Banned Books Week: The Absolutely True Story of Calling The Police When You Don't Get Your Way

For information on Banned Books Week and what you can do, please visit the American Library Association’s page on Banned Books right here.

As we continue with our important week, I wanted to discuss one book in particular. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. 

I was first introduced to this book while taking a class on Young Adult Novels. Or Methods. They both had the same professor, so the classes tend to run together a little bit. But they were both fun and I’d recommend them to whoever reads this blog and gets a chance to take a class with this particular professor. (Now you get to guess who. It’s not hard.)

The Absolutely True… (I’m not going to keep tying that out, no matter how long I want to make these posts) is about a Native American kid nicknamed Junior, who lives on a reservation and in extreme poverty. During his first day of class, he finds his mother’s name in a history book, realizes that his situation is so poor that the school can’t afford books, throws it at a teacher (never recommended) and get suspended. The teacher is cool about it, and tells Junior he has to leave the “rez” if he wants to get anywhere. So he does. The book deals with poverty, racism, bullying, and because it’s a coming of age novel, those three letters that scares everyone, sex. (I think we all tend to forget how much puberty sucks, which is why we get so touchy about sex in young adult novels.)

Naturally, this book is challenged in a lot of places and banned in a few others. One place it’s banned under the criteria from one parent, “it uses language that we do not use on our household.” No word, really, on whether other households use that language and why it should be banned from those, but I wasn’t wiling to do that much research. But despite the fact that it’s an award winning book that many kids enjoy reading, it’s banned.

Also, going with the naturally theme, I think this book is important, it shows some unpleasant things (such as the narrator’s sister getting drunk and setting fire the her mobile home and dying) but if we all had the same experiences then we would be living the same life and there would be no need to write books. I don’t know that I can add more to what I’ve emphatically said about every other book that I think shouldn’t be banned, but should. I could type just about anything else here, but I’m not certain you really need to hear me say again that books shouldn’t be banned. 

No, I bring up this book because of something far scarier. It has a happiesh ending, but it’s scary to me. You see, when this book was banned in Idaho, where it had been used since 2010, the students decided to take action. The students - the ones reading the book - decided to take action. That’s not a typo, that’s me repeating myself for effect. Three Hundred and Fifty Students signed a petition to get the book back in the curriculum, because they didn’t want their education censored. 

But, naturally, to protect those kids, the parents continued their crusade until the book was banned. 

Won’t someone please think of the children?

Anyway, this is the point in the argument where someone usually says, “It was just banned from the classroom. It’s still perfectly acceptable in libraries!” 

Here’s where the story gets scary/happy/scary. So, two nice individuals took that list of 350 names, and decided… hey… let’s raise money and purchase books for these kids to read. So they did. They raised money to purchase The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, and distribute the book, free of cost, to anyone who wanted to pick up a copy. 

And then someone called the police.

Someone picked up the phone. Someone dialed the police. And then they complained. Because kids were getting books. In America. In 2014. (This happened in April.) 

Now, where this is happy is that when the police showed up, they were all like, “what are we doing here?” and then they walked away, hopefully to give the people that called a stern lecture about what the police are supposed to do.

This story bothers me. A lot. It’s one thing to not want your kid to read a book. It’s even another to get it banned. Those are things I can wrap my head around, even if I disagree with you on this. But to call the police because kids are getting a free book? What? This isn’t some mind altering book where they have to join a cult or pledge their lives in the service of Dumbledore for eternity. It’s a book about a poor kid, living on a reservation and wants to better his life. (And maybe… just maybe… Idaho with it’s 5 reservations would find this timely and appropriate.) 

The response to call the police is not just taking the book out of your own kids’ hands, it’s ripping the book out of anyone’s hands… anyone who wanted to read the book. No longer are you making a parenting judgement, you are trying to criminalize a book, and seriously, that’s messed up. That’s the epitome of censorship. That’s a story that should be coming out of North Korea, not 2014 Idaho. 

This is an extreme example, yes, but I use this story to show a real overreaction when it comes to kids reading. Keep in mind, this book was banned, and the parents could have simply told their kids not to read it. But instead, they chose to actually attempt to have people arrested for distributing the book - which had been banned in the classroom but not in the town, forever.  There were literally a million other ways to handle this… the book had already been removed from classrooms. You wanting to ban the book… you won! To call the police to a free book giveaway so now NO ONE could read it. That’s just some comic book super villainy right there. 

