Tuesday, June 14, 2011

BR: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

Can I just say? Now I want my own persnickety Snarl. Maybe I should start wearing majorette boots and catch babies who get knocked out of their strollers by gigantic dogs named Boris.

Totally adored. Who DOESN'T want to come across a red notebook in a bookstore connected to a possible true love, daring you to go around New York during Christmas time and leave notes to each other? Yes, please. Very much so, yes please. This was one of those books that I totally laughed out loud at, and made me wish that I was more witty. Dang.

You probably know the authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan from Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, and are possibly already aware that each author takes a character, and they tag-team write, each "character" writing parts of the story in their own view; they claim to not plan anything beforehand and just let the story come out, chapter by chapter.

The first few chapters, it was like Cohn and Levithan were trying to out-ridiculous each other, like they were setting each other up, playing a game of who's-more-clever, which was hilarious, but at the same time, you were wondering just how serious this whole book was going to be. Eventually, the ridiculousness and out-doing each other toned down, and a real story played out. I mean, seriously, how fun would it be to have a secret pen pal who left your shared notebook in random places, with random people, giving you the opportunity to do all sorts of strange things you'd never get to do otherwise? Rub Santa's belly, decode secret messages in random books around a huge bookstore, go to a wax museum, make your own muppet....

I was surprised I liked it, to tell you the truth. Having read Nick & Norah's, I was hesitant, just because I was so sick of horny teenagers, but decided to give it a shot. Decision: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is like a horny-free version of Nick & Norahs, and much better, anyways.

I particularly enjoyed Dash's persnicketyness, Aunt Ida, the way Lily legitly wore the one boot and one sneaker, and all the fun word references. Hooray for people who enjoy words as much as I do.

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