13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

13 Little Blue Envelopes

Maureen Johnson

2005

This was another one of those books that I picked up at the library 'just because'. I thought it had a cool cover* and the little summary on the back sounded like something I would like. And I did like this book. Quite a lot.

13 Little Blue Envelopes is about 17-year-old Ginny who receives (you can probably guess this bit) 13 little blue envelopes the summer before her last year of high school. The envelopes are from her 'Runaway Aunt' Peg, who has passed away. She is informed that she will be leaving for several weeks to travel to foreign lands. She has 4 rules to follow: 1) Bring only what fits in your backpack, 2) you cannot bring a journal or foreign language aid, 3) you cannot bring any extra money (she is provided with the necessary cash), and 4) no electronics. She is instructed to buy a plane ticket to London, and thus begins the story.

When I read this book the first time, I didn't know there was going to be a sequel. But now there is. I really liked the way the story was narrated, and I really liked Ginny. There is a little bit of a lack of believability to the entire premise of the novel, as a 17 year old is travelling to foreign lands alone, but it's fiction so it doesn't have to be believable. The book is charming and funny, and a very good, if relatively quick, read. There is one particular part of the book that has become my favourite, but I don't want to ruin any of the story. It just has to do with a longing to visit a certain European city.

The author is quite something. Maureen Johnson, who is not the character from RENT, has one of the funniest and most active twitter accounts. If you have twitter and are interested in her works, her life, her adorable cat and his quest to destroy all the stuffed orange kittens he is provided with, I suggest you follow her. Her name is @maureenjohnson. Currently she is working on 'something secret' with another author so she isn't tweeting as much, but usually she does. As well, she loves to send dirty jokes/messages to her friend and fellow author John Green during his live shows. The contents of these messages has never been revealed to the public though. Which just adds to the mystery.

I give this book 4.3 out of 5 stars. I liked it quite a lot. 

*I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but if the title and/or cover aren't interesting, I'm probably not going to be interested.

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Looking For Alaska

John Green

2005

At some point you will probably think that I'm just a huge John Green fangirl (true) but the writing in this novel is just amazing. I borrowed this book from my public library at some point in time before I even knew about the vlogbrothers. This book is emotional and wonderful and has a very awkward yet somehow amazing blow job scene (it isn't graphic, it's humorous). I think I read this book twice in the time that I had it from the library and bought my own copy shortly after returning it. It's one of my favourite books even though it makes me cry sometimes. 

Looking For Alaska is about Miles, or Pudge as his new friends nickname him, and his new experiences at boarding school. He is obsessed with famous people's last words to the point where he reads biographies just to learn them. When he is asked about why he wants to move away from home he gives the last words of François Rabelais's last words - "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." He moves to boarding school and meets Alaska and falls in love. And that's where the plot summary ends because I don't want to spoil this magnificent novel for anyone.

It's the kind of novel where once I reach a certain point in the novel I can't just put it down and I have to finish it. If you've read it, you may know which part I'm thinking about (and if you don't, you can email me to find out).

And I can say it is magnificent because it's won the Michael L. Printz award (as you can tell by the beautiful shiny sticker). You can also tell it's a good book by the fact that it has been banned in some schools. Almost all good books get banned at some point (see: Harry Potter, Catcher in the Rye, etc). John Green has also defended the book on many occasions in real life and on youtube and probably in writing. It's also the book that led to the metaphor that is famous on tumblr "If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane." Also, parts of the books are kind of based on true-to-life events. 

I give this book 4.8 out of 5. I should probably come up a better system for rating books. But this book deserves every little bit of that 4.8. Heck, it probably deserves more. This is one of those books that everyone who wants a good, emotionally traumatizing read (but the good kind of emotionally traumatizing). 

Have you read this book? What do you think? 

If you have read it, what was your reading experience like? Were you as emotional as I was?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Mark Haddon

2003

This is one of my favourite books. My mom suggested I read it a few years ago (I have no idea how long ago this was) and I think I read it in about two days. I've since read the book about a million more times*. This heart-wrenching and compelling novel is about a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher who feels compelled to find out who killed his neighbour's dog since he is the one who is thought to have done it. The fact he is autistic slows down his investigation a little bit, but he finds out so much information and he manages to solve the crime while learning a lot about himself and his family. Christopher is highly intelligent but sometimes this gets him into a little bit of trouble, especially when it's combined with his inability to process emotions like the rest of us.

The story is told from his point of view, so it's a rather limited narration. But the story is still wonderful. You really get to know the mind of an autistic narrator who has some very specific things he likes and doesn't like. Such as his pet rat, or his dislike of certain coloured foods, or how he likes to see a certain number of yellow cars in a row but too many red cars is bad. It's small details that make you fall in love with Christopher. You get to feel like you really know him and when something good happens, you're excited and when sometime bad happens you just feel bad for him.

One of my favourite parts of this novel isn't anything to do with the plot or the characters. It's something I didn't notice right away, but I caught on eventually. The chapters are all numbered with prime numbers. Christopher can recite every prime number up to 7,057. This is just one of the small details in the book that really makes it come alive.

This book is available for purchase from Amazon here: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I highly suggest you read this novel. 4.7 stars out of 5. 

Have you read the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time? Did you like it? Do you know of any other books that are kind of similar?

*This is only a slight exaggeration. I've probably read this book about 15-20 times. It is just as wonderful each of those times.