Off The Shelf

Dear John Nicholas Sparks 335 pages Dear John, There's so much I want to say to you, but I'm not sure where to begin... John Tyree was a lost, rebellious teenager during his high school years, and upon graduation, he enlisted in the army. Soon after basic training, he was stationed overseas in Germany and thought he had finally found the place where he fit in. But in the summer, back home in Wilmington, North Carolina on leave, John meets Savannah. The two fall in love in two short weeks, but are forced to separate when John must return overseas. Over the course of several years, John and Savannah write dozens of letters back and forth, only seeing each other occasionally, and their love is put to the ultimate test. But no one can foresee that 9/11 is about to change the world, along with John and Savannah's relationship forever. Nicholas Sparks ( Safe Haven, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, The Last Song ) must have something against happy endings. After now r...

{Across the street} Yesterday, I visited  The Strand Bookstore on the corner of 12th Street and Broadway in New York City for the first time. I first heard about the store when I was reading Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan , but at the time I thought it was only just a unique, fictional, book setting - a made-up place. But then, upon my return to school from spring break, a friend of mine was carrying her belongings in one The Strand's popular canvas tote bags. She proceeded to tell me she went there with her cousin on the time off, and said I "just had to go." And so I did. {View from the stairs} As the sign outside proudly states, The Strand boasts 18 miles of books spread out on three floors. The first concentrating on fiction and new arrivals, the second on Children's and art books, and the third level houses their acclaimed Rare Book Collection.    {Books, books, books!} The "Staff Picks" table wa...

Happy Summer! With school winding down in the next few days, I have found myself looking forward to the season with much anticipation.  The following is a list of novels I hope to read in the coming months. Whether you are seated comfortably on the couch at home, at a picnic table or in a beach chair with sand between you toes, I hope the summer brings you fun, sunshine, and of course, good books! 1. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald 2. Flowers in the Sky, Lynn Joseph 3. Every Day,  David Levithan 4. On the Road, Jack Kerouac 5. In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez * 6. Saturday, Ian McEwan * 7. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 8. The Silver Star, Jeannette Walls 9. Threads and Flames, Esther M. Friesner 10. The Distance Between Us, Kasie West  *Assigned summer reading for Honors English 2013-2014

Just One Day Gayle Forman 368 pages "We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”   Allyson Healey has just graduated from high school, and is now embarking on a post-grad tour of Europe with her best friend. At an underground performance of Twelfth  Night in London, she meets Willem De Ruiter, a young and charming Dutch actor. Allyson immediately detects a spark between them, and after spending just one day together, she is surprised to wake up the next morning in Paris, without Willem. Over the next year, Allyson will start college with her mind still lost somewhere in Europe and soon she begins a journey to find Willem. With the help of Shakespeare, friendship, and self-confidence, Allyson discovers more about herself along the way than she ever thought possible. Gayle Forman, the bestselling author of  If I Stay  and  Where She Went  has created yet...