The Awakening

After finishing Between the Lines, I was forced to take a reading break to focus on finals. Being a Journalism major, those no longer consist of all night study sessions and 100 question exams, but rather 12 page papers and 10 minute speeches. So basically, I had to give up my reading to do some writing.
When I finally turned in that final paper and ran from the building like my butt was on fire, I got back around to all those books I'd gotten for Christmas and picked up The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
I found The Awakening on a list of books every girl should read in her 20s on Pinterest (where, by the way, I find a ton of awesome books). It is a book that was first published in 1899, but shocked and disturbed society so badly that it was banished for decades. Reading it, it was easy to see why it would have been so disturbing at that time, even though today's reader would hardly blink at what was considered so scandalous.
It's the story of a young wife and mother who feels that she is not living her life for herself. She begins to discover what she wants and the freedom that she craves, but she struggles with society's disapproval.
I think that what keeps this story so popular today, in spite of the cultural differences, is the fact that its so relateable. Sure, as women we no longer have to keep silent and maintain our households and support our husbands in the way they did in 1899, but I think that at one point or another all of us have felt tied down or tried to fit a mold of what others think you should be. Whether that's a high school girl trying to conform to the norm or a business woman trying not to look to masculine, nor too feminine. I think that in one way or another, each of us has felt like Edna Pontellier, and that makes a 100 year old book still relevant today.

Between the Lines

I love Jodi Picoult. The first book of hers that I ever read was, of course, My Sister's Keeper. I know that most people like to read the book before the movie comes out, but I'm the opposite. If I love a book, I'm going to hate the movie, but if I like the movie, I'm going to love the book. Make sense? 

So anyways, I read My Sister's Keeper after the movie came out and I think it started a Jodi Picoult kick for me. I read The Pact and House Rules, and she went on the list of author's I put on my Christmas and birthday lists. Typical nerd, every time my mom asks for a wish list, I google authors I like and pick out some of their books. Which is how I discovered Between the Lines. 

I found this book this past Christmas, and I liked the story line so I added it to my already long list of books. It took me a few months to get around to reading it, because I always manage to have at least five books I want to read at a time. I finally picked it up, and finished it within the week. 

First of all, I found out that Picoult wrote this with her daughter, Samantha Van Leer. Apparently, Van Leer had the idea to write a story about what happens to the characters in a book when the book is closed. Kind of like the Toy Story of books. 

Between the Lines ended up being nothing like I expected. It was such a cool idea to imagine that the characters in a book actually have real lives outside of the one that was written for them. It made me think about Scarlett, and Jo, and Anne at Green Gables and imagine that they were still around even when I wasn't reading their stories. 

As an adult, I enjoyed the book, but it's something young adults would as well. It is a book that I would have liked to read with my mom, and one that I would one day like to read with my daughter. 
It was a very easy read, and it was a very cute story.