Abducted by Boy Meets Boy

Well, I have to say I have had the best time during my...

LEVITHAN LOVE-A-THON!!!

This is one of the best ideas I have had in a long time and I can't wait to make it a tradition every year! 2013 is going to be even better! It is going to be so hard not reading any new David Levithan books through out the next year, but it will be so worth it!

The winner of my Levithan Love-a-thon was Jane A.! She has selected for me to send her The Lover's Dictionary! Congratulations Jane! I hope you love it as much as I do!

My friend Andrea over at the Overstuffed Bookcase also read a David Levithan novel, Boy Meets Boy, this month and wrote about it as part of the Levithan Love-a-thon! Thanks Andrea! Next year, I'm really hoping that I can get some more bloggers to take part in the celebration, and then maybe (just maybe) I'll get so many people to join in that word will get back to Mr. Levithan himself and then maybe I'll email him, and he'll respond, and he'll let me interview him for my blog, and then we'll become friends, and then I'll get added to the list of friends that he sends stories to as Valentine's Day gifts, and that will mean that I'll have a preview of all his future novels!!!

Awe, a girl can only dream!

I started out the month with my favorite Levithan novel, The Lover's Dictionary. Then I got to read three new books; Are We There Yet?, Marly's Ghost, and Every You Every Me. And now I get to finish up the month by re-reading my 2nd favorite Levithan novel, Boy Meets Boy!

There is a popular form of literature that is taking the world by storm right now, and that is Fantasy Dystopian novels. For example series like the Uglies by Scott Westerfield, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Matched by Ally Condy, or XVI by Julia Karr. I've read a lot of these, not all but quite a few, but the only novel that I have read that you can remove the "fantasy" element and feel that it is just a simple Dystopian novel is when I read 1984 by George Orwell. Now, there may not be as many Utopian novels as there are Dystopias, but Boy Meets Boy is a Utopia that shines!

I want to be clear about making this distinction, because just as novels like the Hunger Games are not reality and were never written for the purpose of portraying a reality, the same can be said of Boy Meets Boy. It is not reality and, as far as I know, it was not written to portray a reality. 

This is a town that paints a picture of acceptance in its truest form. Not just the main characters, but the entire town. When the main character, Paul, is describing the town he lives in, one of my favorite parts is when he says; "We used to have a troop of Boy Scouts, but when the Boy Scouts decided gays had no place in their ranks, our Scouts decided the organization had no place in our town; they changed their name [to Joy Scouts] and continued on." 

So aside from the fact that homosexuals are accepted in this community without any question, what makes this book a Utopia? 

Okay, well, this is a fictional town, located near NYC. The cheerleading team is made up of biker chicks that form their pyramids while riding on Harleys. The quarterback of the football team also serves as the reigning homecoming queen named Infinite Darlene. Now, Infinite Darlene doesn't have it easy though. The other drag queens in the school think she is too buff. The high school has the richest janitorial staff in the country due to the fact that the janitors also have excellent day-trading skills on the stock market. The janitors only remain at the high school because of their "compulsion to clean schools".

Levithan also paints the portrait of the ideal New England town. They have an ice cream parlor called "I Scream Parlor" that plays horror films while you wait for your dessert. The cemetery keeps locked boxes next to each grave site. Inside each box is a book where the family and friends can continue to leave messages and updates for their dearly departed. Spiff's Videorama organizes their collection of VHS's (Spiff refuses to update) by his own personal preference. The town's music store is the run the same way. It is owned by a couple that have been together for 20 years, yet they have opposite tastes in music. So they divided the store in two so they can each sell the music they like. 

We are no closer to gaining a reality like that of this fictional town then we are the realities in The Hunger Games or even the corrupt government of 1984. Levithan knows this, and therefore along with this perfect town he includes characters that have realities all their own. 

One of Paul's best friends is Tony. Tony lives in the next town over. When Paul is informing us of his friendship with Tony and the conversation they had the first time they met, he says; "He told me about his school, which was not like my school, and his parents, who were not like my parents...He had [had] told his parents he was going on a church retreat. Then he'd hopped on a train to visit the open doors of the open city."

