this one summer. jillian tamaki and mariko tamaki (229)

in my usual fashion now due to all of the book pages i follow on facebook, i do not remember where i first heard of this one summer. i do know that emma roberts instagramming it is what inspired me to put in my request.

in an ideal world, i would have enjoyed this book on a beach somewhere.  however, my sister bailed on the labor day plans so i read this at home on the couch.  though in all honesty, i am not a beach person and i would felt bad if i got sand on the cover.  (i would like to add that it would have made a good beach read cos i finished it in about hour.  which makes me worried, but i mean it is all dialogue and pictures.  i always feel like i read graphic novels too quickly but i guess that is their nature.)

before i go on, i want to add one last tidbit that this one summer is written by jillian and mariko tamaki, who are cousins! so sweet right!! thought that was cute little fact.

so first off the artwork is amazing in this graphic novel.  the pictures felt so realistic in the scene that often times i stopped because they felt like a photograph.  it's not that the drawing looked real but felt like a memory. 

this one summer is a coming-of-age story, rose learning that life isn't easy and nothing is as seems in one summer.  every year her family goes to awago beach.  it reminded me of my summers as a kid going to los osos with my uncle boon and his family.  though it wasn't the same because i was not exposed to any of the things that rose encounter.

rose's had a summer buddy, windy, that she hangs out with.  windy was younger than rose and hilarious.  she reminded me of jack black and even looked a little like him.  and just like jack black, windy was very entertaining but borderline annoying.  i did love her hip hop dancing and her adolescent obsession with growing boobs.  oh and windy also had the habit of saying kidding, which rose harps on her about, but i realized that i do the same thing.  

rose and windy's summer adventures include swimming of course and my favorite, one afternoon of playing mash!!!!  loved that.  i want to add that i kept on trying to place them in the 90's which is my childhood but justin bieber was listed for mash, which made this story like circa 2011.  oh well.  they also start watching scary movies like texas chainsaw massacre, jaws, and nightmare on elm street and scare the bejesus out of themselves.  

rose also developed a summer crush on the older boy that works the market where the girls rented videos.  windy dubbed him the dud.  the dud had some drama.  his girlfriend got pregnant and like an asshole, dud was in denial that it was.  rose, in love with him, believed that his girlfriend cheated on him and told windy that the girlfriend was a slut.  rose then goes on a rant about girls not being able to take care of themselves.  it was said to read rose being so naive but this is this one summer where she grows up.  windy, thankfully, had the good sense to call rose out on her sexism!  

in addition to dealing with hormones, rose was also dealing with her parents divorce.  her mother seemed to be suffering from depression and she and rose's father are constantly fighting.  rose, being young, does not understand why her mother was acting that way and sided with her father, treating her mother poorly.

in the end, after the dud's girlfriend was saved from drowning, by rose's mother.  it was discovered that her mother was depressed due to a miscarriage that had occurred in the lake.  after this discovery, i hoped that her mother would be honest with her family and hopefully things would get better.

the graphic novel ends with rose heading home, none of the story lines are truly resolved other than she and windy mend their friendship.  we don't know if dud and his girlfriend work things out or not.   however, that is how life is, sometimes things go unresolved and we take what lessons we can from it. we move on and it just becomes a memory or a story like "this one summer . . ."    

here is my favorite art and moments:

windy's boob talk.

the walk home when rose gets in trouble for using the word slut.  (note the slut steps.)

when the girls play mash.  i find it funny how we girls pass these games along.

their counting for mash!!!

windy's grandma was hilarious.  and they were virgin drinks!

after a fight with her mom, rose ran out this man told her she should go in due to the lighting.  she was rude to him.  this was his response but great advice for any girl.

the catcher in the rye. j. d. salinger.

i first heard of "the catcher in the rye" in the 1997 film "conspiracy theory" starring julia roberts and mel gibson.  in the film, gibson's character shared a conspiracy theory about how assassins are obsessed with the novel.  also gibson's character had an odd impulse to buy "the catcher in the rye" and looked for it in every bookstore he walked by.  i will admit that due to the film, every time i was in a bookstore, i would wander over to the s section to look for "catcher" (i was an odd kid).  but thanks to the film, i read it and fell in love with "the catcher in the rye" and it became one of my favorite books. on my first read, my favorite part was how holden kept on asking where the ducks went in the winter.  i though it was such a quirky thing to ask and couldn't believe no one had an answer for him.  i will also admit that i missed the whole him writing his story from a mental institution thing.

