Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.

I loved this book, absolutely adored it. It was insightful and fun and embarrassing and wonderfully observational. It is about an American “Prep”; a boarding school for rich people that Lee, the main character, wins a scholarship to. So some of the things described are alien, but the teenage stuff is excruciatingly spot on and universal.

Truth and recognition in any book, film, music or comedy is what makes me fall in love with it. I suppose the things that I feel as truth are personal to me, and so when I hear them articulated by somebody else I feel a little less alone in the world. This paragraph just thrilled me;

“…I looked at the floor around my chair to make sure I hadn’t dropped anything. I was terrified of unwittingly leaving behind a scrap of paper on which were written all my private desires and humiliations. the fact that no such scrap of paper existed…never decreased my fear.”

Perfect!

I devoured this book. It’s wonderful when you read something that captures your imagination so much that you are constantly waiting for the next opportunity to read. I will definitely buy her next novel, and feel sad that this one is finished.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=3821701