Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"and oh, how i miss
substituting the conclusion to confrontation with a kiss
and oh, how i miss
walking up to the edge and jumping in
like i could feel the future on your skin"
--Ani, "Fire Door"

NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST has such a pounding and infectious beat that it's as if a mp3-saturated microchip were implanted in the book. From the instant you crack open the cover, screams of loud, moaning guitar come slicing through your synapses, to be followed immediately by a vocalist's machine-gun rapid rant caressing your face. And then, when you succeed in getting your eyes back into focus for a moment, you realize you're hovering slightly above a tightly packed, pulsing crowd and that something's compelling you to focus on the goings-on taking place in one little corner of the evening's virtual insanity.

There they are: Two young, complete strangers who in the same moment of desperation and fortuitous fate are attempting to avoid the very same person and are about to send their parallel universes irretrievably crashing into each other.

"All the tables have been shoved aside now.
"Fuse: lit.
"Fuse: burning.
"Ready.
"Set.
"Explode."

And, so, the evening -- and the story -- begins.

Nick:

"She sees me. She can't fake surprise at seeing me here, because of course she f---ing knew I'd be here. So she does a little smile thing and whispers something to the new model and I can tell just from her expression that after they get their now-being-poured drinks they are going to come over and say hello and good show and--could she be so stupid and cruel?--how are you doing? And I can't stand the thought of it. I see it all unfolding and I know I have to do something--anything--to stop it.
"So I, this random bassist in an average queercore band, turn to this girl in flannel who I don't even know and say:
" 'I know this is going to sound strange, but would you mind being my girlfriend for the next five minutes?' "

Norah:

"I answer NoMo's question by putting my hand around his neck and pulling his face down to mine. God, I would do anything to avoid Tris recognizing me and trying to talk to me."

"I've just seen a face I can't forget the time or place where we just met
She's just the girl for me and I want all the world to see we've met
Mm mm mm mm mm mm
Had it been another day I might have looked the other way
And I'd have never been aware, but as it is I'll dream of her tonight
La la la la la la."
--Lennon and McCartney, "I've Just Seen A Face"

If it weren't for what she so erroneously spews about how the Beatles are completely overrated, Norah Silverberg would easily be contending for my favorite female character for 2006. And after reading and rereading NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST, Norah Silverberg has become such a part of my reality that I'm illogically wishing she actually reads this so that I can bring her down a notch by snapping back about how overrated SHE is.

"I extract my wrist from his grip. But for some reason, instead of walking away, I pause for a moment and return my hand to his face, caressing his cheek, drawing light circles on his jaw with my index finger.
"I tell him, 'You poor schmuck.' "

The fact is that I'd been aware for quite a while that these two YA authors whom I've long adored individually had been collaborating on a project together, but only in my dreams could I have imagined that the fruits of that shared labor would morph into the unforgettable evening-long, sensual, thrillingly adventurous, utterly charming and sweet, head-bangingly lyrical story that has our students passing a precious advance copy from one to another to another and begging us to organize a trip down to the City when the David and Rachel tour passes through SF in June.

Tune into NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST, or be way sorry you missed it.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com