Book Report: Lexicon by Max Barry

Recently, a blogger who knows better than all of us named Ruth Graham posted an article that I’m not going to link to so she doesn’t get the hits about how adults should be ashamed to read Young Adult Novels, because of reasons. I would like to dedicate this post to her. You see, right before I read her “article” where she chastises people for reading in a society when reading is becoming increasingly rare, I read two novels I intended to discuss on Bad Shakespeare. One was a Young Adult novel. The other was a Sci-Fi Action thriller. I could’t decide which to do first, so I decided that instead of the dramatic novel that was set against overcoming an abusive past to allow yourself to be helped and loved, I’m going to write about the novel about poets that use magic words to kill. Yup. I’m going to review the novel for grown-ups first.

Back when I was doing my internship, one of the things I was constantly “corrected” on was my word usage. Apparently, I was using a lot of inappropriate language. Not language in the sense of words that we all have decided are vulgar and therefor unsuitable for ears attached to the heads of those 16 and under. No, I was corrected for using words that were “too big”. This got me thinking a lot about words. So when I read a review of a book that talked about how using words specifically, (even though it was a fiction book that talked about using words to kill) I was intrigued. 

Words are important. A lot of us don’t think about how important words are in our daily lives, but they’re very important. You’re reading words now. Not just any words, very specific words that are used to identify something or in this case, get an idea across. In this particular case, it’s that the novel Lexicon, by Max Barry, is an excellent book and one you should be reading right now.

Lexicon is the story of two individuals. Emily Ruff is a homeless con artist who is drafted into a secret school in Arlington, VA. This school teaches the importance of words, specifically words that can be used to manipulate or in some instances, kill. (They’re called Poets.) It’s also the story of Wil Parke, a seemingly innocent man who is caught up in this world of killer poets. Between the two of them they unravel a larger conspiracy involving the school and how we consume media. There are a ton of twists and turns, too many that while it’s difficult to write this review without discussing them, I really don’t want to ruin anything for you. Let’s just say it’s all as cool as it sounds.

One of the more interesting things that Max Barry does in this book that I really like is that he grounds the fantastical elements of the novel really easy. It’s difficult to write a novel about words while having to 1) make up some of them and have you believe they’re magic in some way and 2) describe the manipulative words in a way that you can read, process, and understand but at the same time believe they are manipulative, even though they are not manipulating you. Max Barry does this by interjecting each on of the bigger action sequences with a news story. So, while you’ve read a story about a character convincing another character to shoot several people then himself, you’re treated to a news story about how he was “depressed” and this was an “isolated incident.” Basically, it gets you thinking about how you are constantly manipulated by the words around you, even if you don’t know it. 

I do find this concept interesting, particularly as an English Major and someone who uses words the way I do. But interesting concepts don’t make for interesting work all the time, and that’s where Max Barry really shines. And where he shows off his talent as a writer. He gets you to believe in these words, to really understand why they take on certain meanings, and why they are dangerous in the wrong hands. He managed to produce a slow build while dividing the story into two parts. The other part is a lot faster, although I felt that it wasn’t as satisfying. I get the “we need your help at all costs” character, but if Mr. Parke were truly as important as they say, why keep so much from him at the get-go. He didn’t have to know everything, but at the same time it does lead to my least favorite thing in books and movies, “You’re really important, you think we’re the bad guys but we’re not, we just don’t have any time to explain. Now let me kill these four people.”

Again, twists, so I can’t give away too much.

However, this is a small nitpick and a small part of a book that manages to ratchet up the thrills with each section, and manages to surprise you even if you think you’ve got the whole thing figured out, like I did. (I picked up one major twist early on, unaware I was about to hit four or five more down the road.)

I highly recommend you pick up this book and give it a read. 

It's Monday, Time to Over-Analyze Another Young Adult Novel Movie.

On Friday, I posted my review of Divergent, a book that came out a mere three years ago and I finally got around to reading. Truth is, I finished it up about a month ago, but didn’t post anything about it because I knew the movie was coming out, and I figured “hey, why not post it the same day?” because as much as I enjoy writing Bad Shakespeare, I’m doing this with the end goal of eventually getting my stuff published, and to do that I need readers, and to do that I need to be somewhat topical. I probably won’t delay that much on Insurgent, the second Divergent novel, but I do plan on posting my review of whatever book Noah was based on the same day that movie comes out, if I can figure out which book it was based on. (Anyone have any ideas?)

The curtain is pulled back on good old Bad Shakespeare! Gaze! Gaze into the mind of my writing process.

