Welcome back to another edition of “This Week I Read.” First
up was, surprise, The Princess Diaries Volume VII: Party Princess by Meg Cabot. I’m moving into the books I don’t remember as well, which only adds to the adventure. I mean, how did I forget Grandmere’s play?! It is a triumph my dear, a triumph.
I did take a break from the Princess Diaries this week because I watched the movie The Duff. I read the book, The Duff by Kody Keplinger, a few months ago so
I was excited about the film. It did not live up to my expectations at all. See, the brilliant thing about the book is it deals with real issues, not issues adults think are appropriate for teenagers. The book is full of swearing, sex, alcoholism, bullying and more. The movie takes on some of that, well the bullying part, but makes it a cliche commentary on high school hierarchies that is disappointing and ineptly dealt with. The controversial material that makes the book one of the best contemporary YA novels I’ve ever read is dumbed down and ignored. No one is going to argue that cyberbullying is ok. But seventeen year olds who hate each other having meaningless sex and hiding it from their friends? Things just got interesting. So, obviously, I had to reread the book .