Comments on: Review: The Future of Us

By: Decision Time… | Nail Polish Book Club

Decision Time… | Nail Polish Book Club — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:18:43 +0000

[...] rants on this book. Click a link for an opinion that matters to you. A YA Reader’s Opinion A Librarian’s Opinion YA Blogger’s [...]

By: ‘The Future of Us’ Out in Paperback | School Library Journal

‘The Future of Us’ Out in Paperback | School Library Journal — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:45:26 +0000

[...] SLJ Blogger Liz Burn’s review on A Chair, a Fireplace & A Tea Cozy. [...]

By: john

john — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:40:40 +0000

This was a fantastic review regarding a fantastic book!
I am surprised, well possibly not, that most comments are about a name. Had you gone back
and checked your error people may have commented on the book instead of a name.
But like so many comments on blogs THEY DON’T CARE except to just babble on.
As you mentioned at first his name was JOSH. Then when you mentioned The Good: You put Emma and Jake(instead of Josh).
Again a fantastic review of a deserving book!

By: Liz B

Liz B — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:04:24 +0000

David, or the “ash” sound for names! And “cat” / “kate” for girls, that even makes itself into so many fantasies.

Wendy, Emma’s initial reaction (if I remember) to the updates was a bit who-cares. It was the “spoilers” (who do i marry, where do i live) that drove her.

Belgie, thanks1

By: Belgie

Belgie — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:28:30 +0000

I absolutely loved this book, especially all the 90s references. Very nostalgic for me. Great review!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:40:32 +0000

Oh, I definitely think teenagers would be curious about their future selves, that Emma and Jake personally would want to read their own status updates. I mean that I think the teen readers of this book would probably find the actual status updates in the book boring. Hell, I find most thirtysomething status updates boring.

By: David B

David B — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:44:04 +0000

I’m pretty sure I read that same article, or one a lot like it. There are other odd factors in popularity, too. So if you look at the popularity of Madison, it’s closely tracked to the popularity of Madeline. There is something about certain sounds that just appeal to parents at the same time. Look at all the J names in the 70s and 80s (Jennifer, Jessica, Jason, Joshua). And people aren’t even conscious of those trends. I’ve always been David B- as opposed to David C or David S; it was the most common name for guys at my college when I was there. But my parents had no idea it was popular when they named me; they just liked the sound of the name. And you’re right about the regional and social groups playing a role, too.

I find playing around with the site I linked above and the SSA site (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/) to be really fascinating. For example, just entering a single letter into the baby name voyager site can show a dramatic rise and fall in popularity (especially if you limit it to girls’ names).

By: Liz B

Liz B — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:57:35 +0000

David, now I want to do an entire post about people’s names. Like how I doubt any girl was named Madison before the film, Splash. And I read once (I may need to google it…) something about the history of how names spread through culture, the time frame between, say, the film splash and children being named Madison, or how Highlander accounts for the popularity of Connor. Or anyone being named Vanessa before the 1720s. It’s funny you say the name Judith, as I went to school with a Judith so there is one who is under 50! Because it also gets into what is popular/typical, and geography/background, as well as the difference between impossible versus unlikely.

Michelle, I’ll be on the lookout for your review.

Wendy, my teen self would have been curious as heck to know what my future self was doing! Goodness knows how that teen me would judge the current me, because, well, teens aren’t aware of the lifetime of twists, turns, challenges, and life experience that creates the real adult as opposed to the fantasy adult. I remember asking such questions of ouija boards, going to get my palm read, playing around with tarot cards. Why not future FB?

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:01:57 +0000

This was fun to read, but I felt pretty strongly that it was written for me (1997 high school graduate) and not the teens in purports to be for. I don’t think teenagers have any interest in reading the boring status updates of thirtysomethings. There’s nothing wrong with that in a book, but this is packaged as YA, and it seems silly.

Drawing from my goodreads review: the cultural references were totally over the top, but fun, and I thought they were basically accurate except for the several references to DVDs, which weren’t out yet and weren’t a big deal for another year or two after that. (I noted the names, too.)

I willingly, laughingly, suspended my disbelief when I thought about trying to use Facebook on a 1996 dialup connection.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:18:30 +0000

I’ve just started reading this one. It’s like a giant flashback! LOL I’m curious to see if the pop culture references will get a bit overbearing or not.