Below are some highlights of the list…

• New John Green novels! (An Abundance of Katherines; The Fault in our Stars; Will Grayson, Will Grayson)
• Maximum Ride books 6, 7, and 8 by James Patterson (Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel; Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel; Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
• Warm Bodies: A Novel, Isaac Marion
• Mirror Mirror: A Novel, Gregory Maguire
• All three  volumes in the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire
• …and plenty more in the fiction, non-fiction, and reference departments.

View the full list of Kenan Library Acquisitions here: Selected List of Kenan Library Acquisitions–September 2012-March 2013

SMS held the 24th annual Celebration of the National African-American Read-In, our school’s fifth annual read-in, on Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the Sarah Graham Kenan Library. This year’s SMS African-American Read-In was titled, “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality,” and marked the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington. The event was sponsored by Kenan Library, the SLC, the Ladies in Blue and the SMS community. The read-in opened with a poem that set the tone for the day, “Praise Song for the Day,” written for and delivered by Elizabeth Alexander for President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. Click through the photos to see the other pieces that were read or sung at this year’s event.

Laurie Halse Anderson (author of the controversial “Speak”) does it again with the novel Wintergirls.  And by “it” I mean completely destroy your feelings and thought processes, of course.

Told in short spurts of sentences and calorie-counts, Wintergirls tells the heartbreaking story of Lia and Cassie, “wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies,” best friends stuck in the spiraling disease of anorexia. When Cassie succumbs to her inner demons and is found dead in a hotel room, Lia is left alone—though she’d argue that she had been so for quite a while. With a “me versus the world” complex, Lia pushes away just about everyone—her workaholic parents, a rather annoying and hypocritical stepmother, and therapist after therapist. Despite numerous hospital and rehab visits, Lia is stuck in her disease.  Cassie’s death both pushes her toward recovery and pulls her back to the winter blood oath made under the influence of alcohol and society.  As Lia continues to spiral out of control, she becomes more determined than ever to avoid Cassie’s fate. The path of recovery is always painful.

Emotionally charged, and quite a bit draining, Wintergirls is a mature, deeply affecting-novel. Anderson disposes of the stereotypical ideas of the disastrous disease of anorexia and doesn’t glamorize the situation. A heavy read, the book is a must  read for readers who are a bit masochistic and existential.

Beautiful Creatures is a Young Adult book series turned movie set in a small South Carolina town. Angsty teen Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) wishes for more adventure and excitement in his everyday life… he should be careful what he wishes for. Strange new girl, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), moves in with her uncle (Jeremy Irons), the town recluse. Lena turns out to be the girl of Ethan’s dreams– literally. There’s only one problem: Lena’s a witch (or as she prefers to be called: a Caster). Once a caster turns 16, they become forever linked to the Light or the Dark, which is just as ominous as it sounds…. and Lena’s sixteenth birthday just happens to be a few short months away. This compelling plot makes for an enjoyable read and an equally entertaining movie– you can find the trailer here.

Here are some good reasons to read the book and/or see the movie:

7. No love triangle: I love the typical YA love triangle as much as the next girl, but it’s nice to have a bit of a change in romantic perspective. With its Romeo and Juliet-esque romance, there are no “team this” or “team that” dilemmas in this story.

6. A Change of Perspective: Contrasting most of the YA novel movie adaptations coming out this year, Beautiful Creatures is from a guy’s perspective instead of a girl’s. Ethan is Beautiful Creatures‘ narrator, plus he’s a mortal. Not to mention, he’s quite funny.

5. No bloodsuckers here: As cool as vampires and werewolves are, they are a little overrated. The only non-mortals you’ll find here are casters (and they’re pretty cool).

4. Girl Power! Unlike some other popular YA book-based movies (*cough cough* Twilight) the main female in Beautiful Creatures is no damsel in distress. Lena is a kick-butt caster who doesn’t need to be saved by any boy– mortal or sparkly vampire. Aside from Jeremy Irons and a few other minor male characters, women dominate the supernatural contingent in the film.

3. Awesome casting: Although they may not have been the actors I pictured in the roles, this movie has quite the impressive cast list. Featuring Hollywood vets Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson, with newcomers Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert, these actors bring the characters from off the pages of the book and onto the big screen marvelously.

2. It’s an enjoyable plot: I really enjoyed the story, both in the book and movie. Even though it is a long book, it’s something you can really enjoy reading that you won’t regret picking up. The characters are entertaining, the romance is super cute, and the caster’s powers are pretty awesome!

1. Everyone seems to like it! Although it’s been getting some mixed reviews from critics, the majority of movie goers and bookworms have many positive things to say about the movie!

For all these reasons and more, the point is: GO SEE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (and possibly read the book first)!

Over Christmas break, I decided to be a big kid and read something that wasn’t from the teen shelf.  I picked Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- it was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list and got great reviews.  So, I started reading… and spent two days on the couch with my Nook, refusing to interact with family members.

Nick and Amy Dunne are the alternating narrators of this book.  They’re a couple who seem to have the perfect marriage, but are both deeply flawed as individuals.  They had recently moved from NYC to Nick’s small hometown on the Mississippi River when they started to have problems. And all of a sudden, Amy goes missing and all the evidence points to Nick.  The book switches back and forth between flashbacks of both their lives and the evolution of Amy’s disappearance.  The constant stream of more background information makes you question everyone’s motives as you learn more about them.

