Weekly Reads: Fangirl

One of the best (if not the best, if I'm being totally honest) books that I've read in 2013 is Eleanor & Park.  A relatively unknown author to me, produced a novel that was putting young adult obsessives in a tizzy over it's amazingness.  Two of my reading "twins" asked if I had read it, shortly after it's release, and when I hadn't yet, they both demanded I check it out immediately.  When your reading twins recommend a book IMMEDIATELY, you drop everything and pick it up.  They were right.  As usual. Thanks reading twins.  (Wait, does that mean that we're triplets?  They're both gingers too.  Perhaps they're actually long lost twins/sisters.  Will investigate further after writing this post.)

Eleanor and Park is set in the 1980s, which for a child of the 80s makes this pretty awesome right off of the bat.  It's an unconventional first love story, but so so so much more than just that.  It's raw, and beautiful, and just so very real.  I devoured it.

So when I found out that Rainbow Rowell (also, her name?  Amazing.  I feel like we'd be besties.  She just lives down in Omaha.  BRB making Rainbow my bestie!) had another book coming out this fall, I immediately put in a purchase request at my library.

Dear Library,
Please grant my Fangirl purchase request ASAP, as the book is being published September 10th, and I need it in my hands, ASAP.
Sincerely, Your devoted employee and obsessive YA fan


A summary from goodreads:

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?