Dec 6, 2014

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson
Release date: September 16, 2014
From Goodreads:

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell 
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once. 

Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere has been one of those books that don't quite leave my mind when  I'm thinking of books that have stayed with me. Sometimes when people debut with such memorable books, most follow-up works don't quite match up. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes that doesn't. Sometimes it only gets better.

Jandy Nelson is a magician. I want to write that across the skies. JANDY NELSON IS A MAGICIAN.

I'll Give You the Sun  is the kind of book that made me want to climb out of earth and bring the sun for her, because SoMuchBrilliance. This book is a stunner of a read. The writing is gorgeous, so gorgeous I felt like I was drowning in it. Although, yes, I do admit it might not be the kind of writing that everybody will like. If you didn't like the prose-style of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, erhm, you should maybe just read a sampler of this to see if it's your thing and go ahead, because if you're going by this review, HOLY YES, I WANTED TO EAT THE BOOK. (This happened with The Sky is Everywhere as well, but it happened double-times with this)

So much of the feels. So much of it that feels isn't even the right word. So much of the feels and this is why:


  • Siblings. Can there pleaaaaaase be more books about siblings? And siblings who aren't trying to kill each other and aren't just hanging around the background scenes just so they could be there but real-life, living, breathing siblings that have that pull which is the thing about siblings anyway (which is also why I loved Imaginary Girls so much *breathes heavily*). Noah and Jude are more like NoahAndJude and Jandy Nelson doesn't just tell you, she shows you how. It's brilliant how she managed the dual perspective throughout the book, giving the two of them such distinct voices that you don't have to go check the chapter head to see whose portion you're reading, yet you just know that these two are two sides of the same coin. Throw brother and sister and love and art and jealousy and guilt and love and more love and you will get NoahAndJude.
  • Family. The family you want to run away from and return to. The family that isn't just the people that are alive but the ones who've died and are still there because you decide if you want to keep them there or let them go. Yup, Jandy Nelson nails that. (PS. For ghosts and other such things that you-don't-really-see-happening-around-you-because-you-don't-notice, I'll Give You the Sun often reads like magic realism and even though it's not the specified genre, I'm starting to think, maybe it is.)
  • Art. 'What is bad for the heart is good for art' is something one of the characters says in the book (I won't say who because I don't want to give away anything), and that is more or less the basis of all great art in this book. It captures the essence of the artist so well, I had to stop for breath (which was difficult, considering that I read most of the book on the metro, on the way to and back from work, and the metro is at that time so crowded that it hardly leaves you space to stand, let alone, stand and read). You get how the description of such art comes from the soul, because the author apparently wrote this book over three years, shutting herself in darkened rooms, with just the light from the laptop giving her company, because things like that come from, I don't know, somewhere within, and when you read or see the book or the sculpture or the painting, you can feel where it comes from.
  • Love. Oh man. The Beatles probably wrote All You Need Is Love for Jandy Nelson to write this book. Love spills from the spine of this book. There is not a single person who hasn't been affected by love here. All kinds of love. ALL KINDS. 
  • Romance. I could have clubbed this with Love but there's so much of Love already, I realised this kind of needed highlighting of its own. And What Happens With Noah is probably my favourite Romantic Story of the Year.
  • The Ones Who've Died and are Still Around, Like Really, Because (you remember how Sirius Black said that The Ones That Love Us Never Really leave Us) They Don't Have To Be Ghosts, you see. 
  • Metaphors. I like metaphors, okay? Don't judge.
  • Title. I officially think this is the Coolest Title of the Year.
  • I got lost in this book. Like, literally. I can't tell you the number of times I've walked into the wrong metro because of this book. Oh yes.


Just read the book, okay? I don't know what else to say. I'm bursting with words and I feel like I'm coming up short and stupid and I just want everyone in this world to read this book because it's that good. Yes, that good.



Aug 15, 2014

A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma

There really is no better way of dealing with the jolts life sends you than to disappear in a book. Just when I think that nothing perhaps could make things better, books prove me wrong. Over and over again. This happens often.

I won this book via a giveaway on the author's Facebook page, a long time ago. A reaaally long time ago. I loved Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden. Even now I'd consider it one of the most powerful books I've read (just so you know, I read Forbidden four years ago). Somehow, though - whether it was life or university or other books - I never got around to reading A Note of Madness

On Wednesday, I was rummaging my shelves for something to read. There's always too much to read. My shelves are spilling and I always have to look for newer places around the house to make room for my books. A lot of those books are unread, not because I didn't want to read them, but because other books came along and then even more books. My copy of A Note of Madness was signed 'August 2010' with a message from the author. Once I picked it up, I couldn't let it go.


