I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

It's kind of funny, how fast you can fall in love with something.

On Sunday, I went on a trip with my Hebrew school to Washington, DC to visit the Holocaust museum. Long drive, out to DC, so I naturally brought my iPod. I tried listening to a few bands my dad had recommended to me a while ago. U2, now my favorite band.

I'm listening to them right now.

Then there's Christopher. Christopher John Francis Boone. He's 15 years, 3 months, and 2 days, he knows all the prime numbers up to 7,057, and he's autistic. A lot of people don't get Christopher. They don't understand why he is the way he is. They don't really take into consideration that he's different from them. At first, I felt a bit bad for Christopher. But later on in the book, I don't feel as bad for him. He's really a great person.

When you're autistic, it's hard for you to be around people. Many parents of autistic children will never actually hug or embrace their child. Autistic people don't really like to be touched. They feel awkward socially, and can become aggressive or violent when some one does something they don't want done to them.

Christopher punched a police officer because he tried to hold his arm. It's sad. Although it's illegal to assault a police officer, the officer didn't know that Christopher was autistic.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty much really liking Christopher. He's the kind of character that I never want to stop reading about. There's always something new to learn. He never gets old.

Just like I never want to stop listening to U2.

This whole experience of falling in love with new things everyday, is getting me excited. I guess I'll never know which book I'll fall in love with next. Or which band I have yet to fall in love with. As U2 says, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." I guess I'll never really know what I'm looking for to fall in love with.

Glowing

As I read The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, I feel stronger and smarter. My first adult book, and wow, what an amazing place to start my future as an adult reader. Nicole Krauss has so many talents, one is the ability to fit all the pieces of the story together. I move slowly through the book, being it very challenging, and alot to take in. But with me moving through it so carefully, I pick up details that not everyone might notice. This is one of the advantages of a slow reader. Taking your time is nice when reading a book you know you'll want to read again in a few years, and again a few years later, and again, and again.

Along with details, I've picked up some similarities between me and the book. One thing that makes me happier then I will ever be? Finding something about me within a book. And even better, a book I love, and even better, a book I am absolutely in love with. I'm in love, with The History of Love.

To compare the book to my life, I'll start with this: Over February break I met some relatives who live out in LA. The family started with Noreen, who was a Hollywood movie star. She married Lee, a doctor who worked in the Paramount Pictures studio. They fell in love and had Robert, who married and they had Kara who has a boyfriend in New York, and John who's girlfriend lives in LA. Some where along those lines my great grandfather Charlie who was also a doctor came in. And then my grandpa, my dad, who married my mom, and had me, and my two other sisters.

Long story, huh?


In The History of Love, (I won't tell every detail, that could quite possibly take me a year) Leo and Alma fall in love, have Isaac, who is a famous writer, who Alma Singer stumbles apon when looking for his mother Alma who she was named after, and she was the love of Leo who happens to be the other narrator the book. Alma Singer figures out that Isaac is the mysterious Jacob Marcus who sent a letter to her mother asking her to translate The History of Love, but Jacob Marcus is only the character in Isaac's book! So really, when Alma sent off on her search to find the woman she was named after, she really found her son who actually had already found her, and his dad was actually Leo, who wrote a book. And then there's Litvinoff, and Rosa, and Mr. Tong the pigeon, and the chinese take out man, and Bruno, and oh my goodness what am I doing?

See the similarities, huh?

So as it turns out, the feeling of finding something in you, inside a book you're in love with, is not my favorite feeling. My favorite, is when you find a similarity, and then write about it.

Now I'm really glowing.

P.S: My mom's side is a whole other story.

Conversations

"Honey?"
"Yeah, Mom."
"Well, I was wondering about your blog..."
"What about it Mom?"
"Don't you think it needs a new title? I think it's become something more then just reading."
"Something more?"
"Yes, it's become something bigger then what you started out for it to be."
"Something bigger?"
"Yes."
"Something Bigger."

The Delicious and Wonderful Adventure of McDonald's. Not!

