Welcome to Wishlist Wednesday!

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Do a post about one book from your wishlist and why you want to read it.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
• Put a link back to Pen to Paper somewhere in your post.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

From Goodreads:

When eighteen-year-old Becky Randle’s mother dies, she’s summoned from her Missouri trailer park to meet Tom Kelly, the world’s top designer. He makes her an impossible offer: He’ll create three dresses to transform Becky from a nothing special girl into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.

Becky thinks Tom is a lunatic, or that he’s producing a hidden camera show called World’s Most Gullible Poor People. But she accepts, and she’s remade as Rebecca. When Becky looks in the mirror, she sees herself – an awkward mess of split ends and cankles. But when anyone else looks at Becky, they see pure five-alarm hotness.

Soon Rebecca is on the cover of Vogue, the new Hollywood darling, and dating celebrities. Then Becky meets Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne, and everything starts to crumble. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But to love her back, Gregory would have to look past the blinding Rebecca to see the real girl inside. And Becky knows there’s not enough magic in the world.

A screamingly defiant, hugely naughty, and impossibly fun free fall past the cat walks, the red carpets, and even the halls of Buckingham Palace, Gorgeous does the impossible: It makes you see yourself clearly for the first time.

Why do I want to read this?

This really, really, really — on the surface of it —  does not sound like my kind of thing. And yet… I’ve read a series of great reviews about this book, including a rave review in the New York Times by the absolutely amazing Libba Bray. Good enough for me!

I’ve heard that it’s funny and moving, well-written, with a fairy-tale feel as well as a deep look at self-image and standards of beauty. I was a bit enchanted when I read this bit of an interview with the author:

There’s a lot in the book about our obsession not just with celebrities, but also with beauty. It’s fun, but are you also critiquing it?

Absolutely. Any behavior that becomes obsessive can be dangerous. One of the inspirations for this book was something my mother said: She was looking at old photos from when she was young, and she said something like, back then I thought I was so ugly, but I looked great. And then she laughed, which I’m glad about, but it made me think about the degree to which beauty rules our lives. I knew that this stuff mattered and could do terrible harm, and comic writing becomes funnier the higher the stakes are.

This YA book sounds like a lot of fun — but it also seems to have a lot to say. I’m intrigued, and just waiting for a copy to  become available at my library. Let me know if you’ve had a chance to read Gorgeous yet!

So what’s on your wishlist this week?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!