The Second Book I Read on My Kindle

I don't know why it took me so long to read Never Let Me Go. Don't make the same mistake I did. This book will break your heart. Just looking at this poster for the movie (out on DVD soon!) makes me want to cry.

Do you like reading about complicated girl friendships? How about boarding schools? Or maybe adolescent relationships? Those are all of my favorite topics, and they are all here, along with some SCIENCE FICTION. That's right, I read science fiction. Okay, that's a lie. Actually I read science fiction in only three circumstances:
1. My boyfriend recommends something.
2. Book club pick.
3. It's not really science fiction.
While there are definitely science fiction elements to this book (in case you don't know anything at all about it, I will refrain from ruining anything for you. The less you know, the better the book will be), and while the plot hinges around a particularly ominous vision of a world not so different from our own, this book is much more about personal relationships. I should warn you that at first this book doesn't seem so sad. Just watch out! At the end, I felt like the emotional force of the book had snuck up behind me and clubbed me on the head.
It also must be noted that Carey Mulligan plays the lead in the film. Beautiful!

Operation Read This

The Winter Blues are some kind of bitch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing my seasonal depression to REAL depression. It is not that bad. But it would still be nice if I didn't feel like staying in bed 3+ months out of the year, just watching a marathon of Northern Exposure. I should make a post about Northern Exposure, but right now I'm actually going to talk about a book, since that's kind of the point of this thing. Who wants some more run-on sentences?
Every year, when I'm setting up my New Year's Goals, I set a Reading Goal. Usually it's 50 books, a goal I actually didn't quite meet last year because I got lazy. This year I plan on actually making it, and I read my first book of the year on New Year's Day: How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer.

Amazon says LOOK INSIDE! I say just buy the book, because it's worth it. I read a lot of great books last year, but too many of them were about men. While that's just fine, I start to feel weird if I don't read any books by women for awhile. Enter Julie Orringer: her stories are for and about women. Seriously...ALL of the stories have interesting female characters, most of whom are young teenagers. Clearly young teenage girls are the most interesting subjects to read and write about. These stories deal with cancer, uncomfortable sexual situations, the weirdly passionate friendship dynamic between young girls (my favorite thing to read about), bullying (there are SO MANY straight up bitches in these stories!), and all sorts of awesome lady stuff. One story made me burst into silent sobs while my boyfriend played video games, and when he turned around to see my face streaked with the remains of my Lash Stiletto mascara he freaked out. True and unattractive story!
I can't recommend this book highly enough. Read it!