if The Smiths read Where She Went

Where She Went, Gayle Forman (Doubleday)
spoilerish!
three years earlier:

Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know - it's serious. Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know - it's really serious.

now:

Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package! Re-evaluate the songs. Double-pack with a photograph, extra track (and a tacky badge). A-list, playlist, "Please them, please them!" "Please them!" (sadly, THIS was your life). But you could have said no, if you'd wanted to. You could have said no, if you'd wanted to.


Stop me oh oh oh stop me, stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before. [thought I for a moment as I read, but then got into the swing of the story]

Fifteen minutes with you, well, I wouldn't say no. Oh, people said that you were virtually dead and they were so wrong.

Nothing’s changed, I still love you. Oh I still love you only slightly, only slightly less than I used to, my love.

Everybody's got to live their life, and god knows I've got to live mine.

Tried living in the real world, instead of a shell, but before I began ... I was bored before I even began.

Two icy-cold hands conducting the way, it's the Eskimo blood in my veins. Amid concrete and clay and general decay, nature must still find a way. So ignore all the codes of the day, let your juvenile influences sway. This way and that way, this way, that way.

Hand in glove, the sun shines out of our behinds. No, it's not like any other love, this one is different, because it's us.

Taking lyrics from: Girlfriend in a Coma, Hand in Glove, Paint A Vulgar Picture, Reel Around the Fountain, Shoplifters of the World, Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before, Stretch out and Wait, William, it was really Nothing

If you'd like a slightly more conventional reaction to this book, try this review. Or this one. Or this one. They say pretty much what I'd say.

wishin' and hopin'

this is a persnickety snark venture and i'm just a-ridin on its coattails, cuz i quite like this idea...

5 hopes for young adult literature in 2011

1. that australian books find international homes and set a good example for us

2. that young adult authors continue to break barriers and push the boundaries and strive to represent all young people and their hopesfearswonders without discrimination.


3. that markus zusak's new book does indeed get released (have you even written it, markus m'dear? see you at reading matters!)

4. that publishers no longer need to be so set on finding the next massive series (ie. the old angelvampiredystopianmoviedealbooktour) to make way for...


5. ...slow reads, beautiful writing, complex plots, intelligent observations and stand-alone books.



*photographs from when i "cleaned" the other day. a $2 suitcase is a good bookshelf.

a teapot hat

oh damn. you meant a hat LIKE a teapot. oops.

couldn't get the image out of my head. so i got it onto my head. thanks for this post, jo.