Fav. Books?

angelofmusic208 wrote:Hey...I know I'm jumping back in late...but has anyone read The Perks of Being a Wallflower?

WOAH! I just finished it and was about to make a post about it! Weird....... Anyways, amazing book. Probably the best young adult realistic fiction novel ever written.

It definitely takes some maturity though. It has some intense stuff in it and I think you have to reach a certain level of understanding to get the deeper meaning in the book. But if you can, it's amazing. Did the author write anything else?

He's actually primarily a screenwriter and filmmaker. In fact, he was the writer for Jericho on CBS.

Really? I didn't know that. And he apparently wrote the screenplay for Rent (the movie).

Guys, just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It was fantastic!

Now I'm moving onto The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (summer reading assignment).

Definatly need maturity to read Perks
I wish we could put it on the school summer reading list-its so much of a...realistic protrayal of what it is like to be a teenager and go through high school(maybe not exactly for everyone but everyoen can adapt it to fit their own situations and identify with Charlie)
Its got some awesome quotes too.
Anyone love that poem Charlie reads?

The poem is epic.

"Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it.

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it.

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three A.M. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen."

Who wrote the poem? It's intense, thought provoking, and eerily beautiful. Unfortunately, I haven't read it in the book's context.

It reminds me of a personal favorite:

"Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy

This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.

Osoanon Nimuss. Your poem was great too. I haven't heard of the poet though.

raisedlefteyebrow - Oh my gosh! I've been looking for that poem that you posted for like ever, and I never could find it because I couldn't really remember enough about it to have an effective search for it. I went to a Forensics competition this year and some kid performed it, and boy was it amazing. I loved it. Haha. But anyways, thanks for posting it!

Oh and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is one of my favorites EVER.

So the Bell Jar is good? We have to read it for our summer assignment in English, so I am picking up the book at the library today along with Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. I have read some of Cat's Cradle already; it is so funny!

I thought the Bell Jar was amazing. I heard that she submitted it to a publisher, and he gave it back to her saying basically that the whole thing was crap. The Bell Jar is pretty much a biography of Sylvia Plath herself, so she really took it to heart, and rumor has it that it was largely because of that that she committed suicide. Knowing that added a lot of depth to it, for me at least.

There are a lot of books I've meant to read, so my book-pool is lacking...

Anyway, my favorites are:

-Anything Sherlock Holmes, even non-canon. I especially like The Hound of the Baskervilles
-All the Harry Potter books.
-Great Expectations
-A Series of Unfortunate Events
-A Great and Terrible Beauty
On top of many others I can't remember...

I looooove the Gemma Doyle trilogy, except the ending. That was lame. I really want Libba Bray to write something else!

I am a total bookworm and I'll read just about anything.

My favorites include:
The Awakening
Angels and Demons
The Secret Life of Bees
The Twilight Saga (I am slightly obsessed lol)
Harry Potter (I am definitely obsessed)
Skinny
Anything Nora Roberts
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Identical
Impulse

I have yet to read Wicked but I heard it is absolutely amazing so it's on my to do list haha.

Hmmmmmm Lets see....
-Define Normal (really made you realize that norm is in the eye of the beholder.)
-Darkness before Dawn
(Every book written by Mary Monroe.Upper Room, God dont like ugly etc.)
-Dear Dumb Diary series. cant help but love them. they are funny as heck!
So many books that i cant list. im a True book worm

Gwen wrote:

Anyway, my favorites are:

-Anything Sherlock Holmes, even non-canon. I especially like The Hound of the Baskervilles
-All the Harry Potter books.
-Great Expectations
-A Series of Unfortunate Events
-A Great and Terrible Beauty
On top of many others I can't remember...

Just finished Great Expectations, it was really good! It seems like everyone I know hated it, but i thought it was really interesting and incredibly well written (obviously, Charles Dickens). Who's your favorite character?