Well, we at The Nerd Daily want to make your life even more magical by recommending some fabulous reads based on your favourite Gilmore Girls character (yes, I know, it’s terrible to make you choose, I wouldn’t be able to, either) so go forth and read, booklovers. Make Rory Gilmore proud!

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LORELAI GILMORE
You’re an avid coffee addict, can talk circles around anyone even in your sleep, and have (or aspire to) the kind of confidence that leaves people gaping at your ingenuity and quick wit. You enjoy reading books that keep you on your toes and make you have an emotional reaction – the story just has to be as unforgettable as people describe you to be.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS RORY GILMORE
You have read all the greats – from Pushkin to Tolstoy, if it’s classic, chances are a copy of it is stowed somewhere in your room. You enjoy stories that are epic, that require you to keep your wits about you while reading and make you reevaluate your values and beliefs. Classic tales with a new twist are right up your alley.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS EMILY GILMORE
You like tradition and order and you like to fit in – whether that’s in the office or in your friends group. You also have a penchant for being the leader of activities and events. You have a natural talent for making people do what you expect of them. If you find the time to read, you want something that is in high esteem and possibly with dark wit that makes you cackle in secret. You also have a hidden love for musicals and are a believer in the one true love of your life.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS RICHARD GILMORE
Ah, yes. The patriarch of the Gilmore clan, the man who adores reading about history and still can’t seem to get over mistakes made in the past. A dignified man who appreciates family values and taking responsibility.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS JESS MARIANO

While you might be seen as a bit of a bad boy or a rebel, you’re a softie at heart who believes in true love, fighting for what and who you love and above all, making the scrappy life look ridiculously hot. You read anything from Jane Austen to Allen Ginsberg – as long as it keeps you invested, you are here for it.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LUKE DANES
You are outdoorsy and so, if you have to read a book instead of enjoy nature, it better be about nature. Or at least something about sports. Or, you know, just a book that is like Luke – steadfast, loyal and deserving of the description “wholesome grump”. You would also go to the ends of the earth for your loved ones and no sacrifice is too big to make sure that the people you care about are taken care of.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS SOOKIE ST. JAMES

Let’s face it, Sookie is wholesome, heartwarming and her hugs are probably just as life-affirming as her incredible food. 

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS LANE KIM
You are all about the music – you would sacrifice everything for it and there’s no one who knows more about the best and the worst music in the world than you. You like to snatch up the aux cord on any road trip and are all about educating your friends and family with fun facts about obscure musicians that they never knew they needed.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS PARIS GELLER
It’s no secret that you are fierce AF, ambitious and determined to a fault. What you want, you get. You work hard and you don’t have time for people who will distract you from your goal. You love stories that are based on honour, moral fibre and integrity…and maybe a bit of revenge now and again.

YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS KIRK

You’re the person who stands out in any room, who will try anything once just to see if it suits your tastes and while you may be a bit awkward at times, your heart’s also in the right spot.

Who’s your favourite character? Or do you have any other recommendations? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Book Recommendations Based on Your Favourite Gilmore Girls Character appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Ben! Thank you so much for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

It’s frightening how much of my being these days you covered with “author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager and Charming as a Verb.” Let’s add ‘red velvet cake enthusiast’ and, hmm, right-handed.

Let’s start things off with a lightning round: what books/movies/series/songs come first to mind when you hear the following words: ivy league, hustle, dogs, heritage?

Ivy League: ‘Gossip Girl’ (You’d think Gilmore Girls but no… I surprised myself there.)
Hustle: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ (Spielberg)
Dogs: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon
Heritage: ‘Hamilton’

Now, tell us a bit about Charming as a Verb! What can readers expect from Henri Haltiwanger and his shenanigans?

I’m very bad at predicting the reactions of people to my characters.

Henri is a charmer who is very aware of his charm. I myself never quite trust those people but hopefully, readers will learn to trust and like Henri being in his head and all… Well, at least like.

Henri is all about the hustle – if you had to come up with a profitable idea for a side business on the spot, what would pop into your mind?

Dating app profile consultant. I’m not even kidding; I would kill at that job if I could monetize it. I love trying to turn a row of emojis and a blurry bathroom selfie into an appealing profile when friends let me edit theirs for them…  No one ever pays me, though. Bah.

I love how you addressed the pressure teens are facing with concerning college applications and the prestige that some colleges have over others – did you draw from personal experience to pen Henri’s struggle with reconciling the expectations and dreams of his parents with his own wishes?

My mother would have been very happy if I had gone to college in Montreal while still living at home. I was the one studying for the American SATs and dreaming of ivy league colleges. Four words: College confidential dot com. That forum was my homepage for at least a few months.

It was hard for me to picture a world, a future, that didn’t start with an acceptance letter to my dream college. I got in, etc, but I do reflect on the intensity of that want now that I’m a grownup? Imagining that yearning from the perspective of someone like Henri was interesting.

There’s a moment towards the end of Charming as a Verb where Henri makes a misguided choice where I simultaneously wanted to shake him for doing what he does but also could completely understand why he did it even though he knew it was wrong (whew, this is hard without spoiling anything). How do you deal with wrong decisions or choices? 

It’s really hard for me not to spoil, too! Hmm… I think I live a pretty reckless-free life these days, to be honest. I’ve retired with honors after my twenties.

I love writing those characters, though. Stove touchers. Two YA novels in, I think I figure out pretty early within a book what the worst thing the protagonist could do given their situation is… and then almost run towards that?

Charming as a Verb is your sophomore novel. How did the writing process differ from your first novel? 

