Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Some Quick and Easy Books

This week, I got fed up with my assigned readings--Shakespeare and Dracula and all that dense, old school prose that sorta makes you feel like you've had a dozen weighted blankets chucked on top of you, one by one. So it's kind of enjoyable, but you're also being suffocated. So instead of reading the latter half of Dracula for the second time (it's only worth reading once, and barely that), I picked up A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue.

I don't usually go for the romantic teen novel, but this book had three things going for it: 1) it's set in the 1800s, 2) the main character is impertinent, mischievous, and rebellious, and 3) it's extremely gay. My three favorite qualities in a book. I was sold the instant I picked it up in the BPL. (Also, the sound that those plastic jackets make is the reason I live.)

I'm halfway through it now. It's delightfully funny and charming, full of irreverent comedy, heartfelt moments, and the general confusion that every token coming-of-age novel requires. It gave me the nostalgic, middle-school feeling of having no responsibilities but inhaling a book hundreds of pages at a time. Except I did have responsibilities, but I steadfastly ignored them.

The other book I started reading this week, during a particularly dry lecture (on Dracula, I might add--I think maybe I just hate Dracula), was called I'll Give You the Sun. It's also very gay. I just needed some gay this week. Anyway, also a delightful book, while considerably less fluffy. It tells the story of Noah and Jude, twins who lose their mother during their adolescence. I think it's a really great depiction of a sibling relationship. Having grown up with two brothers, I related heavily to the idea of fighting tooth and nail one second and laughing at ridiculous jokes the next.

I'll Give You the Sun was also a very heartfelt depiction of growing up closeted and what that means, particularly in the context of already being a sort of strange kid. Noah is artsy and quiet and not really, by middle and high school standards, "normal." He paints constantly in his head, and the format of the chapters that are in his point of view is really interesting. It will describe a scene and then Noah's title for it--for example, Noah describes being called an artist by his crush and then thinks Self Portrait: Throwing Armfuls of Air into the Air. It's beautifully written and very unique, and has the feeling that eventually, it is going to make me cry.

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