That’s pretty typical, wait until something comes out or is popular, then do an opinion piece, blog, interpretive dance, or art show based on what just happened. and since Divergent is meant to make roughly eleven billion dollars through movies, merchandise, and at home Divergent testing kits to ensure you fall in line and aren’t yourself Divergent, it’s important to post as much as you can about it.

Of course, with great popularity comes great criticism. Some people see something that’s popular and simply do not understand why it is popular or why they should enjoy it, and after careful consideration figure they don’t like it and want to tell why. Others just see people having fun and want to rain on that parade as much as possible. 

The worst “analysis” I’ve seen has been the dumping on of Young Adult Novels. I’ve spoken in the past about how much I enjoy Young Adult Novels, mostly because lately they appeal the sci-fi geek in me that would have gotten beaten up for reading these types of novels when I was growing up. You live in an age of wonder, current science fiction fans, or even fans that can dress up as wizards freely.

I guess I don’t understand WHY we need to knock Young Adult Novels, particularly when they do what we need people to do, which is read. These aren’t just paint by number, easy to read books that I think some of these anti-YA people seem to think they are... they’re still complex novels with pretty good characters (except Simon from Mortal Instruments. No amount of Vampiring can make me like him.) I don’t understand the need to make fun of, insult, or talk down to them.

Of course, I talked about this before, I’ve been called out for reading YA novels in public, less so since I started reading them on my Kindle or these new fangled fancy e-reading machines that are all the rage these days. I don’t do it to hide my love of YA, rather, because it’s simply easier to carry around, and it takes up less space on ye olde book shelf. Seriously, I’m running out of space for books in my house, and unless I start covering them up and pretending they’re furniture, I’m in a lot of trouble. 

It’s just whenever one of the YA books turned movies comes out, we get yet another analysis on the “state of the YA novel.” And it usually goes like this:

• Why are adults reading these books/watching these movies?
• Why are these all following the same plots, why can’t they all be different?
• Why are they all handsome people?
• Will it franchise?

Forgetting, of course, that they’re a genre of novel, and anyone can read them and enjoy them... they’re good. They also forget that when something becomes popular,  a lot of people do it. How many Wizard of Oz adaptations are in the pipeline right now? Seven? Didn’t we just get like, two TV shows that follow the adventures of fairytale creatures? Or the whole 30 Rock/Studio 60 Debate? (For those who don’t remember, Studio 60 was the behind the scenes look at a sketch comedy show that was supposed to beat out that other funny one, and only lasted one season.) Simply put, EVERYWHERE you see things that are similar, which why studios are literally scraping the bottom of the barrel of anything that remotely resembles a comic book to make a movie. Coming up next: Squirrel Girl, the movie!

While I don’t know if they are making a movie, there really was a Squirrel Girl who had the ability to talk to and control Squirrels, and dated Wolverine. No. I’m not making this up.

As for the last two... please. Stop including these in YA novel think pieces as real questions. They replaced the actress who originally voiced the computer in Her with Scarlett Johansson the first chance they got. THE VOICE. And franchises? Which Shrek are we up to? How many Fast and Furious movies are we on right now? And that was based after which novel? Yeah. That’s my point.

My point is: you should read and enjoy Young Adult Novels, if that’s your thing. And you should see the movies, if that’s your thing. But when you start over-analyzing it, or telling people they shouldn’t... chill out. Relax.

Now go go work on my screenplay for an adaption of Squirrel Girl. 

Book Report: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Let’s take a moment to talk about choices and what’s “best for us” shall we? Throughout life, we are constantly making choices. Some of them are small. Should I wear a red shirt or a blue shirt today? That’s a choice that won’t affect you much unless you’re an extra on Star Trek. Some of them are big. Do I go to school to study medicine or clowning? That one can affect the course of your life, after all one is a respected career full of late nights, studying, and learning various ethical ways to conduct yourself, and the other is medicine. 

Choices seem to be at the heart of Divergent, a series of novels by Veronica Roth. Yes, I know I’m late to the Divergent game and we’re all the way up to book three, but keep in mind these are books, can be picked up at any time, and I did what a lot of people do: wait until they announce a movie then read it before that comes out so I can nitpick the differences. The movie comes out today, mind you, starring hot female protagonist and chiseled reminder that I need to hit the gym later today. 

For those of you who don’t know or like me wanted to wait until the movie comes out, Divergent is set in dystopian Chicago that is divided up into five factions: Abnegation, for selfless people who seem to have no sense of humor; Amity, for the peaceful people; Candor, those jerks who are always telling the truth; Dauntless, for the brave/stupid/thrill seekers (also the protectors); and Erudite, the smart people who design just about everything that everyone uses. 