I won’t ruin the ending, but I will tell you that this book is fascinating.  Every time a question is answered, a new one pops up in its place.  I thought I had figured out the whole story about twelve times while reading this book, and I wasn’t ever right.  Gone Girl had the excitement of a crime drama that kept you pulled in, but it also explored the complicated family dynamics when relationships are falling apart.  So if you are looking for a book that makes you want to leave fun holiday parties to go home and read, definitely start Gone Girl!

Stephen Chbosky’s hit novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower is, simply put, a must-read for our generation. Although it was first published in 1999, the recent movie (under the same name) featuring Logan Lerman as the shy, socially awkward front-man Charlie has revived the novel’s shelf life, wiping out Barnes & Nobles’ stock nationwide. Everyone might as well jump on this magnificent bandwagon.

Charlie is by no means a popular kid during his freshman year of high school. Through deeply insightful but painfully naïve anecdotal letters to an unnamed recipient, readers follow Charlie as he experiences and runs from his life. He tries to navigate his way through the aftermath of his best friend’s suicide,awkward first dates, mix tapes featuring (repeatedly) “Asleep” by the Smiths, punk renditions of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, family drama, and his growing attraction to his new friend Sam.  With a little push from his almost overly-friendly English teacher and his new friends, Charlie begins to realize he can’t stand on the fringes of life forever and hide from the past he’s tried so hard to forget.

The book is perfection. Although the syntax is rather simple, the context is anything but. Charlie’s experiences and thoughts force you to reevaluate your life and strike you straight to the heart. Chbosky manages to confront many present issues without overused clichés or downplays—a very admirable feat in this day and age.

“Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a profound and overwhelming coming-of-age story that continues to distress your feels long after you put it down. But first, you must pick it up.

THE MOVIE

So yeah, Perks is a great book. The many fans of the novel were thus extremely excited about the movie adaptation released this past October. Unlike most film versions of favorite novels, The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie lived up to almost all expectations and was truly a beautiful interpretation of the book.

The movie stars Logan Lerman, Emma Stone, and Ezra Miller, and all three of them bring their respective characters to life. Undoubtedly, Logan Lerman was a major incentive in going to see the movie due to his attractiveness insightful acting ability. He embodies Charlie in all of his awkward, endearing flaws, and Ezra Miller likewise stole the show as a shockingly charismatic yet vulnerable Patrick… and, of course, Emma Watson was gorgeous/tragic.

The author of the book, Stephen Chbosky, directed and wrote the film, which is a primary reason that the movie was so true to the novel. All the crucial parts of the book are followed along with and yet still seem new and unexpected even after reading the novel and knowing what will happen next. Overall, both movie and book are just WOW. I would say that both of them play upon each other in interesting ways– reading and/or seeing each respectively really makes the story sink in more than they do on their own. I would recommend first reading the novel, because there are parts in the movie which I may not have understood had I not already read about them. If you’ve finished the book and have yet to see the movie, GO WATCH IT. You will not be disappointed; the movie manages to capture the same fragile honesty that makes the book so great. It is available on DVD now and also still showing at the Carmike, so what are you waiting for? Go enjoy the perks!

You can never have too much John Green– the witty YA author is currently super popular, and his most recent book (The Fault in Our Stars) is the basis for the following playlist.

The tracks are in chronological order, following the plot of the book… for example, track 9– “Annelie”– is in Dutch because it’s meant to accompany the scene wherein the two main characters are dining in Amsterdam.

Music and literature tend to work beautifully together, and creating playlists to go with a favorite book can be a fun way to explore that relationship. The Book Mark will be featuring more playlists like this in upcoming posts!

:This playlist is approximately a year old & features a bit of variety as far as musical tastes go.

By this point, many of you have read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. And if you are like anyone I know, you began to cry at random points in the day (cough: exams) over how good It was. You see, I am one of those select few who hadn’t read it as of a week ago and a dear, kind friend, Shelby Holmes (’16, SLC member), lent me a copy.

I promise I won’t give spoilers, ‘cause that would suck, but I will give you a few sentences describing my reaction to the story after I read each night.

Chapter 1-3, January 27, 2013

OK I get what all the hype is about. John Greene’s writing style is straightforward, in touch with the jargon of today, but also sophisticated. He is really witty and I like wit. So the verdict is that this a pretty great book.

Chapter 3-6, January 28, 2013

There is a quote in here about how it “isn’t another cancer story.” That is true. I’ve read some pretty sappy Nicholas Sparks books, and not that they aren’t good, but it’s a formula: someone gets cancer, someone dies, someone falls in love, etc. And this is different… Hazel, the protagonist with lung cancer, doesn’t act dead. She acts like me- like any other normal teenager.  She is active and sassy and traveling and loves reality TV shows the same way I love Ken Burns documentaries. It’s more relatable. I like it.

Chapters 6-14, January 30, 2013

KGSAJAFKJS. Such a good book. Ironically, as I began to type this Billy Joel’s “Everybody Has a Dream” just came up on my Spotify. I think those words truly reflect this book… Hazel, the protagonist, and Augustus, her friend, both have dreams. And it is fascinating to see how these dreams are affected by their cancer. I’m being mysterious. I’m trying not to give anything away. So you should go read it, and then we can fangirl together.

Chapters 14-21, January 30, 2013

As you may be noticing, the chapter increments are growing. I’m literally (hah, jokes from the book… read and you’ll laugh…) having to hold myself down from reading more. Today, the book was even more fabulous than normal. No joke. I am with a lack of words on what to saw…… just ahh. So great.

Chapters 21-end, January 31, 2013

Right now, stop what you are doing. Stand up, grab your wallet, grab your keys, and drive to the nearest book store.

Photos taken by Dean Holland