Thoughts on Red

Title: Red
Author: 58 different girls
Editor: Amy Goldwasser
Publisher: Hudson Street Press
Release Date: November 8, 2007


Portion of Goodreads Synopsis (click here for a lengthier summary):

A vivid portrait of what it means to be a teenage girl in America today, from 58 of the country's finest, most credentialed writers on the subject


My Thoughts: To state the obvious: I love to read. I normally pore over novels that are home to characters made up in a middle aged person's head while sitting on a couch having a cup of coffee. I love these books--these books consisting of totally made-up people and stories. Why I love books is hard to pin-point. Maybe I love books because they teach me things that couldn't be taught in any other way. Books make me think new crazy ideas. Books make me want to travel. Most of all, I can either relate to these book characters and their lives, or I can think, "WHAT was that character thinking!!!"

These made up, completely fictional characters can move and change a person. If fictional stories can alter the way a person thinks, can't real stories? Yes!

I just finished reading Red, an anthology of essays written by teenage girls about anything and everything (ranging from family friends dying of cancer, to an obsession with Stephen Colbert). Even though the essays were pretty short (from about 2-7 pages), I found myself getting extremely attached to the very real "characters" in certain stories. Reading Red was much like reading an actual novel, and I constantly had to remind myself that the essays I was reading were not made up by a middle aged person sitting on their couch--these essays were written by actual people (which happened to be girls around my age!).

All of the stories in Red were original, and amazing. I loved the variety of the topics, and the different writing styles. It was inspirational to see a book with so much diversity, and written by the next generation of writers.

I highly suggest and recommend Red to anyone. It is a unique book, and like no other "novel" of it's kind.  Tomorrow the editor of Red, Amy Goldwasser, will be interviewed on the blog, so I suggest you pop back over to read more details on Red, why it's amazing, and of course about the fabulous Ms. Goldwasser.