Pop #9

It's becoming really difficult to find songs for these compilations anymore. Traditionally, eighty or ninety percent of the great pop songs I find had been revealed to me during the 40 hours per week of music they pump out of the speakers at work. These days they barely play any modern music at all, and even fewer songs that I'm unfamiliar with (recent or no). But I managed to find a few good tracks. Call Me Maybe is an easy contender for best song of the year.

Pop 9

1. Call Me Maybe -- Carly Rae Jepsen
2. Monster -- Paramore

3. Don't Know Why -- Norah Jones
4. Wide Awake -- Katy Perry
5. Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) -- Kelly Clarkson
6. Mandy -- Barry Manilow
7. Our Summer -- Dragonette
8. All Kinds of Wrong -- Miranda Cosgrove
9. Made of Stone -- Evanescence
10. Dressin' Up -- Katy Perry
11. Don't Hurt It (feat. Timbaland) -- Dev
12. Stay (I Missed You) -- Lisa Loeb

13. Boyfriend (feat. Snoop Dogg) -- Big Time Rush
14. Five Fingaz to the Face -- Victorious Cast
15. Somebody That I Used to Know -- Gotye

Empress of the World

Empress of the World is a quaint little romance novel from 2001 written by Sara Ryan. Within its pages, a teenage girl named Nicola meets a group of friends at a summer learning program, whom quickly become her inseparable confidants. She then falls madly in love with another member of this clan, a gentle Southern girl with the unlikely name of Battle.

 'Empress' is far from the best novel I've ever read, but it has a definite power to it. Despite the countless tropes it employs, it's a genuinely unique piece of work. It's kind of strange, half of what I read is "young adult" fiction, and yet this is the first time in years I actually felt like I was reading a kids' book. Despite the characters being almost college-age, plus the smoking and drinking of alcohol, and the references to sex and drugs, this book reads like it is meant for middle school or younger. The writing is ceaselessly straight-forward, though not without its charms, and the scenes are often only a few sentences long. It actually becomes vary jarring, having mere glimpses raised up to be scenes, and chapters tend to end abruptly in the middle of action I'd realy like to see develop further. But beneath the frustration lies an excellent adventure. 

Giving teenagers the run of a campus (their summer program takes place at a university), provided a fun bit of independence and made the characters seem a lot older than they are. It gave it sort of a Zoey 101 feel. It made me nostalgic for college, more than anything else. The characters were pure and naive, but in an endearing and fairly true to life way. Like many young adult novels, it doesn't shy away from portraying alcohol in a positive light. And, like Annie On My Mind, the drinking is used subtlety to add a pinch of mystery and adventure to a beautifully romantic scene.

The romance itself, for the most part, is actually pretty generic. Where this novel shines with notable fervor is in its depiction of the core friendship between Nicola and the other kids she met in the program. Their friendship develops quickly but not at all unrealistically, into a do-or-die allegience and an effortless rapport. The many scenes of pragmatic Nicola clashing against bossy, extroverted crazy-nerd Katrina and soft-spoken but strong-willed Battle are fun, free-spirited, and vividly genuine. I would love to see a sequel focused on Katrina, her character was so much fun.

 I don't know what to say about it other than that it was kind of a trip for me. Juxtaposing the juvenile writing style with the college-esque characters, then adding in the powerful wistfulness of its 'fleeting summer of youth' theme, sort of threw me for a loop. I would definitely reccomend this novel for fans of friendship and slice of life stories; in that category it is fairly immaculate. But for romance you'd do better to read Annie On My Mind. Yet I'm proud to say that this is another humble, pure-hearted novel about two girls in love, without the murder, suicide, promiscuous sex or soapboxing that sometimes plagues lesbian literature. This is the kind of romance I believe in with mine own heart.