Tony's parents are religious and worried about the life Tony will have as a gay adolescent. Tony is the perfect contrast to Paul, because he is brave and strong. He is a constant source of "calm" for Paul, in spite of his difficulties at home. And what I love most about this story line, is that even though Tony's parents are reluctant to accept him for who he is, Tony consistently accepts his parents for who they are. He trusts that they do love him in their own way, and you get the sense that he doesn't blame them for anything. 

And, of course, along with showing us these two realities, Levithan also provides us with the gushy romance between Paul and his new found love, Noah. They have the type of relationship that makes me smile and curl into my blanket and wish I had a boyfriend of my very own!

I love that their relationship starts with a prayer when Pual says; "I don't ask for much. I swear. But I would really love Noah to be everything I hope he'll be. Please let him be someone I can groove with, and who wants to groove with me." And then later Paul declares: "I know he's not going to be amazing all the time, but there's more amazingness in him than in anyone else I've known. He makes me want to be amazing, too."
I love this book. I'm glad I got to re-read it. I'm glad I got to buy a signed copy from The Book People when I was down in Austen. And, I'm glad I got to give my old copy to Andrea, and that she read it, and liked it too! 

Boy Meets Boy is a sweet and caring story that makes for a great fast read! I'll be giving it an abduction rating of...

because I for one can't wait to pack my trunks and move out there. My first stop will be the I Scream Parlor!

Abducted by the Last Chance to Enter my Levithan Love-a-thon GIVEAWAY!!!

Sorry I didn't get around to posting yesterday, but I did want to remind everyone real quick that we are within the last 24 hours to enter my Levithan Love-a-thon!

The winner will be selected at 12:00pm CST tomorrow (February 29th), so you have until then to enter!

The winner will get to choose a David Levithan novel, out of the five I reviewed this month, for their prize.

They will be able to choose from:

The Lover's Dictionary

Are We There Yet?

Marly's Ghost

Every You, Every Me

Boy Meets Boy

JUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER!!!

Abducted by Kate's questions...

Well, people are running around, tagging each other like CRAZY!!! And since I just answered Andrea's questions earlier this week, I really wasn't going to do another one...but I can't say no to a friend!

So Kate, this one's for you! (find these questions at midnightbookgirl.com)

1. What song would you pick for the soundtrack of the book you're currently reading?

 Man, that is hard because the book I'm reading RIGHT now is Knocked Out By My Nunga-nungas and those girls are British so I have no idea what they are listening to. But I could see Georgia pulling an Emma Stone and busting out some dance moves via "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield.

2. What drink do you order most at Starbucks?

 

Java Chip Frappuccino even though I know that it is incredibly horribly terribly bad for me!

3. What literary character would you kiss, which one would you marry and which one would you push off a cliff?

 

 First off, I would have to marry Neville Longbottom. So that leaves Jamie Fraser to have a hot and steamy make out session with...and to push off a cliff...hmm...well, the only character that is coming to mind is Lissa from Shut Out, but I think pushing her off a cliff would be a little extreme. Maybe I would just trip her with a stick. 

4. Forget Zombies vs. Unicorns.  Are you Team Robots or Team Mermaid?

I don't know, although I love Ariel, mermaids kind of freak out and they are very limited to the water if we are talking true mermaid and not a mermaid who has been transformed and suddenly has feet. So, I'm going to have to go with Team Robots.

5.  What's the last movie you saw in the theater?

Beauty and the Beast 3D

6.  If they were to make a movie out of your life, who would you want play your love interest?

Kate may be the only one not shocked by this answer but I'm going to go ahead and say Jesse Tyler Ferguson. I love me some Gingers!  Although I love guys like Elijah Wood and Matthew Lewis up on the big screen, in my every day life I'm more attracted to guys like JTF.

7.  If you could kidnap an author, which one would it be and what book would you have them write and/or re-write?

God, that is a hard one....I don't know! My instinct is to go with one of my favorite authors just so I could meet them, but then they would hate me! OH OH OH I GOT IT!!!  I would kidnap Stephanie Meyers and have her rewrite the ending to Breaking Dawn to something a little bit more satisfying! That ending was such a cop out Stephanie, and you know it!!!

