The Name of this Book Is Secret (Secret Series #1) Book

Q&A Review

Wait. Isn't this a kid's book?
Actually, it is. It was written for kids aged 10-15.

And aren't you almost 40?
Yes. And thanks so much for putting that out there.

So what the devil are you doing reading a book that was written for someone a quarter of your age?
If you aren't careful, halfwit, I'm going to punch you in the face.

*sigh* Okay, fine. So tell me whatever long-winded thing you dragged me in here to tell me.

REAL Review

Sometimes, life gets a little rough. Sometimes, as a grown up, you feel the need to read great-big ponderous books, generally referred to as "epics." Maybe you read them to prove a point, that you can. Maybe you read them thinking there's some great answer in the book, a way of coping with the fact that sometimes life sucks and there isn't anything you can do about it. Or maybe you do it because somebody loaned you the book and insisted that you'd love it. Whatever the reason, those great big epics, whether they're good or bad, reveal to you all the ways that your own writing isn't really all that good. You didn't think up that believable but out-of-left-field plot twist. You didn't make your characters as three-dimensional. You didn't study abroad, and thereby learn the specific dialect common to people of that special place. You aren't good enough to write an epic.

When you've sufficiently overwhelmed yourself with how awesome, amazing, and out-of-your-league all of those writers of epics are, it's time to have a step back and remember why it is you started writing in the first place -- and I'm willing to nearly GUARANTEE that it's because of a book like "The Name of This Book Is Secret," by Pseudonymous Bosch.

This book isn't going to rewrite any dictionaries. It won't challenge your philosophy. But it will help you remember how much fun it was to be 11 years old -- how fun, and how scary, and how lonely at times. It will help you remember that feeling you had when you picked up a book and realized that anything was possible, that any number of universes lived in a library, that a hero always rises, and usually that hero rose in the heart of a child just as effed up as you were.

I won't reveal any more of the book's secrets, apart from saying that riddles and word play and adventures abound. Do yourself a favor and find out for yourself. Read it, then loan it to a friend who is weary of epics.

Then give it to a child.