Dear John

Dear John
Nicholas Sparks
335 pages

Dear John,
There's so much I want to say to you, but I'm not sure where to begin...

John Tyree was a lost, rebellious teenager during his high school years, and upon graduation, he enlisted in the army. Soon after basic training, he was stationed overseas in Germany and thought he had finally found the place where he fit in. But in the summer, back home in Wilmington, North Carolina on leave, John meets Savannah. The two fall in love in two short weeks, but are forced to separate when John must return overseas. Over the course of several years, John and Savannah write dozens of letters back and forth, only seeing each other occasionally, and their love is put to the ultimate test. But no one can foresee that 9/11 is about to change the world, along with John and Savannah's relationship forever.

Nicholas Sparks (Safe Haven, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, The Last Song) must have something against happy endings. After now reading five of his novels, I can say some endings have been tearful, while others more subtle and just plain unlucky. But why do I keep reading his books then? That's a very good question.

Although Dear John promises a predictable conclusion, please don't let that turn you away. In any Sparks written book, the reader knows they will get a realistic romance wrapped in easy to read language. In real life, not everything works out, and maybe that's why I continue to read his books - because they offer a more grounded and  practical view on life than many of the dreamy and fantasized contemporary young adult novels that seem to be so popular now.

Dear John is a fantastic summer read, that is surprisingly tender, and ultimately satisfying.


The book was adapted into a major motion picture in 2010, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. View the trailer here.

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A Day in the City

{Across the street}

Yesterday, I visited The Strand Bookstore on the corner of 12th Street and Broadway in New York City for the first time. I first heard about the store when I was reading Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, but at the time I thought it was only just a unique, fictional, book setting - a made-up place. But then, upon my return to school from spring break, a friend of mine was carrying her belongings in one The Strand's popular canvas tote bags. She proceeded to tell me she went there with her cousin on the time off, and said I "just had to go." And so I did.

{View from the stairs}

As the sign outside proudly states, The Strand boasts 18 miles of books spread out on three floors. The first concentrating on fiction and new arrivals, the second on Children's and art books, and the third level houses their acclaimed Rare Book Collection.

 

 {Books, books, books!}

The "Staff Picks" table was one of the many tables on the main floor. Some of the most interesting ones highlighted books "Inspired by the Jazz Age", "Beach Reads" or "Summer Romance".

 

{On the third floor}

In the Rare Book Collection, shoppers can find  the first volume, first edition, of many famous books, including novels by Jane Austen, J.D Salinger, and John Steinbeck.

{Sidewalk sale}

The sidewalk outside the store seemed to be just as busy as the inside. Many people were browsing the carts filled with used books advertised as "cheaper than the e-book". It is so great to see a place like this still surviving in a predominately digital world. The Strand also holds regular events such as book signings, meet and greets, etc.

 

 {Me looking very happy!}

Overall, The Strand was everything that I had read about and more. Such a cool place for tourists and book-lovers alike!

 

{What I came home with}









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Summer Reading List

Happy Summer! With school winding down in the next few days, I have found myself looking forward to the season with much anticipation.  The following is a list of novels I hope to read in the coming months. Whether you are seated comfortably on the couch at home, at a picnic table or in a beach chair with sand between you toes, I hope the summer brings you fun, sunshine, and of course, good books!

1. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Flowers in the Sky, Lynn Joseph
3. Every Day, David Levithan
4. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
5. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez *
6. Saturday, Ian McEwan *
7. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
8. The Silver Star, Jeannette Walls
9. Threads and Flames, Esther M. Friesner
10. The Distance Between Us, Kasie West

 *Assigned summer reading for Honors English 2013-2014

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Just One Day

Just One Day
Gayle Forman
368 pages

"We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.” 

Allyson Healey has just graduated from high school, and is now embarking on a post-grad tour of Europe with her best friend. At an underground performance of Twelfth Night in London, she meets Willem De Ruiter, a young and charming Dutch actor. Allyson immediately detects a spark between them, and after spending just one day together, she is surprised to wake up the next morning in Paris, without Willem. Over the next year, Allyson will start college with her mind still lost somewhere in Europe and soon she begins a journey to find Willem. With the help of Shakespeare, friendship, and self-confidence, Allyson discovers more about herself along the way than she ever thought possible.

