Welcome to Litsy!

I couldn‘t get past the writing style and the characters were awful. I was looking forward to this one, but it just didn‘t deliver for me. It‘s a YA book but it was so wordy and hard to follow. It almost read like stream of consciousness which just didn‘t work for me with this one.

Cautiously optimistic.

Anyone else have an opinion on this? Especially anyone who enjoyed it but doesn't typically enjoy YA?

I don‘t really even like YA fiction but I adored this one - best I‘ve read since Perks of Being a Wallflower. It reminded me of Heathers a lot. I loved how it blended so many ‘high culture‘ references (the 8 are competitive about opera and poetry which was refreshing) but never felt pretentious.

I‘ve seen people say they disliked the protagonist but I loved her. Maybe the ending was a bit silly but I wish I‘d had this as a teen!

I love reading on grey train journeys through the countryside 😍

Very impressed by the Basic Eight so far! I don‘t normally like YA novels but this one is so funny, irreverent and a little absurd. It reminds me of Heathers a lot? Wish I‘d had it as an actual teenager!

A pathetic showing, but it‘s what I‘ve got for #eight #novemberbythenumbers

My March Read Dog Books box just arrived - theme is "The Ides of March". Fun art print, lovely gold feather bookmark, fortune telling fish (!), a pin that reads, "3/15 lunch with Brutus and boys" (hah!), and a book I'm very excited about. Fun, fun!

Second read-through, still have no clue what's going on and I loooove that.

Just ok. Dialogue did not ring true to me and I thought it could have used some editing to make it more streamlined.

September photo challenge day 2! I thought I would find more books with numbers in the title, but I was wrong! My favorite of these is The Basic Eight (besides The Dark Tower, but you've heard enough about that from me.) I've read all of these, none of my TBR books have numbers in them! #somethingforsept

September photo challenge day 2! I thought I would find more books with numbers in the title, but I was wrong! My favorite of these is The Basic Eight (besides The Dark Tower, but you've heard enough about that from me.) I've read all of these, none of my TBR books have numbers in them! #somethingforsept

What a bonkers book!! Flan needs to CHILL OUT. Also a fun San Francisco read --I love Handler's little hints about where the kids are. The Malleria and the Rivertown Mall? I see you, Stonestown Galleria.

"I held my breath like you do when you're opening a suspiciously dates carton of milk and kissed him." Gorgeous description, Flan. ?

"But the six of us who were there began screaming out the names of them, mercilessly drowning out the voices of the ten thousand shy freshman girls who show up for Drama club every year, audition inaudibly and end up selling refreshments to parents at intermission." Nailed my frosh drama experience!

I read this book years ago and I still sometimes think about it. There are flaws, and I thought at one point the story was going in an even crazier direction that, in my humble opinion, would have been even better. But overall, an excellent dark comedy.