i read "catcher", my junior year on my own and then mr. brice (one of my favorite teachers) assigned it my senior year.  in fact, the copy i reread (for this blog) was from my senior year, though not mine, i somehow ended up with stephen warren's book:

 

i remember we had an assignment in which we had to draw what was in holden's mind.  i drew the ducks at the lagoon, allie's baseball mitt, his red hunting hat (which i drew more of like a three musketeers hat but with less brim because of all the talk of it's peak, i now know what a hunting hat looks like thanks to google), a checker board with all the kings in the back row and a carousel.  what is interesting, the images i drew were still my favorite parts during the reread, especially allie's mitt covered in poetry.  i was relieved that these images stood out to me because i was worried i would not enjoy "catcher", as an  adult.

since i am going to new york this weekend, i decided to reread "catcher" because the protagonist in "truth in advertising" retraced holden's footsteps when he first moved to new york. i want to do the same but decided i should save it for a trip in the winter, it wouldn't be the same to have the ducks there.  also it is on flavorpill's 30 before 30 and figured i should give it another read before i am old.  i was worried about reading it again but as you have seen with other classics, i discovered that i should have read them when i was younger to get their full effect.  i was scared i would be annoyed by holden and all of his talk about phonies but in fact i loved him just the same.  i still

think it is better to meet holden when you are in high school but i had a better understanding of him when i met him again as an adult.

as a teen, his perspectives on life and society left an impression on me, even though i was the anti-holden.  i was a well-adjusted kid, got good grades, involved in a bunch of extra-curricular activities, stayed out of trouble and didn't hate the world or anything.  but i was at the age where i was starting to question authority, not my parents but school administration and church regulations.  i was starting to see that adults didn't have all the answers or necessarily did what was right and so holden's talk of phonies and all of the contradictions within society was eye opening. he demonstrated not to take the world at face value and you should question society.

i am not saying that holden didn't have issues.  he definitely did but he was also misunderstood, i realized that when i caught myself judging him.  it was when he discussed how he hates people with cheap luggage.  at first, i thought he was being pretentious but after he shared the story of his roommate with cheap luggage that tried to pass off holden's luggage as his own, his hatred made sense.  he didn't hate cheap luggage it was a metaphor for his hatred of how expensive things make others feel inferior.  i thought it was nice how he tried to hide his luggage to make his roommate feel comfortable.  holden was actually full of good intentions, just like this.  he was caring which is why he wanted to be a catcher in the rye; to save and protect others. deep down inside, holden had a heart of gold, he just had issues because of his brother allie's death.  

on this reread, i realized for the first time how much allie's death affected holden.  i knew he had a difficult time with allie's death, the breaking widows and even missing the funeral due to being in the hospital.  i thought holden's issues were due to him feeling like an outcast from society but his alienation was the result of his brother's death.  as a teen, death is an abstract concept, those that die around us are usually older and so it makes sense, there is no need to question the universe for its actions. however it is not the same when it's with someone young.  i only had older relatives die when i was young, so i never made the connection as to how a sibling's death at a young age can affect someone.  but now i can imagine how it must have been for holden.  no wondered he hated the world, he was dealt a bad hand. it also explained why holden was so hung up on saying good-bye.  his searching for a sense of farewell during his final days at pencey seemed odd but was understandable in this context.  it also explained why he wanted to make sure to tell phoebe bye instead of just leaving as he did with everyone else.  (and luckily he did because he then got the help that he needed.)

the loss of allie left a void in holden's life which he could not fill with actual friends (with the exception of jane).  i think a lot of people who read "catcher" get caught up on the fact the hired a prostitute or was constantly calling up people to go out drinking.  but it wasn't because he was a sex fiend or an alcoholic but simply he was lonely.  he sadly did not have anyone in his life except his sister.  it made me sad how desperately he tried to make friends at bars, i was genuinely embarrassed for him every time he tried to buy someone a drink.  though i will admit that if i was carl luce, i would have left him too, he was so annoying with his sex talk. but i forgave him in the book because i saw how goddamn lonely he was.

random sidenote:  but i thought it was admirable how holden respected that no meant no even though he talked about sex a lot.

as i said before i am not denying that holden needed to be psychoanalyzed. his talk of killing or injuring people was very disturbing.  another thing i better understood on the reread was his moment of what would appear to be schizophrenia.  living in la, i encountered a lot of homeless schizophrenics talking to themselves, this was not the case in delano.  due to this, as a teen, i didn't think much of holden talking to allie as he walked around but now i get how crazy he must have looked.  i had always thought it as sweet, keeping allie's memory alive but the talking to him was a huge indication of holden's need for help.  also he was a pathological liar too.  though i do forgive him for lying to that one's kid's mother on the train cos no one wants to hear how their kid is actually an asshole.