It suuucked… That’s a difference, right? Everything they say about second books is true, sorry to say! In some ways, my third book — which was emotionally draining nonfiction — was still easier to write than this sophomore rom-com. I’m still not sure why. I wrote a full version of the story that featured off-putting versions of Henri and Corinne before realizing it was the wrong take on the right story and that I had to start over. That was about 10 months and 86,000 words down the drain, ha.

What’s the best and worse writing advice you’ve ever been given?

Best:  “Nobody needs to see this story that’s in your head. Nobody asked for it. For most of your first readers — classmates, friends, potential agents — it will be work. So, it’s only polite to make this unnecessary, unsolicited thing interesting.

Worst:  “You’re shutting out a lot of readers by making the protagonist Black. Any race could work in a story like this.”

Every character in Charming as a Verb leapt off the page – did you have a sort of ‘fancast’ in mind while writing Henri, his parents and Corinne? 

Thank you so much!  No, I did not pre-cast this particular story… Henri is a cartoonishly good-looking black teenager. That’s about it. A few scenes are set at very specific spots of New York City and I drew a sketch of the actual school, FATE Academy, but nope, no actors.

With Charming as a Verb releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a sneak peek with us?

Sure! The aforementioned emotionally-draining nonfiction is a collection of personal essays and rants titled ‘Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes From the Other Side of The Fist Bump’. It’s in copyedits now and will be out Spring 2021 by Harper Perennial.

I know, I know:  I’m now that insufferable 31-year-old who decided to write a memoir. I’m terrified of people reading it, to be honest, but it was something I needed to get out, I think. We’ll see. Gulp.

Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for us?

‘The House in the Cerulean Sea’ by TJ Klune is a very good time! And I can’t wait to get my hands on Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam’s ‘Punching The Air’ next.

Will you be picking up Charming As A Verb? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Ben Philippe, Author of ‘Charming As A Verb’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Charming as a Verb follows Henri Haltiwanger, a senior student who could charm the pants off just about anyone he meets. Popular and well-known at the FATE academy in New York City, Henri masks the struggles of being a first-generation Haitian son whose shoulders are straining under all the expectations his parents have for him attending Columbia University with easy smiles and a side hustle as a trusted dog walker. The only person who doesn’t seem to buy into Henri’s charms is classmate and neighbour, Corinne Troy. Smart, studious, and prickly, Corinne has little time for anything that won’t get her into Ivy League schools. But when Corinne uncovers Henri’s side hustle and blackmails him to help her change her image at the school and make her seem more approachable to colleges, Henri ends up realising that Corinne might be more than what he thought she was.

While I greatly enjoyed the entire book, I want to talk about two things in particular that stood out to me (besides Philippe’s great writing, obviously). First, the relatability. Being in Henry’s head was a visceral experience; it brought me right back to my last year of high school and all the anxiety, fear, and the pressure we all put on ourselves to have a bright future. The anxieties that come with filling out a college application, the pressure from parents to get into a prestigious university, and the inane fear that you are seen as good, but merely not good enough to cut it was perfectly portrayed in Henri.

Henri is what I like to call “dumb of ass, pure of heart” (which, mind you, is one of my favourite tropes). He is a good guy, but even good guys make the wrong choices when put under indescribable pressure and as much as I wanted to strangle Henri for some choices he made in this book, I always understood them and can honestly say that, if put in his shoes, I would have done some things exactly how he went about them. This only goes to show how relatable and real Henri was to me. I think Philippe did something that is so rarely achieved in good fiction where you feel as morally grey as the characters do and it makes you wonder to what lengths you would go if given certain opportunities.

The other thing that this book absolutely nailed was the discussion surrounding what it means to be yourself and how often you have to adapt and change your persona to fit within a certain type of group or appeal to professional people. Henri is many things—business savvy, charming, always on top of things—but he’s also someone who is very aware of the systemic racism and prestige that comes with old money and knowing the right people in your life. Henri does everything he can to come up on top and sometimes that means he can’t talk about his dream of designing sneakers and rather opt for a ‘safer’ discussion of future goals to appeal to Columbia. He has to make himself fit to accommodate others and that struggle accompanies him through his good and bad decisions.

Similarly, Corinne faces a lot of backlash for the way she is. Reminiscent of Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls, Corinne cares first and foremost about going to an Ivy League. She doesn’t care that she’s brash and often scares off people because she has her goals and she will do anything to achieve them. Yet, when it is conveyed that she’s too ‘robotical’ for schools to take her seriously and has to be more of a team player, Corinne accedes and needs Henri to transform her into a party girl, into someone who is a friend to all. While she reverts to her usual self quite quickly, the message behind her transformation is clear—young people are pressured into fitting the norms that the social world sets for them. Though this book is funny, entertaining, and made me laugh out loud quite a few times, I feel like this is its biggest strength with the way it discusses who we are, who we want to be, and who others want us to be. Whether that’s friends, family members, or faculty staff, everyone has a picture-perfect version of themselves and one that’s real. And Philippe brought that across so beautifully.

All in all, Charming as a Verb was as entrancing as the cover promised to be, showing the excruciating pressure teens are to start their futures right all while making me nostalgic for my own high school days. With a bunch of funny antics and adorable dogs in the mix, Philippe’s second novel is perfect for anyone needing moral support through their senior year or who wants to relive their own high school days.

Charming As A Verb is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 13th 2020.

Will you be picking up Charming As A Verb? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Henri “Halti” Haltiwanger can charm just about anyone. He is a star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University.

There is only one person who seems immune to Henri’s charms: his “intense” classmate and neighbor Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri’s less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school. Henri agrees, seeing a potential upside for himself.

Soon what started as a mutual hustle turns into something more surprising than either of them ever bargained for. . . .

This is a sharply funny and insightful novel about the countless hustles we have to keep from doing the hardest thing: being ourselves.

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