sarah · dessen

Okay, this might have been one of the Best Weekends Ever. First, Carolina beats Duke at home, on senior night. For any UNC fan, you could not have crafted a happier ending to the regular season. I don't even care what happens from here on out: I'm just happy. Then, the Oscars. Okay, so Jon Stewart seemed a little nervous, and they went on WAY too long as always, but the winners seemed a happy mix of the expected (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the surprise (Crash for Best Picture). I LOVED Reese Witherspoon's speech, and how she talked about June Carter just "trying to matter," and I thought the guys who won for Best Song made the whole telecast. On the whole, I thought it was the best show I'd seen in awhile. Although you have to wonder what they promised Ben Stiller to make him come out in a green bodysuit in front the entire universe. Yikes!

Also this weekend, someone let me know a review of Just Listen, from Kirkus, was up on the B&N site. I have to say it's not the greatest review ever, although not terrible either. (Although my characterizations are referred to as "glib," which can't be good.) The last sentence, though, is the one that really stuck with me: "Not deep, but absorbing and enjoyable." Which, the more I think about it, is how most people would probably describe ME. And is that a bad thing? I don't know.

Here's the thing with reviews: it's impossible not to take them personally. Whatever they say about your book, it's like they're saying it about you. So if it's bad, it hurts for a moment, but then usually passes, unless what's said is particularly scathing. When the movie came out, though, the reviews for that were different. It wasn't like they were talking about me, but maybe, say, my father-in-law. Which is to say I was invested, and didn't want to see it disparaged, but didn't feel every word like a punch to the chest. So to speak. But anyway.

Speaking of Just Listen, I've said here before that there's a strong music component in the book. So this weekend, inspired by the fabulous Lara Zeises, I put together an iMix, on ITunes, for the book. If you have ITunes, you can find it by clicking here. If you don't have ITunes, here's what I picked, and why.

( Sarah Dessen: Just Listen )

have a good day, everyone!