Sixteen year olds are given a test to determine which one of the factions they should be put in to. Our hero, Beatrice (who goes by Tris, which is actually kind of cool) Prior finds out that she’s Divergent, meaning that she could fit into one of three factions. This is also a big no-no, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear at the start but become increasingly clear later on. But it’s bad, and we know this because the few people that know she’s Divergent work to help her hide her Divergent-ness, (Divergence?) and Tris is constantly telling us that it’s bad.

Eventually, she decides to join the jocks... er, Dauntless group and become brave. The book switches gears and focuses mostly on her training, her interaction with her friends, and her increasing attraction to “Four”, the chiseled male love interest that comes standard in these books, but actually has an interesting back story. (Because “bravery” is important with everyone at Dauntless, they note the number of fears using a serum. Four is nicknamed “Four” because he’s officially only afraid of four things, the lowest ever. His fears are an interesting part of the book, I have to say.)

Tris goes through her training hiding her Divergent-ness, but of course people begin to suspect something, and eventually she uncovers a conspiracy that goes to the heart of all of Chicago.

I may be glib when giving my recap of the book, but I really did enjoy this book. I have to admit, the style in which it’s written takes a little getting used to. Rather than exploring a lot of concepts of an interesting world... just how cut off is Chicago? Do they still have Deep Dish Pizza? Whatever happen to the Cubs? Why is there a Choosing Day? Veronica Roth just sort of jumps right into the story, right to Tris taking her tests and realizing that something was off. But this works to the advantage of the story ultimately, rather than spending a lot of time with exposition, it’s sprinkled into the plot delicately, like toppings on a deep dish pizza.

Look, Veronica Roth, if you set a book in dystopian Chicago, you have to tell us what happened to it’s best export.

Once you can get past the point that you’ll actually have to work for information rather than having it handed to you like a delicious slice of deep dish pizza, it becomes an interesting read, one that really builds on a world that seems established. You may not understand Choosing Day or why being Divergent is so bad at first, but eventually all the pieces fall into place. 

What I really enjoyed about the book is the message of choice. Not just the big Choosing Day where Tris chooses the faction we’re going to care about and a few others that don’t matter because our protagonist won’t go there. Tris is faced with a choice early on, and one of the things that is underplayed is the fact that it’s a choice that not many people have to make. “Hey, you have an aptitude for honesty... you’re going to Candor!” is pretty much the end all/be all of it. Tris is not only told that basically she has a defect, according to her culture, but she also has to make a decision based on it, or end up as an outcast, “Factionless.” Veronica Roth also did a smart job of displaying just what being factionless meant in the early chapters, so you can really feel the weight of what Tris is going through.

In addition, Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, which isn’t the easiest faction to work within. It requires bravery, a hard training schedule, and some serious competition. There’s a chance she could be cut from Dauntless, so even when making a choice here, she takes one that’s less safe, one that could cause her to face one of her fears. (and ends up facing it anyway... hello, hunky Four.) And when I say competition... this is a violent book. Not quite Hunger Games level of violence as they’re not actively hunting each other, but there are a few characters who seem like they wish they were in the Hunger Games. 

It’s dystopian, it’s teenagers... there are going to be comparisons to Hunger Games. It’s just what happens. I was going to make a Sorting Hat joke from Harry Potter earlier, but I couldn’t get it to work. 

But I liked the message of not always choosing what’s comfortable, and sticking with the choice. Once Tris is in Dauntless, she works to be the best she can, never taking the easy way out. And as she gets deeper into discovering the Dystopian Government mandated conspiracy to take down the system, she doesn’t back down despite the fact that she’s Divergent, an outlier, and could easily be removed from the system with little or no complaints from the society that just accepts that they should all pick a faction based on one test and leave it there. It’s an interesting concept.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m already well into the second, and I’m ready to hit up the third as soon as I can. See. There’s an advantage to getting into a book series late. Not like Mortal Instruments where I have to wait until May for the last book. It’s sooooooo long. 

I would recommend you pick it up and give it a read. Just make sure you don’t give up on the first few chapters, just get into the fact that you won’t be spoon fed everything right away, and you’ll have to figure some of it out. It’s like a nice deep dish pizza, you have to really get deep into it to get the good stuff.

Banned Books Week: Thirteen Reasons Why Book Report

For information on Banned Books Week and what you can do, please visit the American Library Association’s page on Banned Books right here. 


