Thursday, June 11, 2009

Books for...The Seaside!



Greetings faithful travelers of pages! I trust you are finding out, as I am, that adventures through books are the cheapest and best way to inject excitement into your (hopefully not) boring life.

Today’s books are like sun with sea and sand: frothy, fun, and easy to like. They are happy while still being interesting, and have enough conflict to keep you interested, while not enough to ruin your mood. Perfect with a big sun hat and a fruity umbrella drink, these bubbly books are best loved and loaned.

BOOKS TO READ…

…AT THE BEACH!

• THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER by Sarah Dessen: One of my favorite from the brilliant Dessen (her new book ALONG FOR THE RIDE comes out next week), this story features a protagonist you want to root for, a mom you’re glad you don’t have, a job you wish you did, and a boy you wish you could. What could be bad? ☺ It has more substance than you might think (or might want, really, for the beach), but it has so much innovation and heart. All of Dessen’s books are good: some of my other favorites are THIS LULLABY and KEEPING THE MOON.

• THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS by Anne Brashares: If you are one of the seven girls under the age of twenty-five who haven’t yet read this book, get on it! It is even better than the fun, bright movie based on it. Told from alternating perspectives of four best friends, this books takes readers from Greece to Maryland, from Mexico to South Carolina, and every predicament in between. This is one of the more eloquent and artistic books about teens I’ve read, featuring true and heartfelt portrayals of love, relationships, loss, betrayal, and all the rest of wide, wide spectrum of girls’ emotions. In this book they are about sixteen, but the entirely enjoyable rest of the series follows them through the end of college.

• AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green: This is the fun, funny, witty, and moving story of a wannabe prodigy, his broken heart, and his obese Muslim friend Hassan taking a road trip from Chicago and the adventures that ensue. The most underrated of Green’s novel (which are all, in a word, awesome), it features thousands of footnotes, twenty-seven Katherines, several meals at Hardy’s, many hilarious mishaps, one secret cave, and one trip to a tampon factory. This book can make you laugh out loud and make you cry, in a good way: it helps to reader look at the world around her in a new and different way.

• THE BERMUDEZ TRIANGLE by Maureen Johnson: This story follows three friends through a summer of jobs, summer school, boys, and many changes. If you’ve read Maureen Johnson’s other books from my lists, you might expect this book to be fun, witty, humorous, and enjoyable, and it is all those things. But this book has an edge and a moving twist that you might not expect (unless you are my friend Chelsea, who predicts everything).

• SOMETHING BORROWED by Emily Giffin: True to its bubble-gum-pink cover, this bubbly books is a fun ride of back-handed compliments, backstabbing friends, and really, really wanting something you really, really shouldn’t. When Rachel gets really drunk and sleeps with her best friend’s fiancĂ©, what can she do? Especially when she really loves the guy, and really sort of hates her friend? I love the main character, and I love the suave, savvy way in which the book is written. This book reads like the life I sometimes wish I had, has the friends I’m glad I don’t, and features a tough situation I hope I’m never in.

Happy sunbathing, readers! Thanks for your continued support! Next time:

BOOKS TO READ…

…AT A PROTEST!

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