From Goodreads:
Life as a student is good for Flynn. As one of the top pianists at the Royal College of Music, he has been put forward for an important concert, the opportunity of a lifetime. But beneath the surface, things are changing. On a good day he feels full of energy and life, but on a bad day being alive is worse than being dead. Sometimes he wants to compose and practice all night, at other times he can't get out of bed. With the pressure of the forthcoming concert and the growing concern of his family and friends, emotions come to a head. Sometimes things can only get worse before they get better.

In the last few months, I've lost count of the number of times I thought I was going mad. It happened with increasing frequency and I kept thinking it would get better but it didn't, not then. It's hard to define madness. It's an easy step-over from sanity. I think it happens to everyone, at least once in our lives. Flynn's madness pushes him over, way over the edge. And the whole spiralling-downwards experience is what the book chronicles. There are no minced words, no twists and turns, it's probably the most straight-cut book I've read. Flynn loses his mind and how.

After I read Forbidden, I had an overwhelming urge to connect with the author. The book had such a huge impact on me, I had to tell her. We befriended over Facebook, and yes, if you know her, you would know how she has battled (and still battles) mental illness. She is very vocal about it and I think that's important because nobody really talks about it. A Note of Madness was her debut novel and you get it, you know. You get the fact that the author knows what she is talking about because you get into Flynn's head, ride the highs and lows with him and feel the crippling fear that makes it impossible to go on and do anything, even though the book is written in third person and you're just supposed to feel objective about it. 

It's an atmosphere of paranoia. Flynn's, his family's, his friends'. Sometimes you'd want to shut the book, just so you could breathe. It's not an easy read, of course. But it's good, it's really good. 

After Robin Williams' suicide, when everybody was talking about depression, Ms Suzuma shared this post on Facebook. It talks about her family's fight with the disease. I think you should take a look.

I think the book has a most apt cover. The blackness, the boy at the edge, the title placement - I think it's one of my favourites now.

Jun 30, 2014

Revenge Wears Prada

Revenge Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger
Release date: June 4, '13
From Goodreads:

The sequel you’ve been waiting for: the follow-up to the sensational #1 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada.
Almost a decade has passed since Andy Sachs quit the job “a million girls would die for” working for Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine—a dream that turned out to be a nightmare. Andy and Emily, her former nemesis and co-assistant, have since joined forces to start a highend bridal magazine. The Plunge has quickly become required reading for the young and stylish. Now they get to call all the shots: Andy writes and travels to her heart’s content; Emily plans parties and secures advertising like a seasoned pro. Even better, Andy has met the love of her life. Max Harrison, scion of a storied media family, is confident, successful, and drop-dead gorgeous. Their wedding will be splashed across all the society pages as their friends and family gather to toast the glowing couple. Andy Sachs is on top of the world. But karma’s a bitch. The morning of her wedding, Andy can’t shake the past. And when she discovers a secret letter with crushing implications, her wedding-day jitters turn to cold dread. Andy realizes that nothing—not her husband, nor her beloved career—is as it seems. She never suspected that her efforts to build a bright new life would lead her back to the darkness she barely escaped ten years ago—and directly into the path of the devil herself.

A word about the cover: Unlike the hardcover, the paperback keeps with the shoe theme of all of Weisberger's books. If not for the trident heel or the fact that this a Devil Wears Prada sequel, I'd probably glance over.

My thoughts:

Okay, so let me be clear: I haven't read the Devil Wears Prada. I've read Weisberger's other books, but not Devil. I've watched the film uncountable times but yes, I realise that there were things in the film that were different from the book, so I'm not going to draw comparisons between Revenge and Devil.

Let's treat Revenge as a standalone. where I know the back stories of the characters. Happens, right?

By itself, I thought Revenge was entertaining. I'm not exactly a fan of Weisberger's but Revenge had my attention throughout. Oh, of course, it starts off with Andy being crazy, making a mountain out of a molehill, that really makes no sense at all, but maybe, just maybe, that could have been a foreshadowing of things to come.

So it's been 10 years since Andy left the 'Runway' and instead of writing for The New Yorker or something, she runs a super-successful luxury wedding magazine, along with - surprise!surprise! - Emily, Miranda Priestly's former first assistant and you know, just the girl who couldn't stand Andy earlier. Yes, 10 years do change a lot of things. Which also means that there's a new guy (husband, actually), Max, who is as close to perfect as men can be. Except, of course, for the things Andy find right before her wedding that send her taking a ride across loonville through the first half of the book. I'm thinking Andy may just be a little too paranoid than necessary and hence the pointless jumping-to-conclusions take up the early part of the book. I mean, she had a pretty good domestic and professional life otherwise.