but i am glad he did get help because holden is one of my favorite characters. i want to be hopeful about his future.  i really do think holden and i would have been good friends.  there were so many random things he said that i totally got.  

like when he talks about good books:

what really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him

io on the phone whenever you felt like it.

i wish some of my favorite authors were my friends.  i also agreed with him that "a farewell to arms" is horrible, i have no idea why people like it when hemingway has written better. also loved how he quoted "old sport" from "gatsby".

i also love his quote "i'm illiterate but i read a lot."

though morbid, i do agree with his "who wants flowers when your dead? nobody!" i don't want flowers right now alive.  

there are a handful of other gems he shares but this blog is already long so i won't continue.

as i mentioned before i read this as part of flavorpill's 30 before 30, i also said that i thought it was best to read in high school but a reread in your late twenties is good, especially during your "return of saturn" or if you having a quarter life crisis.  if you know me, you know i love birthdays but i also have peter pan syndrome.  but i am dreading turning 30 tomorrow, like sylvia plath-ing it sounds like a good alternative to getting old.  and oddly enough this book was the perfect read for me on the eve of my birthday because like me, holden is scared of growing up.

holden and i both share a love of natural history museums.  my favorite part of the museums are the dioramas, i love seeing the taxidermy animals in their habitats.  there is something magical about the darkness of the hall and the bright lights and scenes in the dioramas.  however, as i read holden's description of the natural history museum, i saw why holden and i both love natural history museums.  it is because time is on pause  in natural history museums . holden discussed how he loved how phoebe can experience the museum just as he did because it stays the same.  i never thought of it that way but this makes sense.  if i could pause life like a diorama, i would, there are so many times in life where i am just so content that i wish it could last forever. also life is preserved in natural history museums and i am very nostalgic, my past is filled with so many great memories, that i often revisit it via pictures. it's the same for holden, his past has his brother alive so he would want it that way as well.  

another way we are similar is our attempts to avoid growing up. i never took notice of it on my previous reads but if i was sally hayes, i would jump at the opportunity to runway to vermont or massachusetts.  choose a simple life instead of one complicated with education, class, wealth and social norms. but alas just like holden, i have to grow up and become a mature (read: married and with kids) person.  its odd because i thought i learned this in high school when i had my whole life ahead of me but i guess i needed to read it again.

ghost world. daniel clowes. (103)

i watched "ghost world" the movie when i was a high schooler and wanted to be all indie movie cool (okay i still want to be indie movie cool). but i remember not getting it. i remember finding it odd that scarlett jo was in it cos she was that "horse whisperer" girl so didn't take her to seriously. lol. also i knew it was based on some book but that was about it.

my opportunity to read the graphic novel (comic book) based on it came via flavorpill's 30 list (sorry i'm turning 30 in 1 month and two weeks so get used to this). but this should be read before you are twenty because beyond that is kinda its whatever. i mean if high school me read it, i would have loved it. but late twentysomething only liked it.

like the critics say it is a honest protrayal of teens on the verge of adulthood. i mean i would have wanted to hang out with enid and rebecca but high school me was definitely not cool enough to hang out with them. i was too school
spirit and preppy to be their friend though i wanted to be alt and indie, i did shop at hot topic in attempt to be. lol.

the novel did have its moments. i liked how enid and rebecca read the personal ads. (i love reading craigslist misconnection.) i enjoyed when they went to cavetown usa, who doesn't love big dinosaurs? i also enjoyed how enid used her SAT words. and of course every girl knows how shitty it is to fight with your BFF.

it was also funny. here were some of my favorite scenes:

sadly, if you have big boobs, your only options is slut.

seeing ugly couples always give me
hope that i will find someone, cos if ugly people can find each other than i will find someone.

loved that cat mask. in the movie too!

i hate oprah.

so like i said i liked it. and now i am
inspired to rewatch the movie. and also
have to add, scarlett jo did well in her role, as i read i realized how brillant she was.

quinceañera: a latina's journey to womanhood. mary d. lankford. (86)

while looking for books about hannukah, i came across this gem. it's been sitting on my shelf for about a month now (i renewed it, so it's not overdue) but finally got around to reading it and actually learned a lot about quinceañeras.

