Tuesday, February 27, 2007

... Blue van Meer

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a hefty title for a book. A title that, I imagine, has caused more than one person to pass it by on the shelves of Barnes and Noble without another thought. Those people are missing out.

What they are missing is a story about a 16 year old girl named Blue. No.
What they are missing is a lot of wit, sarcasm, simile's, references, and verbosity. No.
They are missing some great insights. No.
They are missing a quiz at the end of the book. No.
They are...

Oh, drat.

I won't belittle the book with a breakdown of it's plot, meaning, characters, and depth. And, in spite of my burning desire to, I won't litter this post with quotes from the book. Oooh, but I really want to... there are so many good ones. No, I will not. Anything I could write or say would not do justice. All I will say is you really would be missing out if you didn't read this book.

As for the author, Marisha Pessl , I eagerly await her second novel. She rocked on this one.

12 comments:

Bethany said...

Always love your book recommendations. Thanks. I have a huge list thanks to you. Someday maybe I will have time to catch up but for now it is fun to always know I will have some new suggestions from you waiting. HEE HEE.

Michelle said...

Oh, I've been wondering what you are thinking about The Power Of One. Be honest...

Jennifer said...

I'm so glad you're a book lover. You come up with books I wouldn't have thought about reading. I look forward to reading this one sometime (when I'm done with this semester perhaps)... yeah, summer reading.

Bethany said...

Michelle, I love it. I am at the last section now. I slowed down a little when he first went to the private school...well that and I started the new book club book and one for my mom's group at church. But I am almost done now and I just love the story. It is wonderful. The beginning just tore me up thinking that he was Seth's age and had all that going on. Made me cry. It is such a heartwarming story and very well told. I love all the characters...Doc I adored and Geel Peat. He does a great job developing the characters. So yes I am loving it. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle! It's Judy - Danny & Judy Judy... I am a blurker. I guess I should've fessed up on national delurking day. Anyway, I have to tell you I'm reading "Water for Elephants" per your recommendation & I love it. Also, I just read "Garlic & Sapphires" last week & loved that one too. Keep the recommendations coming. :)

Michelle said...

Oh great Judy! :) I'm so glad you guys are all reading the books that I love so much. Next best thing to being a librarian I suppose (that was my dream job as a child). haha. I have more that i want to post on. I'm reading them faster than I can post. haha.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever read "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel? I read it last year... Very interesting. It's slow to start, but once the story gets going, you can't put it down. At least, that's my opinion. I recommend it.

Libby said...

this sounds good...but you're too vauge. give me more details! read "the other boleyn girl" by phippa gregory. so much fun! passion, betrayal, royal court! it's coming out as a film this year staring eric bana (oh baby!), natalie portman and scarlet johanssen...i've also got "the devil wears prada" waiting for me...

Michelle said...

ok... totally read and LOVE the life of pi. It's on the sort list of recommendations in my opinion. Any other suggestions judy?

also totally read the other boleyn girl. i found it to be a great vacation book. i'm looking forward to reading other books by philipa gregory. i didn't know it was going to be a movie?! man, that is going to be good. what a line up. i hope they do a good job.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm.... Let me think. Last year, or maybe the year before, my book club read Angela's Ashes, which is now an absolute favorite of mine. I think I read it in two days. We also read The Good Earth which I loved also, it was my pick after all. I love books about the Chinese culture. We read Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. It's told from an autistic teenagers point of view. Very interesting... Anyway, right now I'm reading Complications, per Bethany's mention on her blog, then Midwives for book club. I frequent the library a lot!!! :) Whenever we go in Ruth always says, "SHHHH".... Taught her well!

Michelle said...

Oh, I'm so excited for the recommendations Judy. I didn't realize you were such a reader. I have a fascination with the asian culture as well. One on my "to read" list is The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo-- Japanese though, not Chinese.,,

Anonymous said...

Oh I forgot to add "The Kite Runner" in there. It was a great read. ;)