The Friday Society

     Some of you may remember hearing me talk about Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, one of my favorite books when I was younger (and still towards the top of my list).  This was author Adrienne Kress's debut book, cleverly written and ingeniously original in concept.  However, with no other books to go off (because it never turned up at the library, I wasn't able to read the sequel, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate), I was left to wonder about Adrienne Kress-- was she as brilliant an author as Alex implied, or was it a beginner's luck of sorts?  Did she put all of her inspiration into this book, or were there more brilliant stories to come?

     Thus, I was extremely intrigued when, several years after Alex, I came across a collection of short stories called Corsets and Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances, which featured a story written by none other than Adrienne Kress herself.  Now, I wasn't any more excited about the idea of steampunk romance than I am about any other type of romance, but I dutifully read the book-- and was shocked.  Adrienne's story stood out far above any of the others-- Yes, it was a romance story, but I liked it.  It was told in such a brilliant way that I almost forgot I was even reading romance.  She took the same guidelines as all the other authors in this book and made it her own: Her story was completely original, and it managed to be different while all the other stories were dully similar.

     Now aware of Kress's ability to write YA as well as children's books, I was very excited to learn about The Friday Society, another steampunkish YA story, this time an entire novel.  I was thrilled when I could finally get it from the library, and I read the whole book in an afternoon.  I loved it.  The plot was slightly less involved than Alex, but it was by no means dull.  The story follows several different threads that seem to be completely unrelated, but they all end up fitting together in the end.  This type of writing, which is also used frequently by Jaclyn Moriarty, is absolutely my favorite literary style.  I became attached to the three main characters, Cora, Nellie, and Michiko, and was impressed by the way their lives kept colliding throughout the story, eventually terminating in their forming a crime-fighting alliance(Spoilers! Highlight to read.)

     I now have a newfound love for Adrienne Kress's YA books, and I absolutely can't wait to read Outcast, Kress's latest YA book.  (This one, I've read, is sort of a quirky paranormal story, which should be right up my alley provided it doesn't have any sparkly vampires in it.) 

Paper Towns Movie Cast

     As most of you already know, I'm a huge John Green fan, and one of my favorite books is Paper Towns.  For a long time I've thought that it would make a great movie, so a few years ago I started organizing my ideas and working on a screenplay for Paper Towns that stuck as closely as possible to the original dialogue of the book.  I worked on it on and off for some time, adding to it when the inspiration struck.  I organized soundtracks, settings, dialogues, and, most recently, cast members.  Obviously, I had to put a lot of thought into the actors that would portray the characters that I've loved for so long, but after much deliberation, I believe I've now landed on my cast choices for the five main characters of Paper Towns.

Quentin (Q): Logan Lerman 

Logan Lerman's naturally innocent personality seemed to be a natural fit for Q's character: a sweet, thoughtful person who's a bit of a social outcast but who is also understanding about Margo's situation.  Lerman reflects Q's good-guy attitude, which makes him initially reluctant to take part in Margo's shenanigans, but he also has an adventurous side, which shows when he lets Margo's whirlwind adventures take him away.

Margo Roth Spiegelman: Jennifer Lawrence 

    Already admired by geeks everywhere after her portrayal of Katniss in The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence's more mature style of acting perfectly suits Margo's character, who seems to have experienced more of the world than her high school classmates.  We've already seen Lawrence's ability to play characters with adventurous personalities and complicated emotional problems, both of which are key aspects of Margo's personality.  Margo is an intelligent yet internally complicated girl, with layers of personality that can only be pulled off by acting genius Jennifer Lawrence.

Ben Starling: Josh Hutcherson

Josh Hutcherson's experience playing characters somewhat similar to Ben as well as a confident attitude and short, stocky build makes him the perfect actor to play Ben Starling.

Radar: Donald Glover

Donald Glover looks how I've always imagined Radar: kind of nerdy, but with a cool side that shows when he's in the right situation.  

Lacey Pemberton: Ali Liebert

Though most of her acting experience is on TV, Ali Liebert's appearance perfectly matches the picture I have in my head of Lacey Pemberton.



Also: Speaking of John Green, I got The Fault in Our Stars from the library a few weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to get one of the 150,000 copies signed by John Green! (He signed every single pre-ordered copy.)  Here's a picture: