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BBC: ‘Eleanor & Park’.
Hey, hey! I am slowly, but surely making it through my stack of library books – work and my freelance clients have kept me busy lately, but I’m reading when I can. If you’re a fan of YA novels, I think you’ll love the latest read from Blanche’s Book Club, so let’s get into it!
It’s “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell. Here is the description from Amazon.com:
Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.
I read “Landline” by Rowell earlier this year and wanted to check out her other books (she has several others). I looking into reading “Attachments” next.
This one seemed like a popular choice, and I’m never one to shy away from a YA romance.
Eleanor and Park seem to come from opposite backgrounds, and while in one way it seems to pull them together, it’s also the reason they can’t have a smooth relationship.
The book doesn’t give everything away in the beginning; instead, the backgrounds of these characters slowly unfolds over the course of the book, as they are learning about each other.
Overall, it’s a bittersweet story, and was very easy to read (I read it in a single day). I really did enjoy these characters and it was fun getting to know them.
I’m recommending this book to fans of YA novels and young love, especially if you’re in the mood for a bit of a hardship twist.
The next book Blanche’s Book Club is reading is “Limelight” by Amy Poeppel.
Follow along with me on Instagram (I’m trying to post more real-time book reviews on Instagram stories) @OrangeJulius7 – talk to you guys soon!
BBC: ‘Landline’.
If you’re still at work today, hang in there – Thanksgiving is riiiight around the corner! I’m traveling today, which is a relief, because I always feel like the the days leading up to traveling are so hectic and crazy and then when I finally get on that plane, I can take a nap.
But anyway, let’s get into this week’s read from Blanche’s Book Club! It’s “Landline” by Rainbow Rowell. Here is the description from Amazon.com:
As far as time machines go, a magic telephone is pretty useless.
TV writer Georgie McCool can’t actually visit the past — all she can do is call it, and hope it picks up.
And hope he picks up.
Because once Georgie realizes she has a magic phone that calls into the past, all she wants to do is make things right with her husband, Neal.
Maybe she can fix the things in their past that seem unfixable in the present. Maybe this stupid phone is giving her a chance to start over …
Does Georgie want to start over?
From Rainbow Rowell, the New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park andFangirl, comes this heart-wrenching – and hilarious – take on fate, time, television and true love.
Landline asks if two people are ever truly on the same path, or whether love just means finding someone who will keep meeting you halfway, no matter where you end up.
This book had me at “TV writer”, so I was in pretty quick. But I also really liked the concept of this plot, primarily because I think cell phones have ruined us in ways we can’t get back, and I still wish landlines and answering machines were a thing. I hate being “available” 24/7.
But anyway… this is a fun read. It feels like a true story, minus the whole “magic telephone” thing, which even that doesn’t seem so crazy (oddly enough). The book takes a rather common problem: a longtime marriage beginning to fall apart, and adds a twist: the ability to time-travel via landline.
What happens is obviously up to the characters… and fate.
I read this book pretty quickly, and I liked it so much that I’ll definitely be reading some of Rowell’s other books: “Fangirl”, “Carry On”, “Attachments”, and “Eleanor & Park” – they all seem to have that slight, fantasy twist. And let’s face facts, I think we could all use a little break from reality every now and then.
The next book Blanche’s Book Club will be reading is “The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder” by Carolyn Murnick.
Have a great Thanksgiving y’all! Tune in on Friday for a fun surprise 🙂