I guess I'm not embarrassed to say that I don't really enjoy books that don't revolve around the issues of teens, peer pressure, crushes, and just growing up. And I guess I'm not embarrassed to say that when it comes to sci-fi, you can count me out, and mystery, well, I'm not much of a fan of that either. And oh my goodness, I can not tell you how much I hate fantasy stories. Literally, my walks through the fantasy section in Barnes and Noble are, "No, no, no, no, maybe... no! Oh my gosh that sounds horrible... and what could that author have been thinking when they wrote this?!" I do understand though, that many people disagree, and that fantasy stories are incredible. And I do respect that. I promise. Oh, and then I arrive in the warm and cozy section of realistic fiction where I can read endlessly about girls who are teased, and girls who are the teasers. I can read on, and on. I am at home, where every teen fiction book is where it should be. Except for that creepy looking horror book, what on earth is that doing there?!

But there's this book, Chew on This, by Eric Schlosser. And let me tell you something. Chew on This is not a book about a 13 year old girl who doesn't fit in. It's about fast food. And why, for the millionth time, you shouldn't eat it. Reader, I am very, very pleased and proud to tell you, that me, Audrey Bachman, reader of teen realistic fiction, is on the 129th page of Chew on This, and is actually enjoying it! Nothing horrible has happened to me, and I've learned, that there's nothing wrong with a little, or big, non fiction book filled with greasy, disgusting facts about the bugs in your pink soda. Or about the 15 year old that invented the hamburger. Or how about, that in one hamburger patty at McDonald's may contain hundreds, or even thousands of different cattle? The only thing I'm finding slightly disgusting and unbearable is the fact that when Hindu's discovered that McDonald's and other fast food restaurants boiled their french fries in beef oil, they created an angry mob to smear cow poop on a statue of Ronald McDonald. That's right, it was against their religion to have meat, and good ol' McDonald's made everyone who walked into their restaurant break the one most important law of their religion.

So, to wrap things up, not only have I learned that it's okay to try something new, (not including beef flavored french fries) like reading a new genre, but also that McDonald's is indeed, as nasty as I thought. And now, I even have the facts to prove it. Thanks Chew on This!

Even Books

Not on every Sunday, but on some Sunday's, when I have that depressed feeling about starting a new week, I'll clean my room. I'll wake up, get dressed, make an omelet, then return to my room, close the door, and not come out until about lunchtime to make a Cup Noodles. Then I return to my room for more cleaning until about 2 o'clock. I go outside for some fresh air around 3, and by the time I return I'll realize I forgot to clean up something and go for that. And right before dinner is served, I put on some music, turn off my big light, click on my small lamp, and invite everyone who's in the house to come in and see. Now they aren't always as impressed as I am. To them, it's just another one of Audrey's unusually clean room's. But to me, it's the thing that will get me through the week. And I'm very proud of it.

Whenever I clean up my room, I'll uncover something new. A new surprise, a new treasure. May that be a pair of earrings from 3rd grade, a stuffed animal I thought I left in Israel, or maybe a picture of my mom and I from when I was 6. This time, it was a book. Well, not a book, but my entire book shelf. You see, I've lately come up with a new design for my room, moving my bed to where my desk is, and my desk to that lonely corner in my room that needs some company. Naturally I want to move my books to where my desk is going to be, it'll add a little life to the corner, a new story each time I sit down at my desk. But then I realized, of all the time's I have cleaned my room out, I've never moved my books. They've been hiding. Even though they were originally out in the open for everyone to see, for me, I just got so used to them being there, and then they kind of, well, blended into the wall. So when I moved all of my books to the other side of my room, I discovered about 6 different series that I thought had ended up in my family room. I discovered Candy Floss, Jacqueline Wilson, my favorite book from 5th grade. I discovered Duel, by David Grossman, a book I started last year that I now know was made for me, and that I must finish. And how about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon? A book my mom read last year and absolutely loved, and wanted me to read. I guess I forgot I had all of these books. I betrayed them.

That's the thing though. You always have to remember: books, if you can believe it, are alive. Each character has it's own traits and feelings and friends and family just like you and me. And just like you and me, they don't want to be forgotten about. They don't want to blend into your wall, and for you to walk right by them, and for you to not know who they are. You have to say, "Hm, you look nice, I think I might want to read you!" And by saying that, you're asking them to be your friend, you're asking them to hang out. Everywhere you take them, is a new adventure for you to take together. You're dusting them off, you're shaking their hand you're patting there back, you're telling them it's going to be okay. You're being a good friend. And everyone needs a good friend.

Even books.