Day 3: A Book You Love

I'm sorry, but this is a question that is literally, impossible to answer. One book?!

I'm having a moral dilemna trying to answer this question. So to make us both happy, I'm going to list down 5 books I so love, yes?

1. Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult

A complexities of adolescent life in high school are unraveled as an ostracized male student embarks on a killing spree after years of being tormented by popular high school students.

I think this book strikes out to me in such a way that I understand what's it like to want to fit into a certain crowd in school. Although this doesn't apply to me as much in university, where I couldn't care anymore about wanting to fit in, but rather, carving my own niche and seeking people who accept me for the way I am, it's seemingly more prevalent to me during my secondary and primary school days.

I was the ugly kid then. And although my best friend in secondary school was one of the prettiest and most popular girls in school, I couldn't help but feel overshadowed by her for many guys would swoon over her, while girls fawn over her. Hence I would sometimes act in ways are incongruent with my true self just to get into their good books.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to a desire of being accepted by social groups. We're humans after all, and deep down, we crave social contact and interaction. Nineteen Minutes appeals to me in that aspect. I can connect with the main characters in the book as they roam the schools, seeking ways to fit in, or struggling to maintain desirable social statuses. But I'm glad I didn't turn into a school shooter, partly because number 1, Singapore doesn't permit its citizens to possess firearms, and number 2, I knew that one day, I'd be getting out because someone once told me that the once popular kids who ruled the social class would have the cards turned again them, while those who remained invisible and craved acceptance, would either turn out to be just all right, or move on to become something greater.

All right, okay, I learnt it from Carrie's high school teacher in the movie Carrie, which might not be the best example here, because Carrie turn out to be a girl who is pretty much a nobody in school, and by such stroke of luck, gets asked out by the cute jock in school to prom, much to the chagrin of the cheerleaders and other popular girls. So the snotty girls plot to exact their revenge. Carrie and her date were elected Prom King and Queen, and after her principal planted the obscenely tacky and cheap looking tiara on her head and she starts waving to crowed - and striking a blow for unpopular girls in the school - the jealous cheerleaders poured pig blood on her, which turns out to be a mistake because they were unaware that Carrie possessed superpowers and so she set the school gymnasium on fire and killed pretty much everyone at prom.

Anyway. Moving on.

2. The Princess trilogy, by Jean Sasson

An appalling indictment detailing the mistreatment of women in Saudi Arabia, as told to Jean Sasson by Sultana, a member of the royal family, as she collaborates with her sisters to fight for women's rights in her country by rising above a sea of black veils.

3. Salem Falls. by Jodi Picoult

Jack St. Bride is released from prison after being wrongly incarcerated for a crime he did not commit and finds sanctuary in a sleepy town in New England. Yet news of his crime goes unnoticed among the locals and a group of girls, who are secret practitioners of Wicca, use his past as an advantage to frame him for a similar crime in order to exact revenge.

I love this book, not because I'm a secret witch myself, although I did have Sabrina Spellman's Spells and Potions Handbook for Witches when I was young and tried an incantation to make freckles grown on my face, but because the style of writing appealed to me greatly and fulfills my expectations of how a book should engage me to the fullest, that its impossible for me to put it down by transporting me to another world. From one book lover to another, I'm sure you'll understand me.

4. Marley and Me

John Grogan chronicles his life with his rumbunctious Labrador Retriever, Marley.

As one who owns a dog myself, I found myself going "oh my god Bobby is the exact same thing!", or "Bobby could give Marley a run for his money sometimes". The chronicles struck out to me and allowed me to connect with John, creating an indistinct fusion between author and reader that can only be felt.

I cried bitterly when Marley passed away. It was one of the saddest moments ever recorded, next to when Tom Hanks loses Wilson in Castaway.

5. The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

A teenage boy is accused of killing his girlfriend in what he claims to be a suicide pact.

Again, I love Jodi's classic and distinctive style of writing and her books NEVER fail to keep me absorbed.

Several weaknesses of mine: The Princess Diaries, Archie comics and Mary Kate and Ashley Sweet Sixteen & Two of a Kind. My mother detests them, but I screamed when she threatened to donate them.