Three books I'd highly recommend to anyone this month:
Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli. Stargirl is who I wanted to be when I was in high school, but I didn't have the guts. She's wonderfully different and doesn't care what anyone else thinks about her. At first, her nonconformity gives everyone else in school the license to be who they really want to be, but then high school politics and jealousy gets in the way. Even then, she ends up changing almost everyone who knew her. I'm still trying to figure out how to be me—just me, without any of the faces I present to the world—and I don't think I'm alone in that. Maybe someday I'll figure it out, but Stargirl at least gave me the hope to keep trying.
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. This is set in Mississippi in the 1960s and tells the story of white women and the black women who are their help (hence the title). I hadn't heard much about this aspect of the segregated South, and it was fascinating to read about. This is why I love fiction. And the characters are brilliant—real, strong, spiteful, generous, heartbreaking, and sometimes downright hilarious.
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale. I think this is my favorite Shannon Hale book yet, but I'm not really sure why. It's a sequel to Goose Girl, but it stands up very well on its own. I love that the stuff we see as magic isn't magic to the characters; it's just how the world works. That's part of what makes the story so believable, and I loved it.
4 comments:
I love Stargirl! I need to read the sequel.
Hey our book group did The Help last month. Didn't get to read it, didn't get to go but heard everyone loved it, especially the characters and how well developed they were.
Stargirls sounds great. I wouldn't say I'm star girl from your description but when I turned 40 I felt like a new person and I could be who I was and not worry about anything else (well within reason). :)
I'll have to add Stargirl to my To Read list.
Have you read the entire Goose Girl series or are you working your way through them? My favorite is the third, River Secrets.
I'm working my way through the series, so River Secrets is next. Yay! And I also need to read the Stargirl sequel. So many things to read, so little time.
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