Janet Fitch

Rating: 5/5 (leave them on the bookshelf forever; they are timeless)

Janet Fitch sounds like a beauty blogger or a make-up brand, but truthfully she's the woman responsible for the two greatest books I've ever read. No lie.

Paint it Black (no, not the Rolling Stones song)

Paint it Black (which is now turning into a major motion picture, ready to be turned into a hipster phenomenon where nobody knows in was in actual fact a book), tells the story of a young woman Josie deeply affected after the suicide of her affluent boyfriend in 80's LA. Okay, i know it's a bit of a harrowing start but really the beauty and the description and the characterization in the book is beyond belief. The story goes on to depict the relationship between Josie and her dead boyfriends mother, who he had a strange, twisted Bates Motel esque relationship with. It focuses mostly on the betrayal of suicide and how a girl is left between the place of moving on forgetting and staying in a slumber of a faded love. It's disturbing in plot, but so so beautiful in it's writing and it's work. It was as if i was there. It's as if i was her.

Favourite Quote: "What happens to a dream when the dreamer is gone?"

White Oleander

Arguably, her more famous book, this one is also a movie, starring the beautiful and timeless Michele Pfeiffer who does a pretty decent job of playing a disturbed and evil role. But. back to the book. This one focuses on Astrid, a young girl who is forced into the California fostering system when her mother kills her lover. The start launches you straight into the relationship between Astrid and her mother and you feel their love, bond and reliance on each other. Until, she goes to prison. Then we are left tumbling through Astrid's suitcase with her as she transfers from place to place in the system. The book is good because it moves constantly and you get to meet new characters and new places and new ideologies every chapter as Astrid grows up. It's sad, frustrating, heart-breaking. funny and real. So real. Again, the writing is spellbinding with the description always being my favourite part.

Favourite Quote: "I hated labels anyway. People didn't fit in slots--prostitute, housewife, saint--like sorting the mail. We were so mutable, fluid with fear and desire, ideals and angles, changeable as water.”