My thoughts after reading Landline by Rainbow Rowell, or better known as Are you telling me, you built a time machine … out of a landline?

Landline has been out for about two months, and of course there are reviews out. So I hope is that means I am not giving any spoilers. Or, that my thoughts don’t go off subject too much. 

Can I just say without sounding like I am gushing? There is something about Rainbow’s stories and characters that stay with you after reading her books. Landline is no exception. While her books are fictional, Rainbow writes from the heart and that’s what makes her stories real and believable. To me her stories are so believable I often sigh, laugh, gasp or shut the book because of what is going on in the book. With Landline I almost could not read that last chapter. No laughing. It seriously made me anxious. Would Neal be happy to see Georgie? What if she really did ruin something in her timeline? When the girls run into Georgie’s arms I was thinking okay good no one got erased in the timeline. Then when Neal was still staring at Georgie and not saying anything as he took the girls aside, I was thinking oh no. Then when Neal kisses Georgie, my heart leapt out of joy. Then I realized my brain was not getting oxygen because I had stopped breathing.

I feel a side rant coming on: I am not sure why some people restrict reaction to scenes to just movies. We should be doing that with books, music, theater, everything and anything that is creative. I say when you want to throw a book across the room, or when you want to cry because this song reminds you of a special moment that’s a good thing. Because book you had one job! And movies, I owe you an apology because I do love you, but right now we’re talking about other creative ways to tell a story. I can see how when you’re reading the story there may be some people who would think of Georgie as selfish. But I did not think of her as selfish. I thought of Georgie as just human. Seriously, how many of us go through the day just trying to get through the day. Or, are mentally still at work even when we are home. Or, wondering if the grass is really greener on the other side. (Where does that expression come from? Because I’ve seen Fringe and you know what? I think their grass is actually greener. Darn, Walternate strikes again! Where was I …) It’s just part of everyday stress. Perhaps I am reading (no pun intended) too much into this book, but it made me think that there are too many things left in this world to be taken for granted. 

I like the message this book gives at the end of the day what matters most is family. It also raises the question what would you do for love. And what do you do when you realize, you’re the one who has been not putting in half the work. When you realize you’re the one who is not there even when you are there physically. At certain points of the book Georgie realizes that it is always Neal who goes to her and Neal who supports Georgie no matter what. 

After that last chapter you realize Neal never thought Georgie was difficult. He knew without her, life is not life. That his life began when he first met her. I love how Georgie realizes that Neal was not laughing at something witty she said, or that she was funny. He laughed when he was happy. You think that would have blown my mind. But what really blew my mind is when you (the reader) realize the conversations Georgie had been having with “in the past” Neal on the landline actually happened. Then I thought it’s just like Battlestar Galatica, without the cylons …This has happened before and it will happen again. Then I thought wait, you’re telling me you built a time machine … out of a landline? (Seriously if they try to remake Back to the Future I’ll have no words. I’m looking at you Red Dawn. Yes, I know I have said that about Red Dawn, but I’m sorry it was .. well no words!)

If you are looking for a book that make you question the importance of love. If you ever though yeah it would be nice to go back in time and change a mistake, but why not change your mistakes now. Or, if you believe in the possibility of time travel, Landline is the book for you.

Favorite Fictional Couples

I have written about my favorite bromances, so today I thought I would write about or maybe in this case ramble about my favorite couples in fiction. They are my favorite couples not necessarily because of the love story but just the stories itself. These are from both movies and books. I apologize in advance for any spoilers. However, knowing me most of my information will be short because I don’t want to go on, or do I?

Beth Fremont and Lincoln O’Neil from Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

For those of you who have not gotten around to reaching Attachments. First off, why not? Rainbow Rowell is a talented, witty, and honest writer. Go get you one Attachments, or any of her books, because they should be on your TBR list. Attachments is a love story in which boy meets girl, well sort of. Lincoln works in the System Securities department at The Courier. As he is reading their emails, which in his defense is his job, he begins to fall in love with Beth. Without giving too much away Beth does notice Lincoln but when she first does there is another person in the picture. I like that it’s a love story, but Rainbow Rowell does an excellent job building Beth and Lincoln characters that you don’t just fall in love with them together but as individual people.

Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers from the comic series and the movie.

Fours words … Scott and Romona, eh?

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games trilogy.

