#eleanor and park rainbow rowell

[darknixss]

I want to go back to the years when these books were the most popular

[the-overreactress]

I listened to a Rainbow Rowell book (Attachments) this week, and felt an odd sense of nostalgia. I devoured Fangirl and Eleanor & Park when I was a teenager, but I’m realizing I didn’t *really* have the cultural literacy to truly appreciate Rowell’s stellar work when I was 15/16.

I think most of the Fangirl stuff hit me harder because I was SUCH a massive tumblr user and consumer of fandom content back then, but I started listening to Eleanor & Park this morning and it struck me how many of the references about music and the 80s I got automatically. This is stuff I just wouldn’t have known back then or been exposed to until I went to college.

Also reminds me that, on every Gilmore Girls rewatch, I laugh at and appreciate dialogue and moments I never would have when I was 11, 15, or even 22. I love when popular culture is intertwined so beautifully into a story: when the story just wouldn’t exist without the culture.

I’m so grateful for my growing cultural literacy, and I look forward to rediscovering more things I never knew before in media I once consumed rather mindlessly. This has been one of the largest shifts mentally I’ve noticed after hitting my mid-20s.

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Set over one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

[lys-9-10]

"If you like Rainbow Rowell try..." recc lists suck. Can you help??

*UPDATE ok so in case anyone also didn't know this existed there is a thing called Storygraph which allows you to personalize recommendations based on much more specific things!! it's so cool go check it out if you're like me and frustrated by how unhelpful recommendation lists/algorithms usually are!

Ok this is probably a shot in the dark but idc b/c i'm frustrated and desperate The problem i have with "if you like RR try..." lists is they always seem to suggest things based on genre or similar plot points or something like that ... But the reason I love RR isn't WHAT she writes, it's HOW she writes. And I'm so hard pressed to find other writers like her. Can you help???

Things I love about her writing:

-Her witty, funny, stream-of-consciousness narration. Story is told through a very strong (and entertaining) character voice and we’re privy to all their internal ranting and private quips. (I'm thinking the Simon Snow series in particular typifies this narration style, though they all do to some extent)

-her character voices are endearing and quirky, not like, aggressively sarcastic and teen angsty like a lot of other YA authors

-her books are driven by characters and relationships. Not by plot or world-building.

-ultimately they're light reads, feel-good books that make you smile and laugh, but are super well written and have substance to them

-nothing is try-hard or artificial. I find a lot of YA books are... They're trying too hard to be funny, but aren't really. They're trying too hard to get a political message across. etc.

Any reccs??

I'M ETERNALLY INDEBTED!! <3 <3

Speaking of which, if helpful in thinking through reccs, the only 2 books I've really liked in the past couple years (since finishing all of RRs) are:

a) The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (LOVED this one, so funny and quirky and endearing)

b) A Man Called Ove (loved it but also couldn't become obsessed with it, i think prob b/c couldn't connect to the older characters as easily)

Both I think captured some of the things I highlighted.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[sofikiii]

“You can be Han Solo. And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”

Book cover for Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell <3

[chronically-dumb-pessimist]

i wonder if im scared of dealing with my mental health problems because none of my favorite book characters ever have... so why should i. in conclusion: reading is actually shit and for the birds. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[bookbabyfever]

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

- Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park.

[onthewaytosomewhere]

Books - I luv them

Alright, so the Parade Mag released their 125 Best Romance Books of All Time list, and I was ecstatic to see so many books that I have and do love on the list.

From books I read and re-read over and over as a teen such as Pride and Prejudice. As well as some of my all-time favorite books Love in the Time of Cholera, Outlander, and Wuthering Heights.

The list would not have been complete without some of the books that I have loved more recently such as Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park, Casey McQuiston's Red White and Royal Blue, and Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material.

It of course includes so many others I have yet to mention of the 50-something that I have read off the list such as John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, and so many others that were already on my To-Read list, and many more that I have now added. This list is truly the best gift to all readers - so go enjoy it!

https://parade.com/books/best-romance-books-of-all-time

[sucker717]

lol if anyone's read Eleanor & park recently hmu I need to discuss rn

[faerie-aurora]

"She never felt like she belonged anywhere, except for when she was laying on her bed, pretending to be somewhere else."

-Rainbow Rowell, from Eleanor and Park

[satelitis]

im in love with park sheridan and wes bennett

[starboydreamy]

dogbird reminds me of eleanor and park

[escritosinscritos]

Se você mesma não pode salvar sua própria vida, vale a pena alguém salvar?

[elmundoestahechodefrasesyletras]

No puedo evitarlo. No puedo desconectar el cerebro.

[bea-lele-carmen]

She looked like art, and art (...) ; it was supposed to make you feel something.

Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park