Welcome to Day 6 of Guest Blogger Week!
Today we welcome Michelle (better known to all as Clover) from Fluttering Butterflies, a well-travelled book blogger with a lethal Scattergories habit…
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I found it very difficult, as you can imagine, to sit down and write a list of my favourite books. I found it even harder to narrow that list down to just three titles. Writing for my blog, I’ve written quite a bit about some of my favourite books growing up, my favourite authors and books that I’ve loved at different stages of my life, but I really wanted to write today about books that maybe I haven’t been as outspoken about.
I love, love, love each of these books in their own unique way, but I also think that I love them in very similar ways as well. Namely that there’s some aspect of each of these books that I can relate to in a very personal, powerful and emotional way. And for that reason they’ve each made me cry and they’ve changed my life for the better. I’ve read all three of these books numerous times and will continue to come back to them time and again.
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
I’m pretty sure that I first came across Born Confused in my local library. I used to go there quite a lot during my lunch breaks and as it was pre-blogging days, I’d just roam the aisles and pick up whatever pretty covers caught my eye. And Born Confused has a really gorgeous cover with the purple and the stars, so into my library bag it went and the rest is history.
It’s almost too hard to describe how much I love this book. I hadn’t heard one thing about it before I picked it up, but it just seemed like I read it and all of a sudden the book had filled a hole in my heart that I hadn’t realised existed. It’s the story of Dimple Lala, a teenage girl living in New Jersey and she’s confused. She has no idea where she fits in as her parents are Indian immigrants but Dimple was born in America and can’t reconcile her Western upbringing with everyone else’s view of her as Indian. This type of confusion is something that I can really understand being mixed-race. Growing up, I really struggled with the idea of being one or the other (Native American or white), not realising or understanding that I am both – something that Dimple and I really share.
But cultural confusion aside, there is so much to love about this book. There’s really heartfelt confusion and misunderstandings between both Dimple and her parents as well as Dimple and her best friend Gwyn. Dimple seems to be struggling with every aspect of her life including her weight and body image as well as how photography is important in her life.
I think for me, the romance element of the book is what draws me back every time. Whenever I’m in need of some good tension and heartbreaking moments, I’ll return to my battered and well-loved copy of Born Confused. Karsh Kapoor is such a swoonworthy character for me. And the relationship between Dimple and Karsh feels very Jane Austen-esque to me. There’s a lot of judgement and rash decisions made at the beginning and then slowly Dimple is able to see how different Karsh is against her pre-concieved notions and how much she’s missing out now that he’s dating her best friend!
Oh, I love this book. I really do. I love the strong element of family, I love the friendship and the elements of identity and becoming more confident in one’s self. I love the heartbreak and the romance but I especially love that I was able to relate so well to the main character and her insecurities over image and her culture.
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
North of Beautiful is a book that I’d heard so much about. It seemed as though every American blog I read a few years back were all gushing and raving about this book. I was desperate to get my hands on a copy but I was also worried, as my expectations of this book were sky high. And still, I was absolutely blown away by it.
What Justina Chen Headley did with this book is incredible. Even years after reading it for the first time, I’m still kind of amazed by it. The author took this theme of image and she really twisted it. We have our main character, Terra, who is blond and athletic and beautiful who also has this massive red birthmark on her face. And it’s all anybody can see. Everyone in her life from family to complete strangers gives her tips and advice on different skin care regimes and surgery that might help lessen the intensity of her birthmark. All very well-intentioned but it does nothing but make Terra feel like she’s not good enough or that she needs fixing or that she is less of a person because of the difference in appearance from normal.
And because her birthmark makes Terra feel inferior to those around her, Terra also lets other people treat her like she is inferior. She says nothing when her boyfriend says hurtful things about her face and Terra’s father is quite painfully verbally abusive. I cried my heart out reading of all the suffering that Terra goes through during the course of this book. It really touched on a nerve and I had very difficult flashbacks of my own upbringing in a similarly fractured family.
But it isn’t just Terra who brings forth the concept of image – Terra’s mother seems to be a person hiding from life behind her large weight. And there’s lovely, lovely Jacob, the Asian Goth boy who helps Terra to accept who she is and to really own her own body and identity and for her to hold her held high. And to go along with this, North of Beautiful also has fun elements of travel and maps and romance and artwork. I really can’t think of a book that has inspired me in so many ways more than North of Beautiful. I read this book and I feel empowered and hopeful. I feel excited and inspired to create my own artwork, to travel and to be more comfortable and accepting of my own body and self.
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
What’s funny about Saving Francesca is that when it was published here in the UK, it was me that bought copies from the publishing rep for the book store I was working in. The rep was very enthusiastic, both about Saving Francesca and about Melina Marchetta. But I didn’t seem to take very much notice of the book at all and certainly didn’t read it then. No, it took reading a very gushy blog post years later about Melina Marchetta for me to even pick up one of her books. I started with Looking For Alibrandi and I *really* loved it. In fact, any of the books I’ve read by Melina Marchetta could have easily have been included in this list of favourites. But for me, Saving Francesca really stands out.
Depression is something that I have struggled with for many years and to come across this beautifully written story about a girl trying to get by in a new school while her mother is suffering from severe depression really just grabbed my heart and squeezed. All of Francesca’s feelings towards her mother’s mental illness are feelings I’m all too familiar with myself – lost, angry, guilty, sad. Melina Marchetta does such a wonderful job with this story and not just with the depression side of things, though that really is what made me weep into my pillow at 2am.
Francesca is trying to find her feet in this new all-boys school that has recently allowed girls to attend. She isn’t quite sure of how to be herself without the comfort of her mother’s bossy ways and without the circle of friends she’s left behind. Thankfully she finds herself surrounded by this wonderfully bizarre group of friends. The characters in this book and the friendships that they have make me utterly envious.
I think my entire life I’ve been searching for belonging – for friends and family who accept who I am entirely and because of that, I’m really drawn to stories where characters are looking for that or have found that. To me, it feels like perfection even when (especially when) the relationships and friendships are as complicated as they are in a Melina Marchetta novel. I love how layered and complex each character is. Francesca and Tara Finke, Thomas, Jimmy Hailler and oh, Will Trombal. Excuse me for a minute while I go swoon over Will Trombal. There’s so much chemistry and tension between Francesca and Will. I’ve recently read the sort-of sequel to Saving Francesca, called The Piper’s Son and it takes these characters and their stories to another level and I am even more in awe of Melina Marchetta and her brilliance when it comes to story-telling. I am such a fan.
And those are my three favourite books! A huge thank you to Kate and Elle for inviting to me to their wonderful blog today. Thank you for letting me ramble and gush about books that mean a great deal to me.
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Giveaway
To win a copy of one of one of Clover’s favourite books, simply leave a comment below!
* The giveaway is, as always, international but please make sure either The Book Depository or Amazon ships to your country before entering.
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