I read The Hunger Games trilogy before the movie came out. I do have to say the movies do hold up, and brings the story out of the page. (In my humble opinion.) I won’t go into the summary to much because I can imagine by now everyone has read the books or seen the movies. Which I can imagine is not easy to make the reader of the books happy, which trying to find a balance of making a movie that can stand alone for people who have not read the books. Katniss and Peeta are another great example of how we fall in love with two people both individually and together. I enjoy that Suzanne Collins makes Katniss her own person. Although she is going through being a teenager phase, Suzanne Collins does not let Katniss’s love life define her. And without sounding bias, I am in love with Peeta. Not like that, I know he is fictional, but I can’t help it I actually like the nice guy. (I did marry one after all. Nice guy … not fictional character.)

Amanda Price and Darcy from Lost in Austen.

I know for some people Jane Austen might be one of those either you like her or you don’t. If you don’t that’s okay. What I like about Lost in Austen, it’s for everyone. Okay that sounds kind of vague. Lost in Austen reminds me of when I was a kid there were chose your own adventure stories. It’s been so long I am not sure what if that is what they are called anymore. Anywho, you read the story and at the end of the chapter it says to go into the room, turn to page 22 or if you want to continue walking keep reading. (Man I wish I could remember a name of a book like that, that I read.) Lost in Austen is also funny because it reminds me of me or anyone else I know who gets so absorbed by the story that you can’t help but laugh or cry with your favorite characters. Amanda Price works at a bank and to escape the everyday life she reads Pride and Prejudice over and over and over. She reads this book so much, somehow her and Elizabeth Bennet end up in each other’s lives. Hopefully this doesn’t spoil it too much. The story ends with Amanda and Darcy falling in love and it rewrites Pride and Prejudice in a manner of speaking.

Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop from Fringe

Dunham is played by Anna Torv and Bishop by Joshua Jackson. He’s her lobster. Oh and if the internet can hear my small voice … yes I would love for Anna Torv to play Ms. Marvel. Let’s make it happen internet. I can so picture it. And I am biased about Joshua Jackson because I always preferred Pacey to Dawson. There I said okay? Anyway. Olivia and Peter are meant to be. I don’t mean in a cheesy way. Just they have the kind of love where when you know, you know kind of love. One thing I love about the Fringe series is that Peter respects Olivia as a woman and her career. He does not try and flirt with her because he knows it will not work, and when they do end up together it will be real. If you have watched the series you know that it’s not a boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and timing is not right. It’s more like a boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and timeline is not right because of another Fringe event. Darn you Folivia and your vagenda! (If you want to know what a vagenda is, watch Fringe you won’t be sorry.)

Angela Chase and Jordan Catalano from My So-Called Life

Ah, if ever there were a picture of teenage angst in regards to teenage love, Angela’s picture would be in the dictionary. But who can blame her? Have you ever seen Catalano lean? Angela and Catalano are not the only reason I like My So-Called Life I enjoy the series because it was ahead of its time. It was fictional but discussed real issues such as teenage drinking and sex, and discussed a number of issues in a honest, relatable way.

Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori from Pacific Rim

Okay this one is not a love story in the traditional sense. Which is why I wanted to end the blog this way. I can best describe way I like their story by quoting Guillermo del Toro, which is still my favorite quote of all time.  “I wanted to show that men and women can be friends without having a relationship. Theirs is a story about partnership, equality and a strong bond between partners. It’s important for little girls to know not every story has to be a love story and for boys to know that soldiers aren’t the only ones to triumph in war.”

Random and reoccurring thoughts.

I just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I know that I might be a little late in reading this book due to all the wonderful comments I have read online. Although I did avoid summary comments because I wanted to be surprised when I finally read this book. It is one of the most wonderful books I have read this year next to Eleanor & Park, and Fangirl. I was looking for something to read after Fangirl because in all honesty I felt the next book I read after Rainbow Rowell had some big shoes to fill. I found it in The Fault in Our Stars. It made me laugh out loud, cried for true love passing away, and happy that two people found love.

This does have a point, I promise. With my statement earlier about how it was a beautiful and heartbreaking story why label it as it as YA fiction? I realize that labeling a books as Young Adult (YA) is based on the reading level of the book. I do understand that, however why can’t fiction just be fiction? I really don’t understand when it became important to label something as YA or juvenile fiction.

