Read This Next! discussion

Here are some questions to ponder.

1. Blame the parents?
Do you think Jade and David's are unfairly stigmatized because something went wrong with their children's relationship? Are the parents to blame?

2. What is healthy?
Can love that intense ever be considered 'healthy'? Can it be considered a mental illness?

3. A different time, a different age?
Would this story make as much sense or be just as daring/relevant if set in the present instead of 70's? Is stalking as fulfilling now that technology has made it so easy ie facebook ect?

4. Dude, is he mental?
Is David crazy? Should he have been institutionalized?

I have this on hold at the library. I'm reading too many books right now but it looks great!

I just started reading and already I want to highlight sentences! I had to start marking pages.

I'm leaning towards David's 'love' as a mental illness. It seems tied and confused to so much more than just love -- but to other areas of his emotional life and needs that were neglected. There is more to fulfilling this 'void' than first love or intimacy. I'm about half way through the book so maybe my questions will be answered by the end.

Favorite quotes from Endless Love:

"I was totally victimized by the irrational navigation of my unconscious."

"I was, I knew then, a member of a vast network of condemned men and women: romance had taken a wrong turn within me and led me into mayhem."

My Thoughts: I agree with the authors of "Read This Next," and recommend that everyone add this book to their "to-be-reads before I die list." Spencer smashes recent love stories making them look like romantic light and as shallow as a puddle in Arizona. The deeply passionate journey of David Axelrod epitomizes love at its most intense and insane. The descriptions grip at your guts and tingle all the way down through your toes. It's not an easy read, but the humanity and truthfulness of intimacy is so honest that it borders on perfection. Spencer is a master at constructing a genuine love scene with a rawness and tenderness that makes the heart ache with both madness and astonishment.

I'm getting this book from the library. I am reading too many books right now but this looks like such a good one. I'll try and join in the conversation later!

I finally got this one from the library today. :)

I need to use the library more often. I'm terrible about buying books. Although, I do go to the used book stores first and often find lots of treasures.

Charlie wrote: "I need to use the library more often. I'm terrible about buying books. Although, I do go to the used book stores first and often find lots of treasures."

I really enjoy your website, by the way! :)