Until, of course, Miranda comes into the picture. Well, she isn't physically present much of the time that she was in Devil, but she's here alright. In Andy's nightmares and hey, the magazine world. There are actually more moments of perfect domesticity than Miranda-tornadoes. It was pacey. At least till the last 30% of the book when almost everything takes a whole hey-i-didn't-think-that-would-happen turn.

So all of Goodreads has been exploding with how Weisberger completely dashes the 'American Dream' in this book. I'm not sure that's a valid criticism. So, yes, the end picture isn't pretty, but hey, life isn't always rosy, is it? There's hope and that's important. Revenge, too, has hope. If you plan on going into this book with a critical eye, you won't be doing yourself any favours. Read it like you would treat a summer fling. It's fun. Revenges always are.

Have you read either Devil or Revenge?


Mar 1, 2014

Lola and the Boy Next Door

(Yes, the whole world's probably read it by now, but GAHH I'm going to talk about it anyway, because, hey, Stephanie Perkins. Enough said.)

Lola and the Boy Next Door
by Stephanie Perkins
Release date: September 28th, '11
From Goodreads:

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion...she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit--more sparkly, more fun, more wild--the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.
When Cricket--a gifted inventor--steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

A word about the cover: I love the wig. And the cover in general coveys the same cheeriness that Anna's cover does, although the latter had a mysteriousness about it since you couldn't see the guy's face on it and hey, we had a good time imagining Etienne, didn't we? But Lola has a new cover, too (like all the books in this series) - more city-centric - and I think it's gorgeous. Also, mature.

My thoughts:

This book is a big glob of happiness. I mean, there are a lot of sad and not-so-kind and heartbreaking stuff, too, but overall, it's such a happy book it makes you feel hopeful about things, irrespective of how you're feeling.

It's been a few hours since I finished reading this book and I still can't stop grinning about it. Stephanie Perkins knows, you know. She REALLY knows how to write a good, believable romance. She knows how to build up a believable friendship-that-is-more-than-just-friendship and turn it on its head so that even though you kind of know that in spite of everything this will end up with a happy ending, you can't discard the book with a smirk because the characters are sitting there with your heart and you're squealing and gahh-ing over whatever's happening and you know you need this.

Yes, that's what a Stephanie Perkins book feels like. And that's what Lola and the Boy Next Door feels like, too.

I've heard a lot of people didn't really like Lola's dangling-two-boys act but c'mon, she's only human and nobody's perfect. Oh, well, Cricket is. Like reallyreallyreally perfect. Dude, where do guys like him live? (Okay, okay, I know San Francisco and all that, but really) Remember Etienne from Anna ? Yeah, that guy is puurrrfect, but Cricket is sometimes (most times, actually) waaaay too good to be true.

Other things I liked about Lola:
- Lola's dads! I haven't read a better, matter-of-fact, un-caricatured representation of a gay couple with a daughter. And Andy and Nathan stand out so well against each other.
- Norah. (I'm not saying who she is if you haven't read the book - although chances are that you have, still - but I thought she was the most interesting character in the book)
- An obsessive-compulsive costume designer. An Olympic-bound figure skater. An inventor. Aahh, unique hobbies make for such unique characters.
- Also, the thing about Alexander Graham Bell. I liked that bit of inclusion.
- I loved the little unconventional bits the book had. Like Lola's 5-years-older boyfriend. The biological/adopted family thingy. Heck, the costumes! Less high school, more home scenes (hey, the boy's just next door - who would even *want* school?) - infact, more COLLEGE (here's looking at you Berkeley) than high school.
- But my favourite part? ANNA AND ST. CLAIR MAKE APPEARANCES THROUGHOUT THE BOOK.

Okay, so Anna is still one of my favouritebooksEVER. It's one of the most glorious books written in YA fiction and bringing Lola up for a comparison would just not be fair because Anna is, you know, Anna. Boarding school. Paris. St Clair. Perfection.

But Lola IS a good read. More than good, it's a happy read and we can all do with a heavy dose of happiness, can't we? This book had been on my to-read list for a very long time but I'm overjoyed I finally could get around to reading it because the reading experience has been worth more than I had expected. I'm convinced now. Stephanie Perkins has the gift of writing happy. You know that when you're feeling the blues, all you need is to pick up a Perkins book. Works like magic.

Do you like Anna or Lola better?

Feb 20, 2014

In which I talk about the Quarter Life Crisis. Again.

It's been quiet around here for the longest time -- dude, studying for a Masters degree is exhausting and not just because of the many ways in which it leaves you more prone to sleep in the daytime and hunger pangs post-midnight and hey, it's not cool -- but, hello.

So I thought this little blog from this part of the universe was dead and rotting because, really, WHO WOULD EVEN WANT TO READ THIS ANYMORE? (Yeah, I still think that. Sometimes. When I think of the blog, ie). I mean, my last post happened in June, 2013 and here we are in Feb, 2014 (holy shit) and we're all almost a year older already and everyone's obviously moved on in their lives from wherever they were last year. Then I realised that I still have some 315 followers, so maybe, maybe someone out there would still want to read this.

