Aimee Was Reading: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Becky Albertalli)

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Published by Balzer + Bray

Pages: 303

Genre/s: Young Adult, Romance, LGBTQ

Buy on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble

Goodreads

'Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier

prefers to save his drama for the school musical.

But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret

 is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon

is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman

for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become

  everyone’s business.Worse, the privacy of Blue,

the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing,

will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once

tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence

 with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has

suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon

 has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before

 he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends,

compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness

with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.'

 

A little while back, whilst I was in a book binge buy mode, I asked my friends for book recommendations. One of those pals piped up the YA novel Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and I instantly had to add it to my list. Firstly, the title stood out to me; 'what is the Homo Sapiens Agenda?' I wondered. Additionally, my pal pretty much cried via texts and emoji's over how much this book means to her, and I am always in awe of books that have this capability. Fast forward a few books which I had on my to-read list longer than this one, and some lazy reading habits later, I popped into Waterstones on World Book Day and treated myself to the tale of Simon Spier.

 

The book itself tells the story of Simon. He is like most kids his age- he loves to hang out with his friends, has a geek element to him and has anxieties towards how a romantic interest may be interested in him. However, Simon has a secret; he is gay and nobody knows. Nobody except for Blue, the lover boy he has been emailing about life and school and the dreaded notion of coming out. Or so Simon thinks. The book begins with Simon's secret at jeopardy when Martin (a character I would describe as the biggest pain in the ass) tells Simon he has read his emails with Blue, and thus, knows his most personal trait.

 

I have to say that this is my favourite YA book I've read in a LONG TIME. Though I am older than Simon and his friends I still felt as though I could resonate with them. They are caffeine addicts and love to spend time together. Furthermore, I took enjoyment in the fact Simon has a good home life. A lot of YA is spent on parents not understanding their kids and conflict within the family. Simon has a positive home life which is quite refreshing in a YA book. I think what I truly loved about the narrative is how so brilliantly sarcastic Simon is portrayed as. His humour and character is so lovable, so much so that I have made it a bucket list task to read any and all books Becky Albertalli produces. I found myself snorting and giggling on public transport way more than I would like to admit for someone who travels alone. But it is so wonderful when a character is so vivid that you want to be friends with them. Adding to the characterisation in the book, it is such a great narrative in that there is SO MUCH representation. Of course there is an LBGT theme as it is about Simon's sexuality, but on top of that, there are characters of various ethnic backgrounds and shapes. I love that Becky Albertalli is displaying a diverse and realistic friendship group.

 

I don't think I have any nagging negatives about this book. The only one is the guessing who Blue is part, because at one stage I thought it was someone I REALLY DID NOT WANT IT TO BE, but it turned out Blue wasn't this person, which is a positive point really.

 

I seriously recommend reading this book if you love YA. You don't need to be a part of the LBGTQ community to appreciate how wonderful of a read it is. I am so excited to see Love, Simon in the next few weeks. I am a huge fan of Nick Robinson and Jennifer Garner so I have no doubt it will live up to the book. But, I guess I will keep you posted on that one!

 

Rating: 5/5

 

 

 

 



Aimee Was Reading: The Couple Next Door (Shari Lapena)

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Published by Bantam Press in 2016

Pages: 344

Genre/s: Crime, Mystery

Buy on: Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble

Goodreads

Aimee Was Reading: The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Published by Bloomsbury on September 20 2011 (this edition is 2017)

Pages: 352

Genre/s: Historical Fiction, Romance, Mythology, LGBT

Buy on: Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble

Goodreads

January 2017 Favourites

Hello everyone,
for today's post I thought I would bring back a good old mini favourites haul. I personally love watching people talk about theirs on YouTube and also reading about them on certain blogs, so I thought it would be a nice lil post for me to get back into the swing of this blogging thing.
If you want to know some of the things that I've been loving since the New Year then just keep on reading!

July Favourites

Hello everyone,
what's that you hear? the sound of me giving yet another apology for a delay in posts!!! I really am sorry. Life has been chaotic recently what with graduation, overtime at work and a little thing called Pokémon Go! I am here with another favourites post (sans pics because honestly I'm getting lazy in my old age of 21). Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this mini post, which I'm hoping will get me back into the habit of writing regularly.

The Book Tag

Hello Everyone!

So yesterday my friend Georgia tagged me in a post she wrote all about BOOKS and given that my degree has something to do with reading a lot (though most of the time it's me pretending to read the books that nobody else in the world would ever read) I was happy to be tagged for a post I have a passion for.

At first I thought it would just be some cool tag which would involve me writing about my favourite books, but it's actually radder than that. Georgia has created some pretty interesting topics which  forced me to narrow down the realm of wider reading I've done in my life. There's also an options for me to give a shout-out to some books I'd much rather burn than ever read again!

You can read Georgia's book tag here ...

So here goes

Your favourite childhood book

This was one of the trickiest topics for me to think about because I feel like I read so widely as a child it's hard to narrow down a number one favourite. Having said that, I have decided that The Witches by Roald Dahl is being awarded this accolade. Firstly because any book by Roald Dahl is worthy of being my favourite book from childhood and also because it was the first book that introduced me to the world of witchcraft, however simple it may seem. I have vivid memories of repeatedly reading this book during primary school and even now I look to Dahl for inspiration when writing.

A book with a background story to it

This is more of an emo background story than a super interesting event but when I was younger I hated a lot of things about my life which were mostly related to how I thought about myself, there wasn't anything particularly wrong happening, just more negative thoughts. I came across alot of books on Tumblr, some which will feature later in this post and one of them was It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. There was something about the way he wrote that book that spoke to me on a profound level, an experience consisting of me mentally saying YES SOMEONE GETS IT. I was always so proud of the fact Ned had created a succesful career from his own struggles and how his work inspires people like me on a daily basis. I was really pretentious when the book got made into a film and kind of put it away in my drawer for a few years. Just over a year ago, Ned Vizzini died as a result of suicide and it broke my tiny heart. I was devastated that a person that had helped me believe it gets better couldn't make themselves better, no matter how hard they tried. I would urge anyone to read this book, mentally stable or not. In the summer I want to power read all of Ned's work and give his talent the credit it deserves.

F*CK! I'm (almost) In My Twenties

A few years back I stumbled upon a post on Tumblr which raved about a certain blog, which was run by the sister of one of my favourite musicians (Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend). So, I gave the blog a peek and was amazed by the online world which Emma Koenig had created. You can find Emma's blog here.
The blog was humorous, visual, and although I was closer to 15 than 20 at the time, was relatable. I envied this blood of Koenig which seemed to burn with creativity.
When I found out that Fuck! I'm In My Twenties was actually being released as a book I was delighted. I'm a huge fan of the Rookie Yearbook run by Tavi Gevinson, and thought Emma's blog was very similar in it's kitsch, cool style.
I decided I wanted this book for my 20th birthday, and I've waited. In the time since I first encountered Emma's blog I've completed my A Levels and embarked on my degree, and more than anything, I've joined the gloomy path to a teenageless life. A few years ago I liked the idea of Fuck! I'm In My Twenties, but now I feel like I'm living the life Emma describes.
I recently decided that with the amount of work related to my degree right now is so immensely agonising that I might not make it to 20, so, on a whim, I ordered Koenig's book, as well as the journal to accompany it.