Susan G. (WestofMars) reviewed on 6/27/2010 + 162 more book reviews

"Susan," People said to me, "you've got to read Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's so you."

I trusted them; I'd been hearing this same thing from way too many people to not hear the nugget of truth in what they were saying. Yet, I still procrastinated. After all, my TBR mountain range is over 500 books. I'm trying to shrink that puppy and make some work space in my office.

So I threw it up to fate. When the movie came out, I reminded myself I needed to read the book first -- and soon.

That was in 2008. It wasn't until summer of 2010 that I was standing in my local public library with my son, trying to find something that would interest him, that I turned to a rack of books and ... there it was.

I told myself I shouldn't. I have enough at home. Heck, I shouldn't be taking out the new release I had in my hands.

It was a moment of weakness.

It was a moment I'll never regret.

That's because Nick and Norah is a fabulous book. It gets the rock and roll vibe and it tells a story I maybe could have lived at a younger point in my life. I recognized myself in here, recognized friends, recognized the carefree feel of wanting to keep the night going, to see where things were leading, to play this out now and not over awhile, when thinking had time to intrude, and expectations to overpower. Nope, there's that urgency, that need to live life, to experience things, to be part of this adventure that's changing you even as you go through it...

Yeah. I've been there, all right. Leaving it behind is possibly the worst thing about growing up.

Now, I'll confess I'd been worried about the two author thing. How would it work, would the voices meld? Would dialogue and actions be consistent across characters? Yes, you'd expect a boy's voice to be different from a girl's -- it was the small details I was worried about.

Ha. It was quite seamless and carefully done. It lent the book an authenticity in each character, although some of that could have been my own expectations coming into play. It's entirely possible I was so charmed by the story, that I related to it so much better than I had anticipated, that I'm overlooking some flaws. I must be. No book is this perfect.

Yet like Fat Kid Rules the World, this is one of my new favorites. An instant classic.

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