sadly and regrettably i did not have a quince. however, i was in my friend sofia samano's court, so i have experienced a quince first hand. i went to mass and of course danced the waltz, but i never got to be the belle of the ball. or should i say la reina de la fiesta. oh well. maybe in another life or my thirty birthday. cos seriously i need a cake like this in my life:

so thanks to the book i learned some new things about quinceañeras and was also reminded of some great traditions. first, i learned that i would have never survived life as an aztec.  this is assuming that i still have my atheist/agnostic tendencies and independent spirit in precolonial mexico.  but as the book explained, "in mexico's native american aztec civilizations, girls of twelve or thirteen attended two types of school, the Calmacac or the Telpucucali.  those who entered the calmacac school prepare for a lifetime of religious service.  girls who enrolled in the telpucucali school prepared for marriage."  seriously god or marriage, the only options in life, isn't great to be a woman?  if this was all i was offered in life, i would have had a serious disney princess moment about keeping with traditions.

anyway, to continue our history lesson, after the spanish conquered the aztecs in 1521, this tradition of aztec rites become catholic-ified because the spanish are catholic.   fifteen became the age for young women to choose between marriage or god.  looks like spanish colonial me would have hated life as well.  and as the book explains "these rites received the name quinceañera from the spanish word for fifteen, quince, and birthday, anos." does this whole choose between god and marriage still exist?  should i be a nun or a wife?  though i guess in both ways you are a wife, of god or some machismo senor with a tendency to get drunk and cry to sad songs.

and maybe it's just the feminist in me or the old maid in me but this whole marriage talk at 15 kinda scares me.  i mean you haven't even lived life yet and your folks are sending you to mass to learn about marriage?  (btw i don't know if this is true so please clarify if i am wrong).  i mean even the book referred to the fact that the girl having the quince looked like a young bride in her dress!  ekkkk!

but there really is nothing to worry about because today's quinces are just an excuse to party. and who doesn't love a party?  one of the traditions that the book mentioned and which i absolutely love was the presenting of heels.  (that is not it's offical name but what i'm going to call it).  so the dad of the girl presents her with her first pair of grown up shoes aka heels and she has her first dance as a "woman".  awwwwww.  how cute, right?

the book was actually a good book for kids to read about quinceañeras.  also for adults that didn't have any latin american friends growing up.  though they should make an updated version cos there were some crazy 80's dresses in in that i loved but might not be everyone's cup of tea.

swamplandia!. karen russell. (9)

 because of my friend chris' facebook postings, i became obsessed with flavorpill's articles particularly their book articles.  one such article, the best debut novels of 2011, inspired me to take a break from my classics reading and try some new books.  i decided to start off with karen russell's "swamplandia!".

i had high expectations for this novel, because flavorpill said, "it's a coming-of-age story, it's a save-the-farm tale,  it's a strange love story, and it's a wonderful debut."  i guess i can call it the curse, (that sounds negative . . .) the standard set (?) by "catcher in the rye", but i assume that any novel that is described as "coming-of-age" will change my life.  and on top of that there was a love story and an alligator farm, how could it fail?  it kinda did.  it was a good novel.  however it didn't wow! me like i thought it would.

flavorpill did get it right.  karen russell is a wonderful writer.  her book was filled with interesting and quirky images.  my favorites were:

"he backed away from his thought and let it hang there, a Monet picture, beautifully out of focus."

"hopes hugged the perimeter of a dance floor in your brain, tugging at their party lace, all perfume and hems and doomed expectation."

"tv movies and radio songs were the only models i had for love transmissions, a boyfriend-girlfriend conversation."

"the knit of our hands on his lap looked so distant from either of us, like a sculpture we've made."

the story premise was interesting as well.  i loved the idea of the family-owned alligator farm. i, like ava, longed for the days when their mother was alive and the star attraction of their farm. their lives were filled with happiness and family love.  but sadly this did not last long.

i did become invested in all of the characters.  i hated their father for abandoning them.  i worried about kiwi and wanted to protected him from the outside world.  i was concerned with osceola and her "boyfriend." and lastly, i loved ava.  i wanted nothing but happiness for her.  she was such a sweet and brave little girl and i was angry with the world for dealing her such a horrible hand in life.  and my love for ava is why i disliked this book.  without spoiling it for anyone, there is something that happens to ava and i have no idea how or why russell let it happen to her.  her incident did make the novel real, in real life that is what would happen to her.  but regardless it broke my heart that it did.  i guess i was disappointed because i wanted everything to work out and it didn't.

so you should check this book out.  the writing is great, i just became too invested in ava's life and that may be why i was disappointed.