The Sentences Wear Socks

Posted on | Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | 4 Comments

There's a certain kind of book I love. They're filed under "Books I Thoroughly Enjoyed But Am Rarely Articulate About." More succinctly, they are "quiet" books. There are no explosions, no mind-blowing twists; I "um-and-uh" when relaying their plots. If they were in a family, they'd be the middle child. If they missed curfew or snuck downstairs for a snack in the middle of the night, you wouldn't hear them rummaging through the fridge or hear their bare feet padding up the stairs.

Before I headed back into the Revision cave (did I mention I was back in The Cave? You should join me! Neverending supply of Nibs! Dress code: Sweats!), I had the chance to read this book:

The picture above is the paperback cover (and my favorite of the two). Here's the hardback cover:


Hold Still chronicles the life of a girl for the first year following her best friend's death. It is a quiet story - plot-wise, character-wise. Even the sentences wear socks.

To be honest, I didn't think "OMG THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER" when I started or finished the book, but there were several moments where I'd think, "Yes. This is absolutely, 100% right. How did Nina LaCour know?" And can I just say - the more I read (all books in general), the more I realize that I'm not the only person in the history of the world to have had That One Random Thought. It's like how sometimes you think you've made up a word only to discover that it's, like, slang from England or something. At the royal wedding, I discovered they've been using STUNGEOUS since Queen Elizabeth's coronation. Queen Elizabeth the first. 


Quiet or not, when it feels like an author broke into your brain, the book is doing something right.

Many moments in Hold Still reminded me of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and of any/all of Sara Zarr's works. If you are a fan of either author, you should check out Hold Still. It's one of the most moving, honest portrayals of loss, loneliness, and moving on I've read recently.

What are some of your favorite "quiet" books?

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