Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: Benjamin Alire Saenz | BookTalk w/ @sslluvsbooks

Rating: 98%

Series: None

Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance, LGBT, Ficiton, Young Adult,

Publisher: 

Publication Date: February 21, 2012

Page Count: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: Barnes & Nobles

The Book Depository | Barnes & Nobles | Goodreads | Amazon

Goodreads Synopsis: A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

Disclaimer: At Loving the Language of Literacy, "Book Review" means a spoiler-free overview of my opinions versus a "BookTalk" where there's a spoiler-free synopsis section with my general thoughts and then I distinctly tell you to go away when there will be spoilers.

Who Would I Recommend This Book To?

For anyone struggling with or wanting to be informed about being LGBT
For anyone wanting a diverse, well written Young Adult novel where parents are alive
For anyone wanting to see themes like race being debated about by the Main Character.

Would I Buy It?

I already did and so should you!!!

What Was My Reaction Upon Finishing?
Sweet baby Jesus! That was absolutely incredible, give me ALL of the Benjamin Alire Saenz books!

How Likely Is It That I Will Re-Read This Novel?

90%
I need to revisit this one every few years because I think it will just get better and better.

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Another Book By This Author?

99.9%
The only question is... how soon?

Conclusion: Featuring a completely unique, well developed main character with a voice entirely his own, a plot that delivers on the premise, a romance able to remind everyone what it's like to be in love, and the need for a "Feels Warning" on the cover. 

Our World | My Journey to the Dark Side ~ Sorrys, Social Issues & Sappiness

My Journey to the Dark Side is a 5 Part Mini-Series featuring the poetry I have featured in that week’s corresponding YouTube video. If you’ve wanted to reread a poem I read, look no further :)

Our World

It’s a world everyone has heard of

But seldom want to discuss

Too heavy to be the centerpiece

For another gathering of plastic well wishers

A constant stream of white noise

Assaulting condemned ears

That we have all seemed

To lock out of consideration

Constant attention is required

For those who have invalid claims

Brought to light when the

Ones we thought we were protecting

End up being our guardians

It’s so easy to stay standing on the front line

For a cause we don’t actually have to believe in

Until it is brought to our attention

That this is our world.

Prompt : Write a poem addressing a social issue you feel passionate about.

Other Poems in the Series ~

Dear Orange Sharpie

Conversation Traveler

To those who miss what can’t be home

Cognizance

Our World

What social issue would you address? Are you looking forward to reading the rest of my poems? What else do you want to see on the blog?

Cognizance | My Journey to the Dark Side ~ Social Issues, Sorrys & Sappiness

My Journey to the Dark Side is a 5 Part Mini-Series featuring the poetry I have featured in that week’s corresponding YouTube video. If you’ve wanted to reread a poem I read, look no further :)

Cognizance

Bound together by chains and nails,

The last ditch efforts of super glue

Look at them

As basic hardware

Cogs and wheel spokes

Sustain binding contracts and forced commitment

The most minute of details

Soldered together from affections

The naked threads

Too tangled from being used to each other

Whether it’s the two children

Made to socialize or

The reluctant peers begrudgingly collaborating

Exchanged hatred or lovelorn glances

Make no difference

Time impresses upon the skin

Of who you wouldn't be otherwise

Maybe that’s why we can’t help but fall in love.

Prompt : Write a poem describing or somehow incorporating an old pocket watch.

Other Poems in the Series ~

Dear Orange Sharpie

Conversation Traveler

To those who miss what can’t be home

Cognizance

Our World

What do you think of the poem’s message? Are you looking forward to reading the rest of my poems? What else do you want to see on the blog?

To those who miss what can't be home | My Journey to the Dark Side ~ Anthems, Shoutouts & Being Away from Home

My Journey to the Dark Side is a 5 Part Mini-Series featuring the poetry I have featured in that week’s corresponding YouTube video. If you’ve wanted to reread a poem I read, look no further :)

To those who miss what can’t be home

Day by day you feel the same

Sometimes those days are wretched,

Sometimes exalted

But that is the way it has always been.

It is only when you are reunited

With the sly grins and remembered references

That you know you have finally “moved on”

A phrase you never believed in.

