the last book i listened to during my commute was the outsiders by s.e. hinton. i've seen the movie before and was a big fan of it, buuuut (as cliche as it might be) the book was so. much. better. there may have been a time or two when i had to seriously consider pulling off to the side of the road, because of all the tears welling up in my eyes.


i really don't know what to say about it without giving away any of the plot, except for that i loved this book. i loved everything about it - the vibrant characters and the straightforward writing and i will forever have a soft spot in my heart for the protagonist, pony boy. plus johnny and soda and darry and two-bit and dally and the whole lot of them. even though the book was written decades ago, it captures that same teen angst and coming-of-age confusion that still exists, as well as societal stereotypes and basic truths (like don't judge a book by its cover) that we always seem to forget. and what is even more incredible is that this american classic was written by a 16-year-old girl. you go girl.

and here are a few quotes from it that i love:

"i lie to myself all the time. but i never believe me."

"maybe the two worlds we lived in weren't so different. we saw the same sunset."

"they grew up on the outside of society. they weren't looking for a fight. they were looking to belong."

"dally was so real he scared me."

"things were rough all over, but it was better that way. that way you could tell the other guy was human too."

"what's the safest thing to be when one is met by a gang of social outcasts in an alley? ...another social outcast!"

"rat race is the perfect name for it...we're always going and going and going, and never asking where. did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? so that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? it seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it. maybe if we could lose our cool we would."

"nothing gold can stay." [robert frost]

"i've been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you're gold when you're a kid, like green. when you're a kid everything's new, dawn. it's just when you get used to everything that it's day. like the way you dig sunsets, pony. that's gold. keep that way, it's a good way to be."