Tag: young adult

Sad.

All this joyful crying at the Olympics got me thinking: why not take a tearful look back at the last seven months to see just how many books have made me cry?  It’s only three so it won’t be too painful.

I should preface this by saying that I’m not a big crier while reading.  So 2012 has been a particularly productive year thus far.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.  Illustrations by Maira Kalman

Did this book make me cry out of sadness?  No.  Oh no. This book made me cry out of pure, unfiltered rage.  Is there anyone I hate more in this world than Ed Slaterton?  Probably not.

To counter the sadness and rage blackout, this Amazon interview with Handler and Kalman brings the LOLs.  I love how awkward the whole thing is with the interviewer and am especially tickled by their description of the “working process” that starts around 5:10.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Who doesn’t cry reading this book?  I mean, really.  The interesting thing about TFIOS is that it has a major Charlotte’s Web effect on me.  That means that I can be anywhere, doing anything, and reading the last line of the book will put tears in my eyes.  I was trying to pester our Summer Reading Club assistant into reading TFIOS and actually got damp peepers in front of her when I flipped to the back page.  And it convinced her to check out the book!  Note to librarians: teary eyes sell books.  And make you look like a crazypants.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Illustrations by Jim Kay.

Hoo boy, I have never, never cried so hard reading.  I literally had to put down the book, take off my glasses and put my head in my hands and sob.  That was followed by crying steadily for the last 40 pages.  It is such an exquisite, articulate, seemingly effortless portrayal of loss and self-doubt and fear.  Brilliant.

And you know, while we’re on this whole sad theme, let me also share the only book trailer to ever make me cry.  This is the trailer for Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? by Dan Bar-el with illustrations by Rae Maté.

WHAT IF THE CAT NEVER CAME BACK!?! Oh, it makes me so sad.

And just for good measure, the movie that has made me cry the most is a bit of a shocker so I’ll throw it in here too.  It’s completely ridiculous, but I bawled through most of District 9.  I was so, so, so concerned for that little alien baby!  Thank goodness for the internet, because someone has made a bad quality clip montage of the alien baby with “Dust In the Wind” in the background! YES!

Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day by David Levithan. Random House. On sale August 28, 2012. Reviewed from ALA ARC.

You wanna know what makes a quality young adult romance?  One that really sticks out from the pack and just kicks you right in the nuts of your heart?

INCONVENIENCE.

That’s right.  There is no romance more exciting to read than one that centres around really inconvenient love.  Figuring out how to love someone when you both have cancer? Inconvenient. Deciding whether or not you should return to consciousness post-auto accident for your boyfriend?  Super inconvenient.  Trying to love someone you thought was a girl but then turned out to be a boy? Definitely not on the list of the top ten most convenient things.

Of course, those three scenarios refer to some of my recent favorite lurve-themed YA books: John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, Gayle Forman’s If I Stay and Brian Katcher’s Almost Perfect. They are brilliant in different ways (and of course deal with many other themes beyond love), but all feature characters who must really, seriously give ‘er to earn what their heart desires.  I think this theme of inconvenient love is so powerful that it can even carry a the book in the absence of really terrible writing (see: Twilight).

But what does all this talk of inconvenience have to do with David Levithan’s new book, Every Day?  It is officially one of the most inconvenient cases of love I have ever had the pleasure of reading.  The book’s main character, simply called A, wakes up in the body of a different person every day.  The body might belong to a male or female, a straight, gay or bisexual person, a person of any race – the only consistency is that all the bodies belong to sixteen-year-old people.  This is all going along fine until A meets Rhiannon.  A falls in love with Rhiannon.  And then things get SUPER INCONVENIENT.  Because how can you love someone when you have a different body every day? How the heck can that possibly work?

It’s a conundrum and a half, and that is why Every Day is so addictive.  As readers, we want to find out how someone in such an impossibly difficult, inconvenient situation could make it work.  Because if some genderless being with no body can make it work in love, then certainly we all have a shot, right?

