Story People by Brian Andreas

This past year or so, I developed a passion for poetry. Now, I'm not talking about that dense, obscure poetry that you read in English class. I was never a huge fan of that. I just never understood why it was necessary to hide the meaning of the piece in super-hard-to-decipher metaphors and deep figurative language. I mean, sure, it sounds pretty cool, but it always seemed a little pretentious to me I suppose. This type of poetry seems to be something that people feel is important to study, but not something that they are willing to read for fun. Because of this, I think that there is some sort of stigma against poetry, because most people believe that it has to be so complex that it hurts your brain.

In reality though, there are many poets who are, in my opinion, equally as brilliant without being equally as complex. My love of poetry was first sparked by a man named Charles Bukowski, who was pretty cynical and grumpy but who wrote about life in a way that made me excited to live. His work was relatively straightforward, but he seemed to notice and acknowledge things that most people have never even considered. This perspective on life made me fall in love with not only his work, but the medium of poetry as a way of expressing thoughts that you may not be able to explain any other way.

Brian Andreas entered my life shortly after I had discovered Bukowski. He is much more playful than Bukowski, but has an equally simple and readable style. Andreas has a much more uplifting outlook on life and love and friendships than Bukowski, which contrasts him perfectly. Story People really focuses on memories and childhood stories, and the poems and drawings included in the book really have an innocent feel to them.

This is the type of book that almost anyone would enjoy, whether they read poetry or not. I have lent it to two of my friends, who previously had no interest in poetry, and both of them loved it. In fact, one of them kept it for months, and when they finally had to return it, they made copies of half of the pages so that they could keep the poems with them. It's really the type of book that you will want to reread over and over again until you memorize all of the poems. It's that good.


“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.” - Brian Andeas, Story People.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I have been a huge fan of John Green over the past few years. In fact, his book The Fault in Our Stars is one of my favorite books of all time. I will probably write about that one in greater detail later on, but I have written a million essays, including one of my college essays, about it and therefore I want to take a little break from that. So instead, I decided to cover my second favorite book by Mr. Green, Looking for Alaska.

Looking for Alaska is the story of Miles Halter, who goes to attend a boarding school, called Culver Creek, in Alabama for high school. I know what you were thinking; but no, this isn't a book about a frantic search to find the location of Alaska. Although, when I typed "Looking for Alaska" into google, a map of Alaska was the first result. Anyways, so Miles is really into biographies and the last words of famous people. He memorizes many of these last words, and particularly enjoys the last words of Francois Rabelais, who said "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Throughout the book, Miles uses these words as a justification for many of his actions. 

While at Culver Creek, Miles, who is later nicknamed Pudge, meets his two best friends Chip and Takumi. Through Chip, he is introduced to Alaska, a gorgeous but slightly emotionally-unstable girl. The four friends go on numerous adventures and constantly find new ways to get into trouble. Over time, Pudge begins to fall for Alaska, but things are quickly cut short by a tragedy that affects them all. 

John Green has been one of my favorite authors for some time now, and this was the first of his books that I had ever read. It's a relatively quick and easy read, but it definitely keeps you interested and also has a lot of meaning behind it. This book was laced with many of John Green's personal experiences, such as some of the pranks that they plan on their school principle. It seemed like a particularly personal novel for him, which left me feeling like I truly got to know the author over the course of the book. 

This book was extremely enjoyable, and I hope to read it through again soon. John tends to add little details that are easy to miss the first time around, so I am eager to see if I pick up on anything new my second time.

“Thomas Edison's last words were 'It's very beautiful over there'. I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.” - Looking for Alaska, John Green. 

Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day by David Levithan is nothing short of a unique love story. Authors and producers are constantly trying to think of new obstacles to put in the path of love, but Levithan has created one that is truly different. A, the protagonist in the story, wakes up in a different body every single day. Sometimes he wakes up as a female, and sometimes as a male. A has gotten used to it, and tries to lay low while inhabiting others so as not to cause a great disturbance in their life. He has three main rules: don't interfere, don't get noticed, and try not to get attached to anyone. For the most part, his routine has remained relatively uninterrupted.

However, one day he wakes up in the body of a teenage boy named Justin. Justin has a girlfriend named Rhiannon, who A quickly falls in love with after spending the day with her. How can you be with someone when you wake up in a different body every single day? I suppose you'll have to read it to find out. But really. It's a fantastic book.

I know that I've talked about David Levithan before, but that's simply because I think he is a phenomenal writer. He is incredibly versatile and none of his books are remotely similar. He has a way of capturing human emotion in a way that few people can, and it makes for a very beautiful read. He is also prepared to tackle topics and ideas that most authors are too scared to touch, and I think that perhaps that is one of the main factors that draw me back to his novels, time and time again.This book in particular was interesting because the main character did not really associate themselves with a certain gender, and therefore I think that guys and girls alike would enjoy it. This unbiased, open-minded perspective really added a lot of depth to the book.

“I want love to conquer all. But love can't conquer anything. It can't do anything on it's own.
It relies on us to do the conquering on its behalf.” - David Levithan, Every Day