Reading for Pure Pleasure

Happy May, everyone!

Recently I found myself sucked into the world of literature.  I rediscovered my passion for young adult novels with thanks to the Hunger Games blockbuster that has taken over in the last month or two.  While the Hunger Games had been recommended to me a number of times since in was first published in 2009, I was shy to take it on.  A book about teens in a fight to the death?  Didn't sound like my kind of thing.  But finally I decided to read it just before the movie came out and I'm really glad I did.

Book image from: http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com

This post isn't about those particular books (though, really, read them instead of simply relying on the movies).  It's about the excitement that the books caused.  They reminded me, not only about my love of a really, really engrossing reading experience, but also my love of writing.  That's how good they are.  And I've been reading voraciously in the weeks since.  Which leaves less time for some of the other projects on this blog, but that's sometimes how these things go.  It's been a while since I dove head first into reading as much as I have, for which I'll go ahead and blame grad school and the require reading that comes with it.

Of the books I devoured over these last weeks, I just finished a truly phenomenal one - Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver.  It's a real stand out and I needed to share. 

Before I Fall is a first person narrative about a teen girl's last day alive.  Early in the book it's explained that she died in a car accident.  At first the explanation looks a little like an after school special warning - don't be a distracted driver - but the story reveals that there is so much more to it.  Over the next week, the main character Sam relives her last day multiple times with opportunities to change things.  The book goes right ahead and makes the Groundhog Day comparison.


Oliver writes the story beautifully.  For a story with a central plot focused on the same day, it avoids the potential trap of repetition.  Sam goes on a journey through living the same day over and over that is fresh each time.  She evolves as a character in a way that is both true and earned.  The story is not preachy as it shows Sam's growth. As a reader, it is hard not to grow close to her and even some of her bitchy friends and really feel her loss by the end.  Oliver also brings in the past and fills the whole world she's created in a way that feels honest despite all the action taking place on the same Friday.

I highly recommend this book as one that keeps you thinking long after you finished reading.  A mark of the best books.

Go get it.