This novel is not only exceptional in its premise, but in the brilliant points it subtly makes about the fluidity and elusive nature of gender.  Is this the first YA romance featuring a protagonist with no assigned gender?  I think so.  And that is a really big deal.  When this book inevitably becomes a Hollywood blockbuster, I just hope that A remains genderless, and we don’t discover at the end that the character’s “true” form is actually Taylor Lautner. Or Selena Gomez.  Or the dog from The Artist.

And, like every David Levithan book, Every Day is dripping with descriptions of emotions and feelings that are normally impossible to put into words.  I swear that there is something on every page of his books that I want to have printed on a t-shirt so I can run out into the street and shout “This is exactly how I feel!  Don’t you ever feel like this too!?”

If the human heart had a spokesperson, if would be David Levithan.

No offense, Maya Angelou.

ALA: 7 Published Books, 7 ARCs and Some Susin Nielsen Love

In total, I brought home 14 books from ALA. Of those 14 books, 6 were published books I paid for, 1 was a free published book and 7 were ARCs.

I had heard a lot about people going wild in the exhibits, gunning for stuff like a scene out of Life As We Knew It. And there has been much buzz about that 22 minute ALA book haul video that’s floating around. Stacked has a very thorough post on the whole thing. I’ll admit to watching most of it and being overtaken with jealousy at the Gary D. Schmidt ARC.

It might just be me and my 700 square foot world, BUT WHERE DO PEOPLE PUT ALL OF THESE BOOKS? I have three very skinny, small Ikea bookcases to my name. One shelf is taken up entirely by The Series of Unfortunate Events. Another houses the complete works of Leonard Marcus. That leaves me with 2.75 teensy bookcases. Thus, I have to be extremely selective about the books I bring into my life.

Perhaps the best solution to all of the debates around people going crazy on the ALA exhibit floor is to simply ban exhibit entry to those who live somewhere with an affordable housing market. Us Vancouverites and New Yorkers would be very dainty and respectable because we barely have room to brush our teeth, let alone store an extra book or two. I kid, I kid.

For those interested, this is what I scooped up:

6 Published Books I Purchased

 

From L to R: Stay by Deb Caletti, I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, The Monster’s Monster and Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell, Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S.King, Amulet #1 by Kazu Kibuishi

Stay completely floored me in the sense that I was never able to sympathize with girls in relationships with scary dudes before reading this book. Jon Klassen is Canadian (!) and I Want My Hat Back has saved my butt zillions of occasions in storytimes with rowdy six-year-olds. Patrick McDonnell makes my heart warm. A.S. King makes complex things easy to understand. A signed Kazu Kibuishi will bring me tons o’ cred with nine-year-old male patrons for the foreseeable future.

 

1 Free Published Book

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

My pal Kay and I are apparently the only people in the world who have yet to read this book. Please don’t tell Mr. Schu. But it will get read!

6 ARCs

 

 

L to R in order of pub date: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead, Everyday by David Levithan, Amulet #5 Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi, Drama by Raina Telgemeier, In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz, Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

 

I think these were probably on most school and youth librarian’s lists to grab, so nothing terribly original here. But I want to tell you – especially you Yankees – about this, the seventh and most blessed ARC:

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen. Tundra Books. Pubs September 11, 2012

Susin Nielsen is the next big thing. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Bart brings Santa’s Little Helper in for show-and-tell and Milhouse proudly brags “I knew the dog before it came to class!” Not to liken Susin to a cartoon dog, but this captures how most Canadian librarians feel about Susin Nielsen. We are going to feel very smug and brag alot when she gets 200 person signing lines at future ALAs.

She is a mix between Tom Angleberger, Jack Gantos and Susan Juby with just a touch of a teenaged Dav Pilkey (she isn’t afraid of some potty language). She was a screenwriter for Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High (the original series pre-Drake). Degrassi taught every Canadian born between 1979-1984 about being a teenager. She is funny, smart and somehow has access to the brain of a Grade 7 boy. If you haven’t read Word Nerd or Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, you are missing out. My buddy Vikki has a great review of Clooney here.