So much has changed.
For instance my writing voice has undergone a change. All my narrative voices now belong to twenty-somethings, which is a little overwhelming considering that I've spent almost all my life so far writing young adult stuff. Young adults still feature heavily in anything I write but the twenty-somethings take centre-stage. Because, lets face it, at 23, I feel like the twenties have taught me waaaay more than all that I've learnt in the rest of the years of my life combined. I used to think being a teenager was hard but heck, nobody warned me about what the twenties would be like - it's youagainsttheworld hard. And I think this is when you grow into the person you will probably be for the majority of the rest of your life to come (I'm guessing) so everything you do becomes doubly important. And, WHY DOES NOBODY WRITE ABOUT ANY OF THIS? The majority of books I've read featuring twenty somethings only talk about a relationship a twenty something has with a particular someone. (Okay, maybe I'm not reading the right books - somebody throw recommendations my way, please?) But, hey, how did it get so easy for them? I thought the quarter life crisis featured the crisis that relationships have been causing our generation, not a relationship. If it was so easy to figure out which relationship will end up defining us, none of us would be hyperventilating so much. Or, okay, maybe that's just me.

And wait..what about the jobs? Why does nobody write about the scary prospect of landing or not landing a job? Post-university life is like taking a plunge into the Black Hole, hurtling yourself through a corridor which you know only ends in oblivion but which you hope will take you to a roses-and-daisies garden. In reality you just end up somewhere inbetween, although you seem to hit both extremes alternately most times.

The only representation that comes even remotely close to portraying what this quarter-life crisis is like is the HBO tv series Girls. I think. At least the first two seasons were good. The third one's kinda blah but the reason it has me nodding along to it is because it straight-up shows it as it is. No, relationships aren't as romantic as the movies make them up to be, even if you have the one that you want. Sex can be awesome and crude at the same time and no, that doesn't make you part of a porno. Your dream job will in all  probability not be as cracked up to be but that's okay, you have a job and you would rather do this than anything else, so keep at it. Or quit. Or whatever. Yes, we are selfish and impulsive and scared - sofuckingscared - and most of the time we have no clue about what we are really looking for and to add the cherry on the cake, we are getting old. Oh my god.

Dude. Life is hard.

And it doesn't get any easier when the world around you is falling apart and you want so hard to make it all right again but you can't because fucking laws. So I'm talking about India, where two months back the Supreme Court overturned the High Court's ruling that had de-criminalized homosexuality back in 2009. Basically, after granting every individual the right to love and fuck with consent whoever they want to, my country just reverted back to the stone age and declared that 2.5 million (and that's just the official estimate) of its population are criminals simply on the basis of who they choose to love. Reaaaally. I thought Russia was crazy but this is loon haven extraordinaire.

Which brings me to this. Watch, if you haven't already. Norway is the coolest.


If governing bodies start making laws against love, I don't know what it's saying about the human race in general. I mean, I get that in spite of our much-spoken-about powers of reasoning, we're actually pretty stupid, but are we really that cruel? It's like watching a dystopian world unfold right before you. And we shouldn't have to deal with something like that. Nobody has to.

So, yes, it's pretty bleak out there. And here in Delhi there hasn't even been much of the sun. Which isn't all that bad (hey, I like it cloudy - but only, weather-wise) but it takes more than three days for my clothes to dry. THREE DAYS. In the meanwhile I'm running out of both clothes and money and very soon *hopefully* I'll be done with my M.A. as well and then I have noideawhattodo. Oh shit.

The good thing, though, is the fact that I've finally found my drive to write again and I quite like the new writing voice and my family and I've never gotten along better and even though the world's a very shitty place sometimes, it also has it's moments of loveliness like what these people did when they saw this little boy shivering in the cold and that just restores your faith in almost everything. And although some terrible people are running (or hoping to run) the country and messing with the basic fundamental rights of so many people I love there's still a flickering hope that we could dust off the drivel and change the world to be a better place because even though I've blown off all my savings for this month on new books, I'm kinda happy and some 1452kms away in my hometown there's a beautiful boy who makes me mad but makes me smile more often and it's cold but I have socks on my feet and college isn't bad (although I have no idea where I go from here) but hey, I have hopes. I hope you do too. And I hope you never give up on that.

And I hope you listen to her. This is SoKo and I only just found her on Youtube Narnia. She's French and beautiful and makes me want to curl up and cry happy tears.



And if that's not your kind, get yourself some Nirvana. It's Kurt's birthday :) And I think he still smells like teen spirit.

 
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