8. How many books are in your TBR pile?

If we are only talking about books I bought prior to Jan. 1st, the answer is 88. But since then I have probably bought maybe 5 or 8 more books.

9. What's the worst job you've ever had?

I worked at two different daycares back in 2005 and they were both awful! One because of how the place was run and the other because of how they treated their staff.

10.  I want to paint an accent wall in my bedroom Peacock Blue, what color would you recommend for the other 3 walls? :)

Peacock blue is such a strong color that I would paint the other walls Swiss Chocolate White, which is the shade of white I just used on my wall at home! But I would accent with some throw pillows and whatnots that were deep purples and greens.

11.  What is your favorite board game?

My favorite games are Scattagories and Apples to Apples, but they don't involve a board, so when it comes to actual "board" games I would have to go with either the classic; Clue, or Andrea has this great game called Imagine If that I love to play! You have to play with your friends and you write everyones name down on the board, or you can use fictional characters or celebrities, and then you ask questions like "If Katniss was a shoe, what kind of shoe would she be?" or "If Kate was a piece of athletic equipment, what would she be?" In which case the answer to that question, no matter who it is in reference to, is always jock strap!  

And saddly no, I am not attending BEA this year! Maybe next year....maybe...

Abducted by TGIF 2.24.12

This week I have decided to answer the question from TGIF hosted by Ginger at GReads books!

Required Reading: Which book from your school days 

do you remember reading & enjoying? Is there a book published now 

that you'd like to see in today's curriculum for kids?

I do have an answer for this question, but there is a catch...

My favorite book that I remember being required to read in high school was...

The catch is, I don't really remember caring about it when I read it all those years ago. I re-read it, oh man, it must have been three or four years ago now, and I LOVED it! That is when it became one of my favorite books, I only wish I had appreciated it when I first read it.

***OH, I just remembered, when I was a senior in high school we had to read the first chapter of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, and I loved it so much I did go out and buy the book and devoured it!***

Now, as far as what I think should be required reading, I'm going to say pretty much anything by John Green or David Levithan.

They are both such amazingly talented writers, plus all of there books involve a messages of accepting others but also accepting yourself for who you are. But if I had to pick just one, I would be hopelessly optimistic and pick...

Boy Meets Boy is about all forms of acceptance. And with all the dangers to teens today with bullying and teen suicide, I think it could be an important read for them. However, I know that the day a book called "Boy Meets Boy" EVER being included in our schools curriculum is a looooooooooong way off.

Abducted by Andrea's Questions!

One of my best friends, Andrea over at the Overstuffed Bookcase, asked some random book questions on her blog on Monday. So now I wanted to write a real quick post answering her questions! 

So, let's get started...

1. Have you always been a huge reader or is it something that happened recently?

I have always loved reading and writing, but I was never as committed to it as I have been recently. 

2. Can you pinpoint one book that solidified your love for reading?

I'm always embarrassed to admit this, but when I was younger I became obsessed with the Lurlene McDaniel books. She wrote all the series about young kids that were dying these tragic deaths in very romantic ways. I was a very emotional kid so I devoured these books! Of course now, I almost refuse to reread them because I don't want to be forced to realize how pathetic I really was. I will be reading Prey by Lurlene McDaniel soon, but that book has nothing do with kids dying of cancer or anything, it is about a teacher sleeping with her student... so Yay!

3. Do you prefer series or stand alone books?

Stand alones! Definitely! I will read series but I try not to read them until all of them are out because I am not a patient person and I don't like waiting! 

4. Do you write in your books and/or dog-ear the pages or do you like to keep your books looking brand new?

I LOVE writing and underlining in my books! I love for my books to actually look like they have been read! I will not, EVER, dog-ear pages though! I know that sounds weird, but I just can't do it, it feels wrong to me! 