Gayle Forman, the bestselling author of If I Stay and Where She Went has created yet another YA novel that will surely enrapture it's readers. Just One Day is the perfect travel read. Readers will experience the tulip-smelling streets of Amsterdam, the mysterious back alleys of Stratford-Upon-Avon and the cafés and artist squats of Paris. Forman brings to life Europe's most well-known cities in a way that will have her audience feel as if they are there too.

Just One Day is broken into two main sections, although I don't feel as if doing so was very effective. I would have preferred two separate books to be honest, as I feel more story could have been told in each section.  For example, as a reader, I would have loved to have seen more of Stratford-Upon-Avon given that this was where Shakespeare wrote and performed most of his plays.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read about love, friendship and self-discovery.

Just One Day is the first book I have read this year for 2013 YA Contemporary Challenge. As of now, I have read 1 of my 10 book goal.

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The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Summary

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

• Number of Pages: 313

Review

Augustus Waters. If there were anyone I would aspire to be like it would be Augustus Waters.

As I was reading this book, I tweeted my feedback and a few quotes on my personal Twitter account when a girl out of the blue asked me if she should read it. So many though jumped into my mind, but the 140 characters restrained me. In the end all I could do was warn her. I wrote “Prepare to fall in love with heartbreak.”

I began with the misconception that this book, though raved about to be unique and ultimately unlike anything else, would be cheesy and absolutely tragic like all books that pertain to this selection of genre. I read it and discovered how beautifully awful life could be. The true nature of Cancer.

I spent the majority of my hours over the past couple of months in an AP English Language and Composition class, in which my teacher drilled and drowned us in enough literature to be able to later dissect even the deepest meaning from a newspaper cartoon or an obituary. Though Hell at times, I now like to believe that as I read this book I understood it for its true meaning. This isn’t a light read. It isn’t even all that interesting in the beginning. It is life. It is the way that these two human beings of infinitesimal proportions loved, lived, and died that makes this book raw and real. Everything in this book is both a metaphor and not a metaphor. It is straightforward and yet hidden with deeper meanings.

I could write an essay on each moment of Hazel’s days with Augustus, the boy who represents all the good in the world and all the bad that happens to the good in the world. It all amounts to nothing in the end because the life that they and all of us live is filled with day to day moments that shouldn’t be analyzed . . . they should just be LIVED. I don’t even think any of this makes any sense, but that should be the reason that you read this. You should read this just so that the logic and the way you look at life transforms to a way where you see the joke in the tragedy and the hope in the hopelessness. Read it for the laughs you'll gain and the tears you'll lose. Read it for Gus. From 1-10? I give it a 7. 

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Do Not Despair!

For whatever it's worth and to whoever is still reading . . . I'm baaaaaaaack. 

I say that with cheer and a light heart if only to deflect from the extreme remorse I feel at believing that I have abandoned you all in this cyber world I have created for you, my readers. I cannot say that it was all for nothing considering that I shirked my duties as YA book reporter in order to survive what I like to call Hell and many others refer to as “Junior Year”. (I survived, in case you were wondering—and with a few gray hairs.) As one of the most important years in high school, on of the most scrutinized and looked at, I took it very seriously and can only look back with a sad and knowing state of mind. It was in those months of sleepless nights and headaches that I temporarily neglected my first love and our offspring, i.e. Books and Nap. Snack. Read. respectively. I was so lost in a world of textbooks, lectures, and disgusting cafeteria food that I did not read as much as I would have like.

Who am I kidding? I didn’t even read one tenth of what I use to be able to do, and it was as depressing as it could have been. I admit to feeling like a starved animal only to gluttonously indulge in my favorite pass time when the chance arouse and gave no thought to stopping in order to relay any of my opinions to my blog. I was selfish, but, then again, I am fallible. In the past two days since I have started my summer vacation I have read 3 books and another one is well underway. Those along with any other that I read this year will be blowing up this website in an attempt to make up for lost time.

I mourn the loss of some of my viewers while rejoice in those of you I have not lost.

With love,

Camila (NapSnackRead)

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