There will always be

The scent of stale water on fighting-to-be-green grass

The euphoria of nighttime air clinging onto skin

As heads are stuck out of car windows

Like the dogs you are missing.

It is only when you are reunited

Does the gossip of transience become relevant.

When dragged back into the currents

Of what you thought you would always know,

You realize sanctuary under the surface was an incubator

Accompanied by the baby blanket of routine familiarity.

Though you left on terms not your own,

Being reunited serves as confirmation

That being catapulted through the rose colored glass

Could have been the best thing that ever happened.

Look back,

It’s not the same,

It can’t be.

Because home is what you left to come back to.

Prompt : Write a letter to any object in the room from another object’s perspective.

Other Poems in the Series ~

Dear Orange Sharpie

Conversation Traveler

To those who miss what can’t be home

Cognizance

Our World

What do you think of the last line? Are you looking forward to reading the rest of my poems? What else do you want to see on the blog?

Conversation Traveler | My Journey to Dark Side ~ Underpants, Perception, and Imitating Sofia

My Journey to the Dark Side is a 5 Part Mini-Series featuring the poetry I have featured in that week’s corresponding YouTube video. If you’ve wanted to reread a poem I read, look no further :)

Conversation Traveler

Round. Symmetrical in shape. 

Picked up a yard sale for only a dollar.

What could have been a 

Cold, Unreachable, Unaffecting museum display,

Has instead piqued curiosity,

Thus sending life from one side to

Meet with its potential from the other.

Upon experiencing the stone, 

It is merely a time capsule. 

A flawless finish hastily plastered

On the uneraseable mars, cracks, and possibility.

Serving as a creator’s attempt to 

Cover up a history

As one last effort to hide the truth.

That worth is not defined by a price tag

But by the ongoing miles it gains through conversation.

Prompt : Write a poem describing or somehow incorporating this (dubbed) indescribably stone.

Other Poems in the Series ~

Dear Orange Sharpie

Conversation Traveler

To those who miss what can’t be home

Cognizance

Our World

What do you think of my description? Are you looking forward to reading the rest of my poems? What else do you want to see on the blog?

Dear Orange Sharpie | My Journey to the Dark Side ~ What is Poetry?

*squints at bright blogging light* Yes, yes, I know it has been forever since I swept out the cracks of my keyboard and posted anything on my blog. Today I’m here to present you with the first of a 5 part series of posts which will hopefully be the start of something new. So long, Loving the Language of Literacy has been a book blog but now I want to expand it into writing as well.

My own writing.

This is an extremely daunting thing for me to do considering how judgmental the internet can be but assuming the only people who will come here will want to see the writing I’ve already read aloud in my YouTube video, then it shouldn’t be that scary. We’re all friends here, right?

If you watch my BookTube channel eponymously named Loving the Language of Literacy, you might know I go to writing class and for all five weeks worth of videos, I have shared my work. For the first time ever, you’ll have a post to refer back to you if you want to read my original work.

Without further ado, I present the first poem I EVER shared on my YouTube Channel.

Dear Orange Sharpie

Dear Orange Sharpie,

What is the meaning of life?

I bet this has never been an issue for you

In the realm of writing instruments

You are so obviously the king

Because you do only what I have longed for all my life.

You. Are. Permanent.

Day after day. Week after week,

I am used on that relentlessly white board,

Serving my purpose as the instruction writer or doodler

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job

Getting people to where they’re supposed to go

Is my life’s pleasure

But no matter what I write,

No matter how helpful I am,

My work always disappears.

For once could Eraser let my markings stay?

For once, could people step back and appreciate

Everything I have written

Without erasing it 2 seconds later?

All I ask is to be recognized as

More than something disposable.

Why work countless hours if only to be

Abandoned at the end of the day?

What is the meaning of life

If I am only to leave a

Temporary mark on the world?

Sincerely your friend,

The Bitter Purple Dry Erase Marker

Prompt : Write a letter to any object in the room from another object’s perspective.

Other Poems in the Series ~

Dear Orange Sharpie

Conversation Traveler

To those who miss what can’t be home

Cognizance

Our World

What do you think of my prosetry? Are you looking forward to reading the rest of my poems? What else do you want to see on the blog?

