Recently, I read the book that the movie Precious was based upon. The book Push by Sapphire is one of the most moving books that I’ve read in a long time. The book is about a sixteen year old girl who is pregnant with her father’s second child. Precious is illiterate, black and poor, and the odds don’t look good for her. But, Precious keeps fighting for a better life. In the book, one of the ways that Precious regains her self is through writing. In the beginning of the book, she cannot read or write, by the end...
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Diablo Cody, the very famous screenwriter of the much beloved movie Juno, is by no means a shrinking violet; however, her biting sense of humor and quirky view of the world makes her no ordinary “punk” chick. Her memoir of her year working as a stripper proves that while she is able to do almost anything, she also does almost anything with some semblance of intelligence. She never makes herself out to be a victim and her raw, honest look at the people she sees in her profession makes Candy Girl a far more striking book that I had...
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Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about images of female beauty that adorn our society and with a new article from Newsweek on Unattainable Beauty, I can’t seem to get away from the subject. For the most part it’s on my mind because I had a serious post-holiday meltdown with my refrigerator. Then I start feeling guilty because for all my preaching on the subject, I can’t seem to find peace with my own figure. I aspire to look in the mirror and feel good…no matter what the number is on the scale. To help inspire me I turn...
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Fallen angels and stalker attacks are at the center of Becca Fitzpatricks’ book, Hush, Hush. Nora Grey is feeling a bit vulnerable these days. Her father recently passed away and everyone at school doesn’t treats her differently. Her mother is rarely at home because of her new job. Then there’s this mysterious new boy at school, Patch, who gets to her like no one else can. To top it all off, she has recently become the center of some weird attacks. Her vulnerability makes her the perfect victim, but for who? Five Things That I Loved 1.  Angels instead...
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I read Come Closer by Sara Gran in one day. Besides children’s books, I haven’t read a book in one day since high school. Come Closer was so completely petrifying that if I didn’t read the book in one day, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. I had to know how this book ended so I could at least comfort myself with the thought that I didn’t have to go back to it the next day. Come Closer is about a newlywed, Amanda, with an amazing job. She’s living the jet-set life in the...
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The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left...
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