The Exchange

Kubi: On Love by Alain de Botton

The process of love, including falling out of it, as a thinking exercise. You’d think it wouldn’t be (because shouldn’t love at its climax be spontaneous, reckless, feverish?), but it is very romantic. It’s also very relatable: I made red highlights in every chapter.

Hanna: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This book is made entirely out of squee. Reading it made me feel like a blushing school girl with a crush.

Hanna: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides | directed by Sofia Coppola

This book was my bible in high school. The sentences were so delicious that I wanted to eat the whole book. It’s such a gorgeous novel and Sofia Coppola captured the loneliness of the Lisbon girls and the hyperbolic fantasies of the adolescent boys in the neighborhood. The film is as haunting and enchanting as the novel and I love everything about them.

Kubi: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | directed by Joe Wright (2005)

Five words: Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy.

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition cover art by artist Ruben Toledo)

Hanna: This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Smith’s The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight was marvelous, which was why I had insanely high expectations for this one. But while I loved how genuine the characters were and how charming their meet cute was, the book was surprisingly underwhelming. It lacked the spark that keeps me hooked on YA novels. It was a nice read but I just wasn’t swept away by it.

Kubi: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

It seemed very promising: an obscure bookstore, quirky characters, and code-breaking. I’d expected a story about the love of books and reading, but it turned out to be a discussion about technology and how it has advanced information management in recent years (there is much mention of Google and how awesome it is). If I’d gone in without preconceptions, I probably would have appreciated the book more and simply taken it as it is.

Kubi: ”I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

- The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune by Frank Herbert

Hanna: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

From Cosmos by Carl Sagan

(I have no idea what my favorite book is yet but I have a favorite quote from a book by one of my favorite people in the universe so this will be my pick for Day 17 for now.)

Hanna: Alexandra Trese from Trese by Budjette Tan and artist Kajo Baldisimo

Kubi: St Alia of the Knife from Dune and Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

I absolutely love this interpretation of Alia by gorrem on deviantArt. I keep posting and re-posting it.

Kubi: Eugenides from the Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Hanna: Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Hanna: Norwegian Wood (I haven’t read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and 1Q84 yet but out of all the Murakami books I’ve had the pleasure of reading, this was the one that really struck a chord with me.)

Kubi: Wonder Boys (Oh those sentences.)

Kubi: Michael Chabon (Curiously, Neil Gaiman is also in the photo. He is a given for us in this category. :p)

Hanna: Haruki Murakami

Hanna: Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (I used to love these books especially the ones where you get to choose your own ending. This particular Are You Afraid of the Dark book - I think it was Tale of the Nightly Neighbors - actually glowed in the dark and kept me awake when I was a kid. I’d rather read something else right now but I wouldn’t mind reading one of these books again sometime soon.)

Kubi: Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg (I’m sorry! I don’t see myself reading Fannie Flagg anymore, but I still feel terrible for giving Daisy Fay this distinction. What kind of cruel world permits this?! *dry sobs*)

Kubi: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Hanna: Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer