A fast-paced coming of age comic in the vein of Raina Telgemeier. Astrid's mom takes her and her best friend Nicole to watch a roller derby game in a rink in Portland and Astrid immediately falls in love. Her best friend, not so much. Astrid signs up for a roller derby summer camp and discovers how much work it is to master a tough, dangerous sport. Meanwhile she begins to feel abandoned by Nicole who chose to attend a Dance camp instead. What starts as a story of rivalry becomes instead a tale of how people sometimes grow apart as their interests change and mature.

Extremely well written and worth the hype. This book has a strong message but it never overwhelms the fact that this is a good, engaging story. I loved the voice of Starr, which is freshingly and authentically teenaged. I am very glad to know so many people are finding and reading this book!

Fangirl is a book about writing, about reading, and about a love affair with written words. The main character is Cath, a shy fangirl from Omaha, Nebraska who writes all the time (mostly fan fiction). In the first chapter of the book Cath and her twin sister Wren move into the dorms for their first semester of college. Wren and Cath have always been super close, sharing pretty much everything- they have all the same friends and all the same interests. Particularly they share the same big interest: the Simon Snow series, which is a clear and obvious parody of the Harry Potter books, right down to the fandom and fanfic it produces. At the start of Fangirl seven of the eight Simon Snow books have come out, with the last one due out at the end of the spring semester. Cath and Wren head off to the same college- but here's the thing: Wren doesn't want to be Cath's roommate. Wren thinks they should live in different dorms so they can meet new people and make new friends. Obviously, Wren is the outgoing sister. Cath hates meeting new people, doesn't want to make friends, and feels horribly betrayed. Much of the early part of the book is Cath figuring out how to manage for the first time without her sister by her side.

I started reading Fangirl right at the beginning of November, just as I was starting NaNoWriMo. A few days later I learned that Rainbow Rowell first started writing Fangirl as a NaNo project. During the month in which you are supposed to just pour out the words, Rowell wrote a story of a girl pouring out words. And I read it, while trying to pour out words myself. That's one reason I liked this book so much: I read it at EXACTLY the right time. It's also straight up a very good book, and one of my favorites of 2013.