What I Just Done Read

So I’m a pretty avid reader. Like lately with all of the television I enjoy watching, I may burn through two, maybe three books a year! Which I think we can all agree is an absolutely blistering pace! So since my book reading time is at a premium, I decided to spend my time reading only classic tomes. Like this one about a dying girl. Ok, it’s not really a classic, but I felt like writing a note about it and slipping it in your locker after geometry when I was done. 

Before I Die –  Jenny Downham

So this book has a few things going against it:

• The protagonist is British. Ugh. British people although nice, talk and write in a rather annoying fashion. (For example, they would say fashion in the previous sentence. See! It’s addicting!)
• It takes place in the winter. Being cold is one of my least favorite things and it’s even worse when you have to READ about being cold.
• It is written for fifteen year old girls. Which apparently I can relate to. What am I, R. Kelly?   

So to give you a quick recap, 16-year old Tessa has terminal cancer and decides to make a list of the things she’d like to accomplish before she kicks. Such things as getting arrested, getting drunk and stoned and falling in love. You know, all of the important things for a 16-year old. Throw in murder, and we’ve got ourselves a nice pre-pubescent hat trick!

So here is where the book succeeds. The author does a nice job of getting us inside the head of a young girl that knows her time is limited. I think I may be strangely fascinated with death, and reading about someone going through it who is half my age, and has only lived half of my awesome life was kind of sobering. Especially there towards the end as she descends down the spiral staircase. I have to admit that my Spartan-like facade began to crumble a little bit there at the end, but apparently lately, that’s not too hard to do. So if you’ve read all of your issues of “Tiger Beat” and are wondering what to read next, give this a try! Your high school pimples and teenage awkwardness will thank you!