Just Finished

Just finished Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. It took me longer to get into it than I expected, mainly because I found myself unusually impatient with both protagonists for the first third or so of the novel. But I'm fond of dually-narrated novels, and I'm fond of Levithan, and have read Cohn, so I kept going (also, I spent 2 dollars on it at Half Price, so no way was I going to quit before I got my money's worth). And I decided it was worth it. The first bit, with all its disconnects and miscommunications is deliberate and even necessary to the characters' developments; the process of being in relationship with others is complex and knotty, and, as all of us who have ever been in relationship with anyone else (which is, of course, all of us) know, it can be . . . challenging. So a traditional boy-meets-girl-loses-girl-rewins girl would be less compelling than the cyclical two-people-trying-to-figure-themselves-out-so-they-can-figure-each-other-out that Cohn and Levithan wind up with.

And also there's a character named Caroline who is sort of a nice person, so I like that. She is mostly drunk and generally off-screen, but she's not an evil character, as many named Caroline are, so that's a plus.

I'm currently reading Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler's The Future of Us, which is very interesting in many ways (though I'm getting similarly impatient with one of the protagonists). The nature of time, cause and effect, fate/destiny, agency and lack thereof all play prominent roles in engaging the reader.

It makes me wonder about this recurring trend of dually (and multiply) authored novels for YA readers. Do you see it anywhere else? Is it just publishers capitalizing on trends, or does YA lit lend itself uniquely to this style of narrative?

Hunger Games Mania Manifesting Truly Oddly

Okay, I'm going to paste in two links. The first is to a company website, the next is to a blog for nail polish aficionados. (I am not one of these; I can't wear nail polish without getting it all over myself. These links were forwarded to me be a friend.)

http://www.chinaglaze.com/products/index.php?coll=57

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2012/02/china-glaze-capitol-colours-hunger-games-nail-polish-collection-swatches-review.html

What do you think?