June 2015 Wrap-Up | European Shenanigans With My Best Friend.... What Could Go Wrong?

IMAGE FROM THIS MONTH

I've been blasting this a lot on my social media, but if you don't know, I spent 2 weeks in Stockholm, the Archipelago, Helsinki, and London - and made an entire vlog of the experience. This photo is from my first day in Sweden at Lake Brunnswikken.

WHAT FUN/NOTEWORTHY THINGS HAPPENED?

1. It's Summer! | I actually got out of school early actually to go to Europe for my parents work and actually spent the first day of summer with some close family friends in the Archipelago. Before I left, I got to spend a day with my boyfriend and his family at their lake house which was an incredibly fun kick-off the summer. We kayaked, I met his relatives, and of course, because we're us, we went exploring in the woods and I got a grand total of 18 bug bites. But as anyone knows, you wouldn't give up the experience for anything.... even being eaten alive.

2. I made Emma go on a 10 miles detour! | 

Anyone whose stuck around on Loving the Language of Literacy since 2015 will know I love exploring and wandering which most of the time ends with me getting lost. Originally, Emma and I were just going to go on a 7 mile run around Lake Brunnswikken but we ended up not even making it entirely around the lake and ended up walking/running for 10 freaking miles after going down trails and coming back to exactly where we started. Nevertheless, we got home and it was a fun bonding experience. Although if Emma told her perspective, she would probably have a different story... 

3. I've made my triumphant return to Photography! | Obviously, I couldn't have gone traipsing around Europe without taking a ton of photos (more like 300). *promises while clinging to the cliff she's been thrown off* I will do a Frames of Existence soon! I'm considering creating a photography Instagram even because I enjoy taking and editing photos just so darn much.  

4. Adventures in London | We spent the last two days of our trip in London and they were probably my favorite days of the entire trip because we stayed with close family friends who are absolutely the best humans on the planet. They're ridiculously funny and nice and I'm so glad we got to stay with them. *Hint* If you ever go to the UK, never say "toss" *laughs hysterically at inside joke* We also got to meet up with other family friends for dinner which was so much fun. British people trying to sound American are always hilarious. Of course, we also went to the London Eye - pictured on left.

5. Rosendals Trädgård | This is where I made my huge photography return and I swear it was the longest I've been willingly near bees in my entire life. I took a bunch hot pictures and it was an absolutely gorgeous place you most definitely should go to if you're ever in Stockholm.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FORWARD TO?
4th of July!
I've honestly never been so happy for fourth of July than this year because of all the festivities and activities going on. On the 3rd I'm going back to my boyfriend's grandparent's lake house to celebrate  which I'm ecstatic about because it's astoundingly gorgeous. On the 4th, I'm participating in the 4th of July footrace which is 10 miles of running.... in 80 degrees. (We'll see if I drop dead from heat exhaustion) Then my family and I are going to watch fireworks.

WHAT DID I READ?
[JUNE READING WRAP-UP VIDEO TO COME]

FAVORITE VIDEO OF MINE

FAVORITE BOOKTUBE VIDEO

WHAT WERE MY TV/MOVIE OBSESSIONS?

I mentioned Stitchers in my May Wrap-Up but I just had to mention it in June again because even though it's not the most high-quality of shows, it is absolutely hilarious, gripping, and the characters are awesome. 

I saw all the promos for the Astronaut Wives Club and knew I had to at least check it out because I'm a complete sucker for shows that revolve around people's lives and the dynamics between them. the premise is something I never thought ABC would try to make a show out of but I enjoyed the first episode and will keep watching.

Yes, I admit, I watch Mistresses. It's a complete guilty pleasure and I love watching all the shenanigans these four women get into and I really like the mystery this season has.

We saw Jurassic World on opening night and the fam and I really enjoyed it. I sincerely think it was the best Jurassic Park of them all with just the right amount of action, dinosaurs, and character dynamics.

WHAT SONGS WERE ON REPEAT?

FAVORITE QUOTE

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

What was the most exciting/interesting thing that you've done/happened to you so far?