Is he really only concerned that Jasira will have to face the same rough time he and her mother did when they were married? Or is it his own underlying prejudices?

I was only nine years old in 1990 and so I can't really recall the racial sentiments in the country at that time. But in the grand view of the history of the world, it wasn't that long ago. And it always saddens me that people, even 18 years ago, could hold such prejudices against others just because of their ethnic background. It still goes on today. But just maybe, this book will make people realize that racism is something that should be left in the past.

And while the sexual awakening of a young girl will surely make some people very uncomfortable, I think its important to show how necessary it is for young people, especially girls, to feel comfortable with their bodies and who they are. They should also feel comfortable enough to go to the adults in their life who they trust, respect, and look up to and have them give them honest and straight forward answers to the questions they have, without making them feel ashamed for asking them. Too many bad things can happen when there's a lack of communication, and I think that is shown quite well in the book.

Over the past few years, I've tried to read books before I see the movie. The book is better 99.9% of the time. But I have a good feeling like this movie will most certainly due justice to the book. I believe in Toni, Aaron and especially in Summer.