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen is about a thirteen-year-old boy (named Henry K. Larsen, not surprisingly). Henry’s brother shoots a classmate before shooting himself. Tough stuff? Yes. Will Susin Nielsen somehow manage to infuse this terrible tragedy with enlightening-but-sensitive humour? If her track record is any indication, yes. I will be celebrating Canada Day this weekend lounging in Saskatchewan and reading this book (right after I wrap up a Quill & Quire review of another Canadian favourite’s new YA novel). I can’t wait.

A Creative Use For Paint Chips

One of the greatest joys I find in starting a new book is the task of selecting a new bookmark.  I have developed a rather strange habit of collecting various colours of paint chips that I can then match to book covers.  It’s kind of like accessorizing.  Behold (I have also included some super articulate reviews in the captions):

A lovely use for my sea foam green chip:

I loved this book.

Dark navy goes with a lot, but this was a particularly good match:

This book was weird. You won't want to eat KFC ever again after reading this.

I knew I was going out on a bit of limb picking this stormcloud lavender but it found a good home:

This book was creemazing (creepy/amazing). I still have to remind myself that Christian isn't real and I don't have to check my closets for him before going to bed.

The best thing about this hobby is that it gives you something to do if your significant other is putzing around at Home Depot or some other ghastly place.  There is also the added fun potential of seeing if the name of the colour on the paint chip corresponds at all with the plot of the book.  Martha Stewart paint chips are the worst for this as she has really boring names for colours like “Spanish Moss” or “Azurite” (all Martha chips are displayed here).  Benjamin Moore is usually a bit more expressive.

When YA characters grow up and you gotta shelve ’em somewhere

Super articulate post title, I know.

As you’re probably aware, two very popular young adult series are getting a major epilogue treatment.  Both the Wakefield twins and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants gals have returned/are returning as adults in new books – and I’ve really been struggling with where to shelve these ladies.  With the adult fiction?  The YA fiction?  The Gimmick Aisle? (we don’t have one of those at my library, but I wish we did).  After puzzling and puzzling until my puzzler was sore, I came up with two very different solutions.

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later

Shelved as Adult Fiction

Rationale

First let me tell you that this book is unforgivably bad.  I have seriously worked with eleven-year-old ESL children who have mastered grammar and syntax better than Ms. Pascal.  I generally don’t use this blog as a forum to pan books, but I’m still angry that I read this thing.  Today I even apologized to our Adult Services Librarian for spending $10 of her budget on this sentinel of hell.  But I digress.  Here are my reasons for putting it with the adult books.

  • We don’t have any Sweet Valley High books at my library.  This may change when the movie comes out, especially since Diablo Cody is keeping it in the eighties and teens may want to pick up the original books (though they would have to be the true originals without the new millennium updates that came out a few years ago).  But since we don’t currently have any of the SVH books, I don’t think it makes sense to stick Sweet Valley Confidential all alone in YA.  There’s no context.
  • I might be wrong, but I think the vast majority of people who want to read this book are my age: 25-35 year olds who are picking it up for the nostalgia factor.  At least two dozen people on Goodreads have mentioned this, and they ain’t spring chickens.  Disclaimer: I am at the BOTTOM of that 25-35 year old age range.  And I was born three weeks early, so that gives me an unfair disadvantage.
  • Perhaps the most obvious reason, this book was published by St. Martin’s Press – not a YA/children’s publisher.
  • I don’t want it stinking up the YA section. HA!  But seriously…

You’d think I’d do the same thing with the new Traveling Pants book, hey?  Nope.

Sisterhood Everlasting

Will be Shelved as Young Adult Fiction (I think)

Rationale

First I have to say that this book doesn’t come out until June and I purposely haven’t read any reviews.  I want to experience the book completely blind; I listened to all four books on audiobook last year, am sort of a fan, and would like to be surprised at what happens.

