I have always been passionate about wonder, starting with children’s stories filled with magical escapism and adventures, whether The Wind in the Willows or Alice in Wonderland. The first real book I tried to write was a magical adventure with sprites and elves. It was terrible. I stopped writing and pursued creating wonder in other forms like painting and furniture design, which have been called whimsical. I continue to pursue books that bring me a sense of wonder and when I finally returned to writing, I wanted to write a book that conveyed a sense of wonder. It took a few tries, but I think I got it right.
While I have no desire to return to being a naïve teenager, Charlie’s wide-eyed tale of adolescence tugged at the sentimentalist in me. Charlie’s life was less than perfect but he kept going back out into the world to discover new, wondrous things. Sometimes those adventures led him upward and sometimes they led him downward. Adults are not immune to ups and downs. I certainly am not. Charlie’s tale did remind me of some of my own teenage tales. Like the time I came in last at a track race and fell down and cried because I thought it was the worst thing ever (it was not). Or the time a cute girl asked where I lived and I felt wonderful for days. So Charlie’s tale reminded me that I could feel wonder and that I should set aside my cynicism sometimes and let that happen.
A modern cult classic, a major motion picture and a timeless bestseller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story.
Charlie is not the biggest geek in high school, but he's by no means popular.
Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie is attempting to navigate through the uncharted territory of high school. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and music - when all one requires to feel infinite is that…
Despite the terrible backdrop of Nazis and WW2, we find Liesel engaging with the world and growing up through books, her father, her neighbors, and a hidden boy in the basement. And while she was perhaps too young to know that the world should be any different, she was intrepid, While I grew up in a peaceful world, I was paralyzingly shy and every venture into the world brought fear of social interaction. I wanted to be intrepid and I was not. While reading The Book Thief, I kept thinking I want to hang out with Liesel. I would have been brave enough to go out into the world with her by my side and let the wonder of the world come as it may.
'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian 'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times 'Extraordinary' Telegraph ___
HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
Pi is literally thrown into a boat and asked to survive. As he tells his sometimes terrible and sometimes terrifying tale, Pi conveys the wonder at having survived and not the anguish of having almost repeatedly died. He reminded me that surviving a harrowing or unplanned adventure is a tale worth telling. Reminded me that I was 34 years old when I finally told myself I was tired of being afraid, that the unknown was an adventure that could be filled with wonder. Even the unknowns I did not get to choose. Reminded me that I need to remember that again.
After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.
Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his…
I loved how Marlowe retained a sense of wonder while steering himself into the darkness, while surrounded by those who did not wonder about it but only wanted to exploit it. I realized you could wonder about something without judging, or at the very least wonder through a lens of empathy. While I have always been empathetic, Marlowe made me realize perhaps I was often empathetic (and wonderous and sympathetic) to things I really already understood, and that for things that were in the darkness I substituted wonder for anxiety. Marlow’s wonder motivated me to look at the shadows with wonder too.
Although Polish by birth, Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) is regarded as one of the greatest writers in English, and Heart of Darkness, first published in 1902, is considered by many his "most famous, finest, and most enigmatic story." — Encyclopaedia Britannica. The tale concerns the journey of the narrator (Marlow) up the Congo River on behalf of a Belgian trading company. Far upriver, he encounters the mysterious Kurtz, an ivory trader who exercises an almost godlike sway over the inhabitants of the region. Both repelled and fascinated by the man, Marlow is brought face to face with the corruption and despair…
Shakespeare’s unwitting dupes from Hamletare thrown into the unknown when fate’s die is cast for them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern know that something has changed, but they cannot put their finger on it. Flowing with the unknown instead of being afraid of it, they approach their new circumstance with wonder albeit with a little skepticism. I have always erred on the side of being naïve as opposed to cynical, but they taught me I could be in wonder without being naïve by employing a bit of rational observance. Of course, it didn’t hurt that their observations came about through rapid-fire, witty dialog.
Acclaimed as a modern dramatic masterpiece, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead is the fabulously inventive tale of Hamlet as told from the worm’s-eve view of the bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters in Shakespeare’s play. In Tom Stoppard’s best-known work, this Shakespearean Laurel and Hardy finally get a chance to take the lead role, but do so in a world where echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, where reality and illusion intermix, and where fate leads our two heroes to a tragic but inevitable end.
Tom Stoppard was catapulted into the front ranks of modem playwrights overnight when Rosencrantz…
Sprout says she’s there to help him. Theo, an introverted, teenage boy, is not so sure about that. He’s not sure about much of anything when Sprout unexpectedly shows up one morning. Is she a dream? A hallucination?
While Theo longs for some guidance through the perils of adolescence, the guidance he knew his family wouldn’t give him, he isn’t prepared for Sprout to present herself and offer it to him. Sprout comes and goes as she pleases and asks Theo to embrace the wonder of the situations she creates. Sprout just wants Theo to grow. Theo just wants to survive. Thus begin the adventures of Theo and Sprout.
From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list.
When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?
Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…
"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author
When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.
With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…