5. What fictional world would you love to live in?

Well, I do love the idea of Narnia, but I'm not crazy! I need technology! I need plumbing! So, I'm going with the world of Harry Potter! Not only do they use all kinds of lovely magic at Hogwarts, but when they go into the muggle world they have electricity!

6. What book are you most looking forward to reading this year?

I don't know... I am excited for the next in the Curse Workers series by Holly Black. 

7. Do you have to read to the end of a chapter or can you set the book down at any point?

Okay, you guys are about to discover how anal I really am! I am obsessed with how many pages are in books, I don't know why, I just am. So, sometimes, yes I do have to get to the end of a chapter before putting a book down, if we are just talking about putting it down to go to the bathroom or get something to drink. But when it comes to putting a book down for the rest of the day, I have to read until I am a certain number of pages from the end. For example if the book is 273 pages long, and I've just started it, then I will try to read either 23 pages that first day so that I have 250 pages left, or I'll read to page 73 so that I can go to bed knowing that I only have 200 pages left. For some reason I have to have those whole rounded numbers of pages left in a book. Crazy right? I know I know! Please don't judge me!

8. Describe what you are using as a bookmark in your current read.

I use whatever I have lying around. In one book I have a Hufflepuff book mark Kate sent me. In another I have a paint sample card from when I was trying to decide what color paint to paint my living room. In another I have the top half of a Chinese restaurant menu I got in the mail.

9. What book would you absolutely never want to be made into a movie or a TV show?

I don't think I have one. I usually get really excited about the prospect of my favorite books being turned into movies, even if they end up being terrible.

10. Do books easily make you cry or do you hardly ever shed a tear while reading?

I'm a cryer! Trust me it does not take much to get me bawling!

11. What book have you recommended the most?

I'm pretty sure that it would have to be The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. I love that book and I'm on a mission to have everyone I know read it! But I am trying to scale back on how hard I am pushing it because I don't want to cross a line. I'm not saying it is the best book ever written, I'm just saying that for the concept and the way it is written, that it is amazing! 

Abducted by Every You, Every Me

*** Don't forget to enter my giveaway of a David Levithan novel! Winner will be announced on February 29th so you have plenty of time to still sign up! Just click HERE!!! ***

My fourth selection for my Levithan Love-a-thon was I believe his most recent novel...

This book made for a very interesting read, but I'm telling you right now, it takes you to a dark dark place!

The story is basically these two guys, Evan and Jack, and this girl, Ariel. Now, Ariel is gone. We don't know where, why, or how. What we do know is that Evan was Ariel's best friend and Jack was her boyfriend, and that they are both not handling her absence very well. Then one day, on his way home, Evan starts to find pictures. He'll just be walking down the street and find a picture in an envelope waiting for him. And he knows they are for him, because one of them is actually of him and some are of Ariel. When Jack gets a picture as well, they have to come together to figure out who is doing this to them. Now, that may not sound too dark, but the story is all told through Evan's perspective and that kid is doing some serious grieving!

Here are some cool things about this book...

1. The title comes from a song of the same name by the British band Placebo. According to Levithan, Placebo's music "very much informed the writing of this book." The song, Every You Every Me was featured on the soundtrack to Cruel Intentions, and here is the video that was made for that movie...

(or at least I hope you can click on the video, at the time of writing this my internet isn't quite cooperating)

2. For this project, Levithan, worked with photographer Jonathan Farmer. It started with the photo that is on the cover of the novel when Levithan saw it on Farmer's refrigerator. Farmer would send Levithan a single photo at a time and then Levithan would write the next section of the book. In the author's note, Levithan wrote; "I never had any idea what photo would come next. And Jonathan had no idea what I was writing. He didn't read a single word until I finished the first draft." That almost seems impossible when you read it because the photos fit so perfectly into the story.

And 3. A good majority of the story is crossed out! Sometimes it is every other line or just certain words, and then sometimes it can be entire paragraphs. In the beginning you get the feeling that the things that are crossed out are whispers. Whispers that represent the difference between what we want/should/need to say and what we actually do say. And also what we want to remember verses the truth. But then, towards the end, those crossed out lines start to feel as if Evan is screaming at himself because he is trying so hard not to think the things he is thinking. Sometimes the lines that are crossed out are lines that other people are saying to him, and that did confuse me at first. But I think it is showing that Evan is choosing not to hear certain things. Also, sometimes the randomness of the narrator's thoughts and the down spiral he is on can be confusing, but it all comes together as being very genuine. 