  • Unlike Sweet Valley High, there are teens still actively checking out the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series from my library.  There is a perfect little spot next to those in the YA section for the new book.
  • I don’t think there’s really been time for much Pants nostalgia to set in yet. The first Pants book only came out eight years ago.  SVH was around thirty years ago.   Therefore I’m not sure any adult over 22 years old would really recognize the characters in the adult section.

Of course, I won’t really know until I read the book.  I’ll be more than happy to re-class it if the themes are really adult, and/or if I think it can stand on its own legs in the adult section without the context of the other four books.

If anyone has any opinions (without providing any spoilers or even basic plot information for Sisterhood Everlasting) I’m all ears.  I would also like to take this opportunity to say that if, in 2025, there is a new adult book entitled Geronimo Stilton: Whiskers of Truth detailing his sexual betrayals and new “adult” life in New York City, I will write another post about my shelving decision.


Book Covers: Testicular Heart Cherries are to Girly YA as Silhouettes are to Evolution Kidlit

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that silhouetted book covers and evolution have been mad played out lately.  Behold, this image I constructed with Microsoft Word and a screenshot program (Photoshop is beyond me) that I posted a few months ago to illustrate what many others already know:

Sidenote: I am introducing Half Brother author Kenneth Oppel (along with some other very talented authors like Richard Newsome and Richard Scrimger) at the Vancouver International Writers Festival next month.  Lots of swooning to follow.

I snarikly tweeted some time ago that Lo Bosworth of The Hills has a book coming out that features some testicular-looking cherries on the front.  But it seems she’s not alone!  Alexandra Diaz’s Of All the Stupid Things also has the same testicular cherries, complete with matching heart stem!

Diaz’s cover was first, so Lo is officially getting sloppy seconds.  If I find a third cover like this (three cherries – very Vegas slot machine), methinks it will officially be a trend.

Neato 1953 “Jack-in-the-Book” (and other pictorial news from my vacation)

Who knew that being in love with a Minnesotan would bring such children’s literature bounty!?

I spent last week in Minneapolis with Dan’s (or, in internet speak, @danhooker’s) family.  We spent most of the time in the house thanks to a horrifying case of food poisoning.  While couple’s food poisoning led to many prostrate hours watching Deadliest Catch on TiVo, it also allowed for much unexpected fun that is actually relevant to this blog.

First things first.  Dan’s ma and pa were kind enough to let me ship my eBay win to them to save on shipping.  Behold, my much-anticipated Sweet Valley High board game (from a pet-free, smoke-free home, natch):

The best $17.99 USD I've ever spent!

We put it into action the first night (pre-food poisoning).

Dan (as Jessica) won. Hussy.

I was over the moon when I realized that Dan looks exactly like Winston Egbert!

Dan’s dad always finds me awesome stuff at Half Price Books when we visit and this trip was no exception.  Look – a first edition Hoot!

Even cooler, check out this self-proclaimed “Jack-in-the-Book,” Betty Plays Lady (Samuel Lowe Company, 1953):

I love pop-up/pop-out/toy books though I don’t know much about them.  Betty is especially cool because it is a kind of paper doll, pop-out hybrid that allows you to change Betty’s outfit each time you turn the page.  As you see, Betty starts off kind of smushed:

But once you unfold her legs and head, she’s ready to play some serious lady:

This outfit is one that I would actually wear:

A nod to the Dutch:

Betty finds some kinda trampy clothes in Grandma’s attic:

The fashion fun continues on the back cover:

I just love this book and anticipate the day when I will have to keep it on a high shelf to keep my own little ones from dismembering Betty.

While waiting for the food bacteria to leave my body, I also stumbled across a German version of Winnie-the-Pooh on one of the family’s many bookshelves.  Dan’s family is not German, making this find all the more delightful and random. Note: if you are lucky enough to find someone in this life who has parents that own a German version of Pooh, don’t let him/her out of your sight.  Whatta find.

