I Read Two Books This Week

Hey there. It's winter break, so between going to the gym with my brother, going to tae kwon do classes, and spending time with friends and family, I read two books this week.

The first one was The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson. It's the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, which is the story of a teenage girl's adventures traveling around Europe following instructions her aunt left her posthumously in the form of 13 letters. The sequel begins with the protagonist, Ginny, getting an e-mail about the last letter, which brings her back to England for another adventure around Christmastime.

It was a really fun read! The plot moves quickly and is super entertaining. Johnson's language about each city (London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.) is quite evocative and expresses an understanding of how it feels to visit these cities. I was particularly struck by some of her descriptions of Paris because one of my best friends from college just finished studying abroad there and had the time of her life. I feel like she could easily relate to the feelings expressed about the city, which, in turn, made me feel more connected to the story.

The second book I read was called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. It's a tough topic, but a compelling story; I read most of it in one day. This novel follows to parallel plot lines, those of Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker. Hannah just committed suicide and left a set of seven cassette tapes for the thirteen people most involved in the snowball effect that led to her suicide. There is a side of a tape for each person, and they are numbered 1-13. The book follows Clay as he listens to the tapes, so you get Clay's experience of Hannah's story; his reactions are interspersed with her stories.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book. I do not necessarily recommend it for every person to read, but I appreciated the book. You can't know what's really going on with a person, but it's important to be there just in case. The storytelling was really good and it was a thought-provoking topic. I felt compelled to continue reading despite my disenchantment with the subject matter, and I'm glad I read the whole thing.

I like to read, and my next novel is War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. It's the novel that is now a play and a film. I really want to see both, but I believe it is important to read the book first.

Today is awesome because I reunited with one of my high school best friends for the first time since August, and we got to have pumpkin spice ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop, just like the old times.