I think I might have asked this in a blog before, why can’t a great story be that a great story. For example, The Little Prince by Antonie de Sanit-Exupery is normally not introduced as children’s book The Little Prince, it’s simply called The Little Prince. I feel that the reason for this is because the meaning it holds for each reader. While it is true this book and The Fault in Our Stars have different stories and perhaps different meanings, the point is they have different meanings.

And books provide us with great memories. When I was little my brother and I were obsessed with Happy Birthday Moon by Frank Asch. Although my mother had gotten for both of us, we spent part of the time arguing whose book it really was, now the most important thing I remember is the time he and I spent together reading Happy Birthday Moon.

Stories are what make us human. It provides a connection to one another. And there are times when we fall in love with a story that we keep it to ourselves because it has special meaning. There are other times when we fall in love with a book so much that we just can’t help but share it.

In my world, I do not wish to label a book as YA, children’s literature, etc because what matters is how the story makes me feel. And a wonderful story is just that, a wonderful story.

My thoughts after reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I finished Fangirl a couple of days ago. I haven’t been able to decide what to read next because in all honesty, the next book has some big shoes to fill.

If you follow Rainbow Rowell on Twitter, you can see what she has such a great sense of humor in her books. At least I do. Not to mention that she replies to her fans tweets when she is able to whether it’s a favorite or a reply, Rainbow is a gracious enough to let her fans inside her life.

As some of you may, or may not know Fangirl is about a girl named Cather Avery. Cath has a rocky start in her first year of college when her twin sister makes to decision for both of them that they both need to grow up. Along the way Cath learns to stick up for herself, what love is, and that it’s okay to live in the real world away from the fanfiction she writes.

What I love about this book is the way Rainbow pays tribute to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series. The more I think about it, the homage goes beyond Happy Potter, but to all the fans who have literary crushes on books characters. Fans who fall in love with not just the books, but the story.

Hopefully I am not about to give too many spoilers here. One of the many other things I love about this book is all the references to scifi related genre. As soon as you get into the book, page 9 has reference to one of the best movies … Soylent Green is people! I laughed out loud when Wren (Cath’s sister) called Levi, Lt. Starbuck. And good ol’ Levi does not let the Avery sisters nerdom catch him off guard, and knows it was a Battlestar Galactica reference. It made me smile when Levi tells Cath she is Clarke Kent.

Yes, Fangirl is about girl meets boy. However, Rainbow writes Cath’s story in a way that she does not make it obvious as to what will happen next. While Fangirl is classified as a YA book. I feel that it should not be. A great story is just that a great story. And a wonderful writer is a wonderful writer.

My thoughts after reading Eleanor & Park By Rainbow Rowell

Confession, I have just finished reading Eleanor & Park. My husband bought me Rainbow Rowell’s books after I kept talking about Attachments. I had not read Eleanor & Park right away because I had a couple of books that I just checked out from the library and there was a book I was reading for work. I felt so bad for those library books, every time I would pick one up I kept eyeballing at Eleanor & Park.
 

I felt just like I did when I was reading Attachments, I could not stop thinking about the story and the characters. Eleanor & Park has made me realize I am in love with Rowell’s writing. Eleanor & Park was one of the best books I have read this year, along with Attachments.

After reading it I can see why so many people love this book. The characters, Eleanor & Park, are real. Real being that their lives are complicated and makes you realize sometimes when we fall in love its messy, but if we truly love the other person its worth fighting for.

I enjoyed the fact that it was not another girl meets boy, and boom they’re in love. Eleanor & Park’s love grow out of their friendship. They learn to mutually respect one another and their lives separate and together.

While Eleanor’s home life is not the best, it explains a lot of her reactions and fears she has towards becoming Park’s girlfriend. When Eleanor & Park first fall in love, I kept thinking of the Dr. Seuss quote, “We are all a little weird and, life’s a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with then and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

While some people may say the characters are way too young to feel this way. Their love was not done in a Romeo and Juliet way either where, everything is so melodramatic. I think that Eleanor & Park reminds us that true love is and can be real at any age. I cried when Park kept waiting for Eleanor to write or call. I kept saying, why won’t she write to him, why doesn’t just she just call him. He is waiting for her, he always has. When he finally got the post card, it felt like they never really ended. It also made me happy cry for Park when she sent him that post card.

Sorry about that, but I think I made my point with that little rant, on how this book emotionally touches the readers heart. Books are wonderful journeys, but when we find the stories and characters that we emotionally connect to we should share those.