Friday, December 24, 2004

Some books never leave your memories. They stay in your heart.


At first, I don’t have any idea why did I look for this book with so much effort. Of course it’s Judy Blume’s. But, there’s got to be another reason. I’ve never read Blume’s stories for grown ups. Mostly I read her young adult fiction. God Are You There? It’s Me Margaret was my first Blume’s and it touched me with her honesty and the way she wrote about menstruation. Whoa, I’ve never read about menstruation in a book before. FYI, I was 12 by that time.

From there, I began to admire Blume’s work.
I fantasized about her adult stories. What would it be? For young adult, she is very open. I guess she will do it very frank with the adult one. When I found Wifey, one of her adult collection, I was so surprised. I didn’t know she writes Wifey. But I bought the book anyway. Second hand book, quite cheap. And how it surprised me more when I was reading it. A lots of sex. Really. Although I felt like reading Eny Arrow (honestly, I’ve never read one), but I continued. Page after page, finished it not more than a week. And found that even the sex is more rapid, Blume’s stories always leave sumthing in your heart after you read them.

About Summer Sisters. First I saw it on the internet. And decide, that this book is worth trying. Had a second look at Kinokuniya, but left it on the shelves because I think it was expensive. I prefer Just As Long As We’re Together. But I think the book was after me. Hehe.. Everytime relatives or friends go to Singapore or abroad, I handed them my left 10 dollar and a note written Summer Sisters – Judy Blume or Kiss Kiss – Roald Dahl. Finally my Dad delivered it to home, last week. Summer Sisters – Judy Blume, straight from Borders. A week after I had just bought Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, another Blume’s young adult fiction.

Not at a second thought I switched to Summer Sisters. Up to 400 pages, and I finished it not more than a week, just like Wifey. Except this time, my emotion was stirred with the book. And as I expected, plenty of sex. But unlike Wifey, sex in Summer Sisters touched me rigth away. Not even makes me horny because it was sacred. And very much romantic.

Maybe the idea of girl’s friendship tied me and made me say ‘God I love this book so much, I can’t explain…’ everytime I closed the book. Widi even replied, ‘So what?’. He got so bored aboout me admiring the book. But I love the book so much, it made this week very bright. I didn’t feel loneliness at all. Maybe it was the idea of two young girls, contradictive, love each other, and have a different path of life. Or maybe it was all the setting, again, summer. You know how crazy I am about summer, don’t you? I can imagine it very clearly, Vix and Caitlin, two young girls, dressed up in their summer dresses and their Tevas, had flings with another summer boys. Or Blume called them island guys. I can smell the suntan lotion and seasalt, the humidity and the crowd at the fish market. Oh Gawd, I was so involved in this book tonight.

And it’s true. Some books never really leave your heart. I think Summer Sisters is one of them. Amongst Little Altars Everywhere, Kids at Noisy Village, The Witches and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. And of course Stargirl.


si kecil at 10:49 AM