Tag Archives: Bookish Chatter

Chatter about books, reading and anything related to either one.

When is a kid old enough for this classic?

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.

If you are a reader, and happen to be female, you’ve probably read this book at some point in your childhood. I think I read it around age ten, possibly even sooner. I remember it making the rounds on the playground. Not that the subject matter was taboo or anything, but it was a hot title and money wasn’t easy to come by and the library had like two copies in circulation. That being said, many of us shared the copies we had, folding down pages for discussion later.

Let’s face it though, reading it was better than learning the stuff from our parents.

The other day, I got to thinking about whether The Girl is old enough to read it. I remember reading it as a kid and saying to myself… aha… now I get it. Blume takes all of that tween angst and somehow makes sense of it. But what was good for us back in the day, is not necessarily right for our kids today. It is a book that I absolutely want her to read, but is ten old enough?

I think I will probably re-read it, just to be sure. Plus, I heard that it has been updated for today’s tween but if you remember the book at all, do you think ten is old enough?

The Anticipation is Killing Me, Part 1

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki
I don’t think I can wait until August 12th for this one to make its appearance. There is something so magical about a huge book launch and this one is huge. Murakami’s fan following is huge. I am trying to be patient but August can’t get here soon enough.

Haruki Murakami

He’s cool, without trying to be cool. Look at him standing there, all innocent. He probably has no idea how crazy I am waiting for this book to hit the shelves. Heck, you can’t even read much about it yet. The only synopsis I’ve seen, mentioned old high school friends and how friendships became severed in college. Tsukuru, now in his 30’s, goes back to find those friends to figure out where they went wrong.

Simple enough plot, but I’m sure there are cats, ear talk, buckets of ennui, lots of eating, drinking of beer and exercise, not to mention strange sexual encounters and prostitutes.

I’m thinking about hosting a read-along for it. The totally unstructured, fun kind. Where you read at your own pace but we chat about it like crazy people. Still thinking about it. I tend to think new books are not good read-along material because most of the time, especially for a highly anticipated read, people just want to dive in and READ and not worry about deadlines, etc. I get that. Plus, I am still learning how to say the title. That is one long title.

This is just one of three books that I am seriously having a heart attack over. Those who know me probably know what the other two are.