Every You Every Me is the 9th David Levithan book that I have read and it has definitely left an impact on me. It isn't filled with the abundance of optimism and hope that I like to think of as Levithan's signature style. However, the book is honest and thought provoking and will keep you guessing all the way up until the very end. 

Originally I gave this book a three star rating on goodreads but now I'm going to have to raise it! I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it and I keep trying to work it into conversations as much as I can! So, I'm going to give Every You Every me an abduction rating of...

Abducted by ... a Sex God

***Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway of a David Levithan Novel! Not many people have signed up so your chances are good! Click HERE to enter and the winner will be announced on February 29th! ***

I actually read Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging way back in August of last year, and I mentioned in that review that I was going to space out reading the books, but I had not intended to space them out this much!

I LOVED this book so much!!! I remember liking the first book, thinking it was light and fun, but this book had me in tears! Georgia is crazy! She is just sooooo crazy!!! I couldn't believe half of the things she was saying and doing. I read most of this book at work (if you are a regular reeder of mine you may have noticed that I don't actually do a lot of "working" at work) and I think I might have started to get on the nerves of my co-worker because I could not stop laughing!

It is hard to discuss a book that is a sequel without giving away certain things that happen in the first book.

For example, by the fact that I am reviewing a sequel you now know that Georgia LIVES!!!

I'm kidding! I mean yes, Georgia does live, but at no point is her life truly in jeopardy throughout the first novel.  I was just using that as an example of the types of things that may be spoiled for you by reading a review of a sequel. One thing that you do have to realize though is that this is a series that follows the life of a 14 year old girl through 10 diaries! So of course there are going to be fights, hookups, breakups, and potential cliff hangers. The series starts off Georgia obsessing over Robbie, but as I have been lead to believe, by the end of the series she is going to have three strapping young lads to choose from! I do promise to do my best to not give anything away, but if you would rather stop reading right now, I will try not to be offended.

One of the things that I loved about this book, was the fact that Georgia has such a great group of girlfriends. In this book there is the threat that she will have to move away and her friends really do what they can to support her and make sure she knows that they will miss her. Of course, Georgia (like any average 14 year old) can be a little self-centered sometimes and therefore doesn't always appreciate her friends, especially Jas. I loved Jas, I thought she was a great friend to Georgia. I just wish that Georgia would cut her a little slack from time to time.

And then you have the boys! In this book, Georgia is still pining away for Robbie the Sex God, but we do get our first glimpse (albeit a short one) of Dave the Laugh. This is the part where I did kind of struggle with the book a bit. I mean, in her diary all Georgia ever talks about is what an "arse" she makes of herself every time she is around Robbie. So, I'm sorry, but it did kind of leave me wondering; what does he see in her?

Dave the Laugh on the other hand, I really wanted to like him in this book, but I felt like he came off way too strong! I was rolling my eyes at a lot of the stuff he did. But I'm still holding out on my judgment for him until we get to know him better.

My only real complaint for the series so far is the mom! What is wrong with this woman??? Throughout the first novel we see her flirting with some random handy man guy and in this one she is drooling over some George Clooney look-a-like doctor! Which I mean, Okay, I get it, if he really does look like George Clooney then what did I expect her to do? But with her husband out of town, and how close she came to cheating on him in the first book, and how desperately she was throwing herself at the George Clooney doctor in this one, it just had me a little worried. Is this something that I need to expect in every book that makes up this series? In each of the sequels to come is there another guy around for the mother to fawn all over? Because if so, her and I are going to have issues! It already bothers me that Georgia is as disrespectful as she is to her father, I don't want to be seeing it in the mother as well.

In the end, however, humor wins out over everything! And because this book really had my sides splitting from laughter, I just had to give it an abduction rating of...