The Perks of Being a _____________.

I like puzzles. I appreciate the complexities and the constant need to try to find a solution, an answer that makes sense. I like knowing that you have the clues right in front of you and that if you tweak everything just enough, you can turn into Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes without leaving the comfort of the tattered pages in front of you.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is not a puzzle.

Many readers get caught up in who Charlie is writing to, but that isn't the point. Who cares who he wrote to? Does it change the context or the meaning of the things he said? Does it make him less credible? Does it make us (as readers) less willing to read? Does it make it less enjoyable as a novel?

No. It doesn't change anything because knowing who Charlie wrote to is not the point. The point is that he wrote to someone in the first place Unlike Melinda, he told someone about his problems, his dreams, and every little detail that may seem insignificant, but that make up the most interesting and quirky aspects of Charlie.

I guess in writing this blog I'm like Charlie, too. Who knows who will see this, but the fact that someone will, that someone may take something away from the words I'm writing is all that matters. Charlie wasn't looking for a response. I'm the same - I just don't have the anonymous friend that he did.

I think everyone is getting far too caught up in who he is writing to. It really does not matter. If all you take out of the book is some pit of curiosity resonating inside you, then you missed the entire point. It is not vital to know who he was talking to; it’s just important that he - unlike Melinda - was talking at all.

I like that I don't know who he was talking to. If I did, I might worry more about their reactions to Charlie's escapades than my own. And then I really wouldn't have been challenged as a reader, and that would be a shame.

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These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. - Gilbert Highet

ME-linda.

Sometimes I feel like Melinda; speaking is often overrated. Now writing and reading, on the other hand, they always have a purpose.

When reading books like this, I like to put myself in the mind of the main character. People tell you they want to help, they want to make things better, that they "understand what you are going through". I like to think that all of that is true, but who can really know what you are going through? We all react to situations differently. I guess that's what makes living like Melinda simple and hard at the same time. If Melinda thought her friends might act the way Andy did about her rape, would she want to go through the hassle of telling them? Would it even make her feel any better? Probably not. It would probably only emphasize the fact that she was alone.

I think the most unfortunate thing is that it took Melinda months to find some sort of outlet for her pain. Though people told her to speak, she couldn't ever find anyone to really listen to what she was saying...well, I guess in reality she wasn't physically saying anything, but her actions and sudden depressive state spoke louder than any words she could have muttered. She finally took to art, though she didn't even think she was very good at it, and as a reader, it made me happy that she finally had a way to escape her painful reality.

Writing and reading have always been my escape from reality, but I guess this story has been a bit of a Catch-22 for me. Do I read and become lost in Melinda's sorrow, or remain detached and unable to escape my own? I'm going to count my blessings that my pain isn't as immense as Melinda's.

Still, even with some sorrow in my life, I find myself filling with hope at the end. Even Melinda, who refused to speak a word of her pain for a year, was finally able to share her story and truly escape from her own pain.

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We read to know we are not alone. - C.S. Lewis

Reading, reading, reading.

Ahh, my love for books will suit me well this semester. Having the inclination to read anything and everything, I am so excited to tackle the box full of books that have been carefully added to the collection in my room. What I'm even most excited about, though, is not the just the number of books I get to read as homework (because honestly, what is better than getting to read a fun and interesting novel for homework??), but the variety we get to read! While I was thrilled (and saw it coming...) when I saw Speak and The Perks of Being a Wallflower start off our semester, I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the novels. I have heard of a couple of them, but for the most part they are completely new adventures I am patiently anticipating. I will admit that if I were taking this course a year ago, upon first glance I would have been slightly-less-than-thrilled about reading the graphic novels because, while I am a fan of comics and have three older brothers who have been collecting classics throughout the years, I never had teachers who pushed graphic novels as being real literature. Luckily, my thoughts changed as soon as I took English 110 with Erin Mae Clark last fall. After I got past the horror of carrying my copy of In the Shadow of No Towers, which would not fit into my messenger bag, much to my dismay, I often felt that I could find more "literary excellence" in a graphic novel than in a lot of the books my friends read. But I guess that's what I like most about reading. You never know what you are going to get.

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To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make. - Truman Capote