Thoughts Before Reading: Nineteen Minutes By Jodi Picoult

If you don't know this already I love Jodi Picoult. I think that she is a fantastic writer that makes you think after you finish the book. She is also one of the most intelligent person that I know/don't know personally. I love her so much that I emailed her and actually got a reply. Yes I printed it out. I read My Sister's Keeper years ago and I really enjoyed. It was probably one of the first adult books I have ever read and I loved it. I had to re-read the book for school recently in groups and I think I was the one who was most obsessed. Half the time the other girls looked me like 'Seriously? Maybe you should write some Jodi Picoult fan fiction if you're in love with her books so much." Needless to say I was the only one thoroughly excited to read the book. It was interesting to read the book as a teenager and understand it a bit more. But this post isn't about My Sister's Keeper. I bought Nineteen Minutes years ago as well and I started to read it and I just couldn't I was mortified. I didn't want to read about teenagers who were killed at school. So I put the book down and waited for the right time to pick it back up. I guess it was a good thing that I began to read My Sister's Keeper again. If you know anything about me it's i'm a pretty innocent person. You think i'm joking? I'm listening to a Christmas CD right now (Yes I know it's June I just love Christmas way to much.)  I will not watch a rated R movie because I just can't handle it and I squeal like a little girl when I get the opportunity to bake or buy a candle. Reading this book for the first time is kind of scary for me. I was talking to my teacher about it and she said that she had to read it during the summer because she was so paranoid that it was going to happen at school.
 I think school shootings are important to talk about. I think any serious/controversial topic is important to talk about. Especially the ones that scare us.
here's what Goodreads has to say about this book.
Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and The Tenth Circle, pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy. 
Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is shattered by an act of violence. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened before her very own eyes--or can she? As the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show--destroying the closest of friendships and families. Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be.
I will say that I am extremely blessed to not know what it's like to be mercilessly bullied. We all have been teased or somewhat bullied. One of the reasons that I have been teased is because i'm the 'smart kid'. As if it's a crime to want to be intelligent. Also for being a Christian I remember bringing a bible onto the school bus and one kid decided to tell the entire bus. Of course it didn't matter to me and anyway the next day on the bus I saw another girl who decided to bring her's as well. I find that if you give the attacker attention they feed off of that. So just ignore them and that makes them look stupid for even bringing it up. I am also very lucky to have great friends that I can vent to if something has happened.
Unfortunately and trust me I know that's not always the case for everybody. In school if you're different and like something that may be unpopular you are a perfect target for a bully and sometimes that doesn't help in the friend department. I wish that I could say that I have helped every victim of bullying that I've seen but I haven't. I think as people we are way to oblivious to the things around us. We are to focused on ourselves or maybe we notice something but don't do anything about it. I hope that I enjoy this book and I love Jodi Picoult a little bit more.
DFTBA
-AB
P.S. 195 days until Christmas.
This is one of my favorite Jodi Picoult interviews. It's about her latest book 'The Story Teller' I still need to pick it up. It has to do with the holocaust. I know that it's ridiculously long but trust me it doesn't  feel that way. Skip the first four minutes that just the introduction.