This may be the most violent novel to ever have a baby blue cover. Love it!

Oh yes, I also read Mockingjay. I don’t have anything particularly enlightening to say and I’m not going to be a spoilin’ Susie  (if you’re looking for some stimulating yet spoiler-y discussion, you’ll find it here).  I have to say that I was kind of bored for the first 250 pages, but the last 130 pages were freakin’ awesome.  I was also happy with the ending.  But, as with the other books, I wanted more kissin’ (although I know Collins isn’t really the kissin’ type and that there is not much time for kissin’ whilst fighting for one’s life).  Bottom line: I’m glad I hung on to my Chapters gift certificate for months and spent it on Katniss and the gang.

And, finally, although this is not related to children’s literature, I am happy to report that I got to meet one of my childhood idols, Smokey the Bear.  We dragged our sick selves to the Minnesota State Fair (and lasted about an hour) but it was worth it to see/meet Smokey.  He is a bear of few words (and no shirt).

Childhood dreams do come true.

The Unfinishables (or, book trauma)

“If I open you, I will finish you.”

This is the creed I stick to whilst reading.  I am incapable of not finishing a book.  I can take a book out of the library, mind you, and not read it, but once I start it, it’s on.

Holy Toledo – there were four commas in that 22 word sentence.  That’s way too many.  I’m just going to leave them there as a kind of cautionary comma tale.

I believe the worst experience was in Grade 11 when we were all forced to read Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O Mitchell.  The classroom jokes included calling the book Who Has Seen the Plot and “Woooaaaahhh, Mitchell – your book is bad.”  I think I was the only one who finished the cursed thing.  I realize that hating this books makes me a bad Canadian, and an even worse Saskatchewanian, but I FINISHED IT.

Thinking back, there are only four books I haven’t been able to finish.  I’ll start with the least traumatizing and work my way up.  Give the pictures a clickaroo for more info on the books (especially Abadzis’ awesome Laika “micro-site”).

Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading by Lizzie Skurnick.  Avon: 2009.

This books is full of plucky, spunky, funny, articulate essays on everything from Harriet the Spy to Forever (yes, Skurnick’s definition of teen is kinda liberal).  My plan was to read one of the essays each night before bed.  That meant I would take at least a couple of months to finish the book, but it would be a fun lil’ pre-sleep routine.  Well, not so much.  Why?  The dang thing was chalk-full of spoilers!  While I had read a good chunk of the titles featured in the book, there were many still in my “To Read” shelf on goodreads.  So, I had no choice.  I had to put it down a mere twenty-some pages in.  I know I just could have plowed through, as no plot synopsis or analysis is a substitute for the real thing, but I just couldn’t do it.  This is not to say that Shelf Discovery is a bad book.  Quite the opposite.  But I just couldn’t live with the spoilers.


The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  HarperCollins: 2009.

There are two things in life that scare me: spiders and home invasion.  I have had an irrational fear of both since childhood.  This  means that I can’t handle Coraline or The Graveyard Book. I’ve never even attempted Coraline because so many people have warned me against it (my spider fear is intense, folks).  But I was determined to read The Graveyard Book because what kind of self-respecting youth librarian isn’t all over Gaiman?  Besides, everyone told me the scene at the beginning is quick, non-explicit, and that it can be easily digested by nine-year-olds.  I gave up by the second page, scared out of my bloomers.  I’ve tried several times, even skipping over the first few pages, but I just can’t hack it.  (Note: I also tried The Graveyard Book audiobook.  That didn’t work either.  Gaiman’s voice box clearly comes from the same factory as Boris Karloff’s.  Spooksville).

Before I Die by Jenny Downham.  David Fickling: 2007.

