In case you live under a rock or have severely neglected your Google Reader, you are aware that Beth Revis' "Across the Universe" was released yesterday. If you need to jolt your memory, take a look at any one of these fantastic posts:
Frenetic Reader
The Compulsive Reader
Books with Bite
Book Soulmates
Hooked To Books
Chick Loves Lit
Overflowing Shelf
Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf
I've heard talk about this novel for the past couple weeks and everyone sounded really excited. Here's the kicker and my confession: I ignored every single post in my Google Reader about this book. I ignored every review and every mention of it on Twitter. Yes, world — I stuck up my nose whenever I came across this book's title or cover.
Why?! You ask me WHY?
Because I hated the move "Across the Universe." Gasp. I know. Everybody supposedly loved that movie. Yes, I can appreciate the artistry and I love the Beatles music — but the movie did not float my boat. So immediately upon seeing the cover for Revis' "Across the Universe" and looking at the title — I became a book snob. I assumed it was book with the plot of the movie. I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out why everybody in the blogosphere was so excited for the release of "Across the Universe."
Then, on Monday I was pursuing Flippin' Fabulous and saw this review. I'm not sure why I didn't immediately scroll down or exit out like I had been for so many weeks, but I heaved a huge "here we go" sigh and actually read the synopsis and the review.
From Goodreads
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.
After reading this I thought of one thing — my love for Battlestar Galactica.
Yes, I admit it. I love Battlestar Galactica. What do "Across the Universe" and Battlestar Galactica have in common (that I know of)? Basically this: "A spaceship built of secrets and murder." But it's enough to peak my interest!
I always knew I was a cover snob; I pick books up because they look pretty. But I never realized that I am an actual SNOB! That I would let the cover and title deter me from even being open minded about a book because I hated a movie just blows my mind (although, you have to admit, both covers do look similar). I feel bad as a reader that I would be so stuck up. So close-minded! It's something I definitely need to work on — to think, I almost would have never even looked at this book! It has a great synopsis and, I'll admit, the more I look at the cover the more I like it.
Beth, please take this post as the most sincere apology I could come up with. I can't wait to read your book in the very near future.
Godspeed.
Buy "Across the Universe": Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Visit Beth Revis: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads