Audrey, Wait!

by Robin Benway

{ 2008 | Razorbill | 320 pgs }

So you remember Taylor Swift’s song “Teardrops on my Guitar”? And how it really is about her friend from school, Drew? And how he didn’t know then that she liked him, but he sure does now? Ok, now imagine that you’re a writer and this all sounds like a good idea for a book.

Benway reverses the roles (the boy writes a song about the girl) and adds a lot of drama, sex, and swearing. I’ve decided to never have teenage daughters. Audrey is the narrator; she breaks up with her boyfriend Evan at the beginning of the book, and as she’s walking away she hears him say, “Audrey, wait!” Later that night his band plays a song with that title, and before long it’s become a hit, propelling the band – and Audrey – into the national spotlight.

I don’t know much about Taylor Swift’s subject, but in the book, Audrey is hated by the thousands of girls who love Evan’s band and the song. She suffers endless torment, etc., etc. You can probably guess a lot of what happens just based on the fact that it’s a book about a teenage girl. It was a kind of fun story, but there was way too much swearing – and too many “Things I Hope My Daughter Never Does.” You’ll be ok skipping this one.

The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch

{ 2008 | Hyperion | 224 pgs }

I hate to say this, but I wasn’t wowed by Pausch’s famous lecture and the book based on it. Call me hard-hearted, but it just didn’t feel nearly as moving as I expected.

(Seriously, this is coming from me; don’t you wonder if there’s something wrong with me now?)

In the tradition of professors giving their final classroom lectures before retiring, Pausch contemplates the most important things in his life as he faces fatal pancreatic cancer. Of course, all the basics were there – family, following your dreams, being true to yourself – but it wasn’t profound.

Yes, you may call me a horrible person.

(If you want a moving book, try Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Album instead.)

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

by Tiffany Baker

{ 2009 | Grand Central Publishing | 341 pgs }

To start off, isn’t that a great cover? I had this book on my list before I saw the cover, but surely I was just the tiniest bit influenced by the art.

Truly has a pituitary gland problem that makes her grow at an alarming rate, to alarming sizes – from her birth as a 12+ pound baby to a gargantuan woman. She narrates the story (from a semi-omniscient point-of-view [is semi-omniscient a real term?]), spending the first half describing her relationship with her dainty, delicate sister Serena Jane, and later describing her life once Serena Jane marries the town doctor. There are a number of themes in the plot, and I confess not all were to my liking, but the book as a whole was extremely captivating. For a story with little action, it was definitely a page-turner.