Man, I love well-written, angsty YA.  Gayle Forman, Jandy Nelson, Sara Zarr – I love it. I like some grit, some real trauma, some good ol’ fashioned naughty bits.  When I read the (mostly starred) reviews of Before I Die, I knew it was for me.

The premise is simple (teen girl has just months to live and wants to go off her chain before the end) but all the reviewers said the execution was brilliant, raw, and beyond expectation.  Since it’s in this blog post, you know I couldn’t get through it.  I gave up around page 30.  Maybe things turned around in the end (I don’t think they do), but I couldn’t get over the “die” part.  This was three years ago and lately I’ve been thinking of trying this one again.  But for the time being, it remains an Unfinishable.

Laika by Nick Abadzis.  First Second: 2007.

I tried to read this at the lake this summer.  ‘Tis not beach reading, y’all.  Laika was the first animal sent into space.  It didn’t go so well.

I was about 2/3 into this book before my other half had to come outside, extract my bawling self from a lawn chair, and say firmly “I don’t think you should read this anymore.”   He then had to hide it at the bottom of his suitcase and return it to the library for me because I couldn’t even look at it.  The only thing more upsetting for me than this book was when I thought the baby alien was going to die in District 9. Seriously.

Laika is terrifically well done, but I think that was the problem for me.  I still can’t shake it.  It’s like Old Yeller but in Russia/space.  That makes it about 40 million times more intense.

In my experience, I find that recommending an Unfinishable to a child or teen is more effective than anything else.  If I can honestly say “I was too traumatized to even finish this book,” it will fly off the shelf.  Of course, I’m not going around trying to traumatize chidlers.  But Unfinishables make great sells.  They issue a challenge:

I couldn’t get through this book.  Can you?

The 1920s: (Will Be) So Hot Right Now

Most of the time, I write a post because I would like to think I have something kinda, sorta interesting to say or share.

However, I am writing this post because I want to be able to say I told you so.

For the most hardcore of the hardcore young people’s book/culture peeps, this probably won’t be breaking news. But I want to officially throw my hat into the “The 1920s are going to be the next big thang with young people” ring.

The Evidence

I’ll preface this by saying that I’m probably missing a lot of stuff here – if you know of something else, throw your hat in the ring too!  That’s what the Comments Section is for!  You’ll be happy you did it when this trend really takes hold. Embrace smugness with me.

Lauren Conrad has a thing for the 1920s

In an interview with Seventeen earlier this summer, Lauren included The Great Gatsby on the list of her favourite books (in addition to her own books, of course – super classy) and said she dresses up like a flapper almost every Halloween.  While Lauren isn’t the peon of fashion or culture for anyone over 17, she’s a mover and shaker with lil’ pups born after 1994.

Anna Godbersen’s Bright Young Things

Surprisingly, I read The Luxe (and the plot summaries of the next three books in the series on Wikipedia) and I didn’t consider it a total waste of my life.

Godbersen’s next foray into bubblegum YA lit will be Bright Young Things, to be released in October 2010.

The book’s set in…you guessed it…1929.  The synopsis includes a whole lotta exciting nouns like “flappers” and “showgirls” and “socialites.”  I guess there isn’t much sexy about “The Great Crash,” but, y’know, that wasn’t too big of a deal.

Libba Bray’s The Diviners

This promises to be the thinking person’s Bright Young Things. As Publishers Weekly reported, Bray got a seriously ballin’ advance for a four-book “supernatural fantasy series set in Manhattan during the 1920s.”  Bray is universally regarded as awesome by both teens and librarians, so this is going to be a big deal come 2012.

The Great Gatsby Video Game

Most people heard of this and thought, “What a cute lil’ thing to tweet and put on my Facebook.”  Meanwhile, I let out a  maniacal laugh as I added it to my mounting list of evidence.

Teen Vogue and the Twenties

Teen Vogue has been all over the twenties lately.  Most recently, their “best dressed reader of the day” (caps are so outta style) proclaimed that she loves the twenties because “It was such a classy era, but at the same time, the clothing choices always hinted toward mischief and revolution.”  “Hinted toward mischief and revolution?!?”  I wish I had been that articulate at sixteen.

