Reading Young and Hip

At the suggestion of my daughter, I have been reading young adult fiction and believe it or not, I've been really enjoying it. In fact, for the first time in more years than I can count, I even found myself staying up way past my bedtime to keep reading, and then woke up in eager anticipation of reading some more. How crazy is that? Does this mean I'm finally hip? Highly unlikely, but at least I can talk about books with the young and hip.

The books that were recommended to me included the Hunger Games series and some by the author Rainbow Rowell. The Hunger Games was really cool, and I plowed through all three books in no time. I read Fangirl, but my favorite was the book Eleanor and Park, which is set in Nebraska, of all places, and is about a half-Korean kid who falls in love with the new girl who is different and bullied at school. Somehow Rowell really did a great job of touching on the subtly painful yet magical process of young people falling in love. I couldn't put it down. Then again, I'm a sucker for a good, sappy love story, and have found that some of my favorite movies as of late are the indie love stories about young love and coming of age. While this doesn't bode well for my real-man in training status, it might win me points with the emotional and sensitive crowd. A setback, no doubt, to becoming a real man, but what are you going to do.

One thing is for certain, A is getting a huge kick out of my interest in her favorite books. We can even talk a bit about characters and plot-lines, though I've found when I bring up a revelation, she tends to roll her eyes and respond with, "Duh." Sometimes dads just can't win.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to splityarn for the pic.