Winger and Dangerous Pie

Hi there!

It’s been a long time since I last wrote here. Life’s been quite busy. Anyway, here’re two really good books that you can read (if you want to that is).

Winger by Andrew Smith

A book that is filled with the complications of life and love of Ryan Dean West a.k.a. ‘Winger’ a.k.a. ‘Skinny-ass-loser’, a 14-year-old boy who plays rugby (hence the ‘Winger’) (rugby in USA! Who knows?) who is actually a junior in a high school. Of course, being a ‘kid’, life is tough, frustrating, and complicated. Ryan Dean thinks that he should change, and his junior year will be the best, although in contrary of his ambitious plan, he manages to throw himself into the O-Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, who are of course bigger than he is. What’s a boy to do? And then, he has a problem dealing with girls (and his feelings. He thinks all girls are hot! Nurses even!), especially Annie Altman. She’s a junior like West, but she’s two years older, and obviously, she won’t accept him, right? With the help of his friends, especially Sean and Joey, Ryan Dean rides the whirlwind known as life, fledgling but learning to be better (in his own ways) until a tragedy strikes. This novel features large number of cussing words, lots of really-long-sometimes-you-need-to-look-again-and-again-hyphenated-phrases, many (un-mathematical) graphs and awesome drawings, and too many usages of the word 'loser' but it is a book that promises to tickle our bones, make us all gross out during certain moments, and then punch us deep in the brain and the gut. It is a book that questions about life and what it means to live a life. It's funny, it's poignant, it's sweet, and it'll end with your heart broken into pieces.

Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Why drums? Drums are Steven’s (the main character) favourite’s music instrument and he’s good at it. How about girls? Well, because there are two main girls in his life, and they’re not even his girlfriends. Dangerous pie? That was an incident that happened between him and his cute little brother, Jeffrey. You think that this is the usual older-brother-younger-brother relationship novel? Think again. This novel depicts the life of Steven and his really teenager life. He laments the annoyance of his brother, and he laments that he cannot get the girl that he likes, and he laments the fact that he is neglected by his parents, well, due to his younger brother of course. It changes when turmoil comes and besieges his life in the form that Jeffrey becomes sick, like really sick. For a teenage guy like Steven, the scale of the tragedy and the impact that it blows into his family will make him think about all the choices that he will make. A disaster, he learns, is not a stopper in finding the best things that life can offer. And indeed, life is never a continuous cycle of good things, but do you have to forget yourself and focus on the bad things or change what you can change in yourself or the lives of others? Even with a rather bleak outlook, this novel will charm you with its humour and brilliance. Hysterical yet emotional, heart-warming and heart-breaking, you’ll root for both Steven and Jeffrey.

Easily said, I adore both of Winger and Dangerous Pie!