I’ve read plenty of banned or challenged books. Not by design, of course. I don’t search them out, it’s just that a lot of people are attempting to ban books lately, so it’s never been easier to find a ban book... go read one today.

One of my absolute favorite banned books is Jay Asher’s 2007 young adult novel Thirteen Reasons Why. (sometimes it’s stylized as Th1rteen R3asons Why. I’m not going to spell it this way. All due respect to Jay Asher.) It’s about a high school boy named Clay Jensen that comes home one day and finds a package full of cassette tapes (kids, ask your parents) from a girl named Hannah Baker, a girl in his class who recently killed herself. The tapes are her suicide note, describing the 13 reasons why she killed herself. Anyone who gets the tapes is one of the 13 reasons why she did it. From this point, the point of view goes back and forth between Clay, dealing with the fact that he’s on the list, and Hannah, describing from beyond the grave as to what happened. 

This obviously is a heavy, heavy book. One of the main characters has committed suicide, and yes, they are some big reasons. (To tell you too much would be to ruin too many of the surprises and take away some of the impact. I’m not being vague to be obnoxious. I keep mentioning Klingons to be obnoxious.) But the moral of the story is a fantastic one: How we treat each other matters. Or how we don’t treat each other matters. It’s a good message. An important message that is even more important in today’s world when it’s really easy to just dismiss someone quickly in a text, Facebook message, or other way that has yet to be invented.

How you treat people matters.

Of course, this is all told in the heaviest way possible. I’m not going to go out of my way and say that this is a happy go-lucky-feel-good-yay-for-the-world book. (Which seems to be the only one the Book Banners want kids to read. Then they complain when they’re not equipped to handle the real world. IRONY!) 

Books like Thirteen Reasons Why (or Th1rteen R3asons Why... it’s growing on me) are part of that literature that takes a look at the human condition and how we interact. 

I look at books like this as the reason why kids should read things that may make them initially uncomfortable. This is a deep book, one that makes you think. I’ve talked about a lot of other books on this blog, some great because they’re right up my alley when it comes to monsters and demons, like the Mortal Instruments Series. (I still hate Simon. So. Much.) Some are great because they are well-written pieces that make me reflect on my own moments, like how taking the elevator is a sign of weakness, like The Fault in Our Stars. Some are good because I like the storyline, but could be better written, like the Road to Woodbury, which was still freaking awesome, The Walking Dead returning to AMC this October following Breaking Bad. (This paragraph brought to you by Carl Jr’s. ) But this book stuck with me. I can’t shake it.

Now, I read this when I was in my 20’s. The most recent thing I’ve been banned from doing was renting a car, and for a brief time in my late 20’s, quoting Doctor Who. I may have gone a bit overboard. So really, I wasn’t in any danger of not reading Thirteen Reasons Why. So to get myself in the mood for writing this post. I was thinking of how I would feel if I was told I wasn’t allowed to read this book, because of many of it’s heavier themes.

Ok, I mentioned earlier that I wasn’t going to talk about spoilers for this book, but as I go on, I’m realizing I can’t. So, spoilers follow. Think of this as analysis an not review. The whole point of this book is that Clay was the only one nice to her, and she wanted him to know that. He wasn’t a “reason” for something he did, but for not doing something. Hannah was sexually assaulted at a party. No one was willing to talk to her about it. She had nowhere to turn except a bottle of pills. 

And that’s sort of the point I’ve been talking about for most of Banned Books Week. Banning books like this, because a girl is assaulted and can’t talk to anyone about it, ONLY CONTINUES TO CAUSE THE PROBLEM. By telling kids that a subject is so taboo that we have to ban it, we’re telling them that they can’t talk about it. Then they don’t feel they have a place to go. Then we have a ton of Hannahs, all because it’s easier to push a subject away rather than talk about it.

I keep making this point. This is an important point. 

We can’t cut off access to books like this. Yes. It’s difficult. I put it on the list of fantastic books I look forward to never reading again. (but I probably will. And it will be in one day.) But it’s important that we don’t ban subjects. Sometimes, it’s easiest to connect through people with books, and we have to remember that we need to remain open to discussing these things. It may be unpleasant. But that doesn’t make it any less important.

Whew. One more day to go. I promise tomorrow’s post is going to be a bit lighter than this.

In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night, No Mean Lady Will Stop Me From Reading, Not Quite...

