Saturday, August 11, 2007

[ the geography of girlhood ]

I've just finished reading this book called The Geography of Girlhood. It looked like a good book when I went searching for summer reads online and I was wondering why it got great reviews from everybody. So I borrowed it.

The synopsis tells about a girl named Penny who is ready to find her way in the world, but has to confront the complicated truths of life and what it means to be a girl stumbling towards adulthood without a map.

Under the cover were reviews from co-chick lit writers such as Sarah Dessen, Ann Martin, Deb Caletti, and E. Lockhart. Plus one from actress Julia Stiles - "A beautifully written, perceptive take on growing up. I only wish this book had been around when I was a teenager." In short, all of them were good reviews. So I decided to check the author out, and got a big shock: Kirsten Smith is the co-writer of the screenplays of movies such as Legally Blonde, Ella Enchanted, 10 Things I Hate About You (which I must admit, and if you cared enough to look, is one of my favourite movies, and also one in which aforementioned actress Julia Stiles acted), and She's The Man (look at one of my oldest posts - I watched that movie with my friends and loved it! So many good memories...)

I was really into it now. I opened the book and began to read. By now I was aware it was free verse, not what I was expecting and not one in which I was particularly interested, but it had caught my attention and I was going to go through with it.

The book started when Penny was fourteen and ended when she was seventeen. During those four years she had to deal with the ups and downs of her crazy life - being unpopular, drifting away from her friends, being the sister of the Queen Bee, being a late bloomer, and all the stuff us girls have to cope with.

The Geography of Girlhood was easy to relate to, simply written, but captured the essence of what it is to be a girl growing up unguided. Of course I'm not seventeen yet and am not about to go running off with the bad boy, but you and me, we could almost be Penny. Here's a verse I particularly liked:

When you're fourteen,

you look good only once a week

and it's never on the day of the dance.

Fourteen is going to bed at night

and wishing you could wake up with a new face

or a new dad or better yet,

a new life

that doesn't look anything

like this one.

And then there is this thing we always wonder about:

Funny how the things you ask for

you never get

And the things you don't,

you always do.

And these things we wish we were:

Basic Stupid Wish List #27

I wish I was this

I wish I was that

I wish I was thin

I wish I was fat

I wish I was Skyler

I wish I was Jean

I wish I was sexy

I wish I was mean

I wish I was beautiful

I wish I was tall

I wish Bobby loved me

But it's a pipe dream, that's all.

If any member of the opposite sex is reading this, you've just gotten an inside look on the mind of a girl. Because gentlemen, that's how it is.

Labels: chick lit

chLoe was here at: 4:03:00 PM

dancing where the evening fell

ole!
first of all, a big shout-out to the person who made this layout, therefore enabling me to post more frequently (hooray!), BEEKEE. thanks a lot!

moving on...

this is my own personal space, where i write down everything i can think of to write. please take note that i update irregularly - like i will be on hiatus for a while, and then make two posts a day. right now i am on my two-post phase.

also since this is obviously mine, i would like you to know that this is a free world, and that i am entitled to my own opinion. therefore this blog is solely for myself and my purposes ONLY. flames are not accepted, since there is nothing to flame about.

however, comments will be greatly appreciated. :)

dancing out on seventh street

chloe
i am loving the song when the stars go blue, therefore it is my layout for now. ask me later and it'll be different. :) i'm proudly pinay (with a little spanish and chinese descent on the side), and proudly bedan. this beloved blog of mine has been up since the eighteenth of february two thousand and six, but i have made other blogs before that. i write purely to let my feelings out and/or to keep my memories. someday i'm going to write a novel, but right now i'm concentrating on growing up.

thank you. bow.

dancing through the underground

where do you go when you're lonely

ange. angel. arielle. beekee. bia. cahren. cathe. cathie. dana. dianne. dotep. gabby. gen. julia. kaila. krizia. kwarentay uno. lia. marj. mikmik. nadine. nina. paeng. pam. paula. saab. sedric. vicky. xangakodati.

coat of arms. dracohermione. fanfic. fictionpress. friendster. firstnames. gushers. hermionedraco. seventeen. stardolls.

where do you go when you're blue

02.2006 03.2006 04.2006 05.2006 06.2006 07.2006 08.2006 09.2006 10.2006 11.2006 12.2006 01.2007 02.2007 03.2007 04.2007 05.2007 06.2007 07.2007 08.2007 09.2007 10.2007 12.2007 01.2008

where do you go i'll follow you

when the stars go blue

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