I am The Messenger by Marcus Suzak

This is the story of nineteen year-old cab-driver Ed Kennedy. A local deadbeat who has accomplished nothing,  and likely never will. That is until he gets held up by the most useless gunman who drops his gun, as he tries to get away. Luckily, the escape vehicle is a piece of crap that has a one-in-five chance of starting. Ed shoots the windshield, and is suddenly hailed a hero. For about a day. After the afore mentioned gunman is convicted and sent to jail (6 months, much to Ed's dismay...) playing cards start turning up at his doorstep.

What I love about this book is maybe the fact that Ed, like all the characters, are real, flawed people. I mean, at nineteen Bob Dylan was a seaoned performer in NYC's Greenwich Village, Joan of Arc was the most wanted woman on earth, and Ed Kennedy was perhaps the youngest cab-driver in his area. Because he had fake papers. His late dad was an alcoholic, his mum a chain-smoker and "one of those mums that goes out in public wearing Ugg boots" haha. He has two sisters, I believe, one of whom got knocked up as a teen, and a younger brother who out-shines him everyday. He goes to University.In the city.

This is a really feel-good kind of thing. Also, Suzak's style is very easy-going. It's very friendly and conversational...

Tavi Gevinson ideaCity10

So this was from last summer, I'd like to think... and Tavi (#personalhero) is just extremely amazing... :D

Whatever Happened to Dudley Dursley

For some odd reason, my friend and I started talking about Dudley during Ceramics Class. It might have been the fact that Harry Potter is pretty much the only thing we talk about, but we never talk about the Dursleys. NEVER. But we couldn't stop thinking about what happened to Harry Potter's obnoxious cousin. J.K Rowling pretty much tied most loose ends in some interview a few years ago. Luna married Skarmander's great-grand son, Neville married one of Harry's Quidditch teammates, and George continued with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. But we never got to hear about what happened to our Darling Dudders. Of course, after he, Petunia and Vernon were taken away by Dedalus Diggle and that other person, they really served no other purpose in the story. Their job was done. They had tortured Harry for nearly sixteen years, provided a home for him, and essentially kept him safe. But what happened after? Did he continue to be an insufferable douche? Did he and Harry get together? this is what I figured went down.


Dudley Dursley hadn't always thought his cousin Harry was a waste of space, considering he didn't actually take up all that much of it. He also figured that since he had saved his life from those damned invisible, soul-sucking creatures, Harry really couldn't be all that bad. He'd be damned, though, if he ever let anyone know that. He realized he actually missed him. Because it was rather amusing to listen in on whatever the hell it was his father was yelling about. He often wondered about what had happened to that scrawny little git.