You may notice, from my “What I’m Currently Reading” tab to the right (Oh... you don’t notice it? Allow me to direct you to it. It’s to your right) that I read a lot of Young Adult Novels. I even took a class in “How to Teach Young Adult Novels.” I was doing it way back before it was cool to read it, make a movie out of it, then have everyone choose a “team” for the movie despite the fact that the book series wrapped up years ago and we all know which couples end up together. (Although deep in my heart, I was hoping that Bella would end up with that one minor character from the first book of the Twilight series. If I’m going to make a joke about it, I probably should read it closer. No, no.. I’m standing by that joke.)

I’m also very aware of the fact that I’m a 34 year old man. A 34 year old man that still wears shirts with his favorite cartoon characters on it and has a Green Lantern Ring for every day of the week, but I give the outward appearance of a responsible adult to those who may not know me that well. I kind of hope that the rather mean lady I met on the metro the other day had known me better to know that while I do a great impression of a responsible adult, I’m a giant kid at heart when she confronted me about reading a young adult novel.

You may have noticed that Reached by Ally Condie was in my “What I’m Currently Reading” tab (located to the right of this article) for quite some time. (I was savoring it.) But unlike a lot of the other books I read, I wasn’t reading it on my Kindle or tablet-like device, I was reading the actual paper book. You know, like they make from trees and the souls of the writer. This wasn’t to make a bold statement, I had mentioned I had enjoyed the first book on my kindle, and my wife being nice surprised me with the book versions of the other two. But rather than reading a faceless black tab of plastic, I was reading a colorful book that showed a young lady in red, standing through a broken glass bubble, symbolizing the final part of the book and the fact that our young hero, Cassia, was able to walk through the final pill: the dreaded red one that takes away memories.

So, it was obvious I was reading a young adult novel when this rather unpleasant lady broke Metro Rule # 1 and actually talked to a stranger during rush hour.

“What book is that?” she asked, looking up from her phone ever so briefly.

“It’s Reached,” I said. I was taken back by the fact that someone was talking to me, so I didn’t point out the large word, “REACHED” written on the front cover along with the young lady in red, standing through a broken glass bubble, symbolizing yadda yadda yadda...

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about a young girl...” and I launched into a rousing description of a dystopian society and a young girl who broke all the societal norms for love, friendship, and freedom.

“So it’s a kids book?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

At this point, I knew where the conversation was going. I was torn by saying a simple, “yes” or something more obnoxious by pointing out that I was reading while she was crushing colorful objects on the game on her phone. I split the difference and commented that it was a young adult novel, and I really didn’t have to defend any of my life choices to her as we’ve known each other for a good four minutes at this point.

“Why don’t you read a real book?”

“This is a real book.”

“It’s for kids! Grow up!” with that the metro lurched to a stop, moved forward a little bit more for some reason, then lurched to a stop again and she was away, no doubt to hop on her broom and interject her special brand of wisdom on someone else minding their own business.

Let me say that Bad Shakespeare does not endorse the persecution of witches, and I sincerely hope that that lady avoids all forms of liquids, as I’m certain that would be fatal to her. I saw it in a movie once, so I’m assuming it’s true.

This post is not to defend any of my life choices, particularly with reading. What candy jewel crushing mean lady was not doing was not reading, which at that point leads me to wonder what type of book she likes to read, if any? (Except Witches’ Quarterly, particularly that one article that tells you to stop one random stranger on a train and tell them that they’re doing everything wrong.) I enjoy Young Adult Novels. I enjoy Science Fiction (or speculative fiction, nerds) Novels. I enjoy Fantasy, Historical, Graphic, Realistic Novels. I like to read. Young Adult is just another form of that.

There’s also the fact that lately Young Adult Novels have been a lot more imaginative than some of the other novels I’ve read lately. I really enjoyed the Matched Series, as I pointed out, and yes, I hopped right on that Hunger Games trilogy bandwagon right when it got cool. Hero was one of my particular favorites, and dealt with the idea of coming out to your father (while saving the world) in a mature, intelligent, fashion. Divergent, Mrs. Pettigrew’s Home for Peculiar Children, and Mortal Instruments are both on my radar once I finish whatever book is in my “What I’m Currently Reading” tab. (located to your right.) So is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, but that’s not Young Adult so it’s not proving my point.

I think the point I’m trying to really get across is that one of the things I enjoy doing with my life is reading. I love it. I love reading books. Except The Twelve. That one just made me sad. But for the most part, I love books. And it’s like anything, I look for interesting things that inspire me. And interesting things that inspire me really don’t have an age limit. You just enjoy them. And that’s what you should do.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to put down my book and catch the latest episode of Phineas and Ferb.