And, finally…

Even Snooki gave the twenties a (historically inaccurate) shout-out!

Yes, I watch The Jersey Shore. On the first episode of Season Two (i.e. – two Thursdays ago) Snooki was washing clothes in the sink (after an accident involving white booty shorts and a red alcoholic beverage) and lamented, “I feel like a pilgrim from the friggin’ 20s washing s—.”  Lovely.

I received a Bumpit for Christmas and couldn't resist a splitscreen poof comparison.

So, there you have it.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that the 1920s really is the next big thang, and not just kind-sorta-the-next-big-thang like fallen angels proved to be.

A Category of Books I Like to Call “The Brad Pitts”

You know how Oprah always asks people, “What do you know for sure?” and they always answer with syrupy stuff like “My mom was always right,” and “There is nothing better in this world than a child’s laugh,” and nonsense crap like “I am finally myself.”  Well, this is what I know for sure:

Brad Pitt is an attractive man.

Even when he’s all bearded and dirty, you can still tell there is a really good-looking man under all that mange.

Wouldn’t you, too, acknowledge that Brad Pitt is a very attractive man, even if you are not attracted to him yourself?  If not, please pretend you do, because the entire conceit of this post depends on you agreeing that Brad Pitt is an attractive man.

I am one of those people who can see, objectively, that Brad Pitt is a stunner.  But the thing is, I’m not personally attracted to him.  It can be the same with books; I can objectively tell that a book is really great, has a definite audience, and meets a real need without truly loving the book myself.  Thus, I give you the definition of a Brad Pitt book:

brad pitt book n. a book that one can, no matter his/her personal preferences, recognize as possessing high merit.

When learning any new concept, examples are helpful.  Here are some of my personal Brad Pitts.  Before you go off your chain in the comments section, remember the definition of a BP.  I’m not saying that any of these are bad books or even mediocre books.  Far from it.  These are books that I know are great, and that I enjoyed reading, but just didn’t reach out and grab me by the throat.  If I had reviewed these books I would have given them a great review (just like I gave two thumbs up to seeing Brad Pitt’s tush in Troy).

Perhaps one of the greatest BPs of all time for me has been Harry Potter. I understood why others would eat their own foot to read the books, but I couldn’t get beyond a little nibble of my baby toe.  Again, like any BP, I enjoyed it, but didn’t fall in love.  Same with the Westing Game; got the decades of hype, but didn’t feel it myself.

A more recent example is Smile by Raina Telgemeier.  Fabulous book. I even had similar orthodontic drama involving pulled teeth and braces.  But, for whatever reason, my heart wasn’t in it.

I should also make it clear what a Brad Pitt book is not:

A book that everyone else likes but I really didn’t like

Comparable celebrities here are the likes of Josh Duhamel, Bradley Cooper, and Robert Pattinson.  These are all dudes that many people find scrumptious but I, well, don’t.

Savvy was a big one for me.  Also, Incarceron. Unlike the BPs, I didn’t enjoy these books at all and had trouble seeing what others saw in them.  To each their own kinda thing.

A book that looks pretty on the outside but (I think) is a stinker inside

Don’t forget that Brad Pitt is not only good-looking, but also a stand-up fella (wife swapping aside, he’s charitable).  Therefore, a true BP book has to be good on the inside and outside.

The Carrie Diaries is one hot little number.  The jacket feels kind of leathery and soft and I can’t resist that pink, spray-painty font.  But unlike two of my favourite, very insightful YA reviewers (Tea Cozy and Reading Rants), I dang well hated it.

I’m always interested to hear what other people consider BPs.  It’s also interesting to consider which books are true BPs (i.e. – have merit but didn’t grab you) and which have just been over-hyped (i.e. – BPs in Robert Pattinson’s clothing).