Blog Tour: THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson

To celebrate the UK release of THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson, Walker Books are organizing a fantastic blog tour before the book officially comes out on June 7th!
Today it's my turn to post a couple of extracts from this absolutely amazing book. I couldn't possibly choose a favourite excerpt myself as each sentence is simply brilliant so I was very happy that the people at Walker suggested one for me - and I have to say that I am very, very pleased with their choice!
I finished the book the other day and it was undoubtedly the best book I've read this year. It literally blew me away and I'm still shocked by how incredible it was. What really makes this book is the amazing writing - and you can get a taste of it if you follow this blog tour. Yesterday's excerpt was posted by Chicklish and tomorrow you'll find one at My Favourite Books turn so don't forget to stop by there!

Anyway, without further ado, here are 'my' excerpts from this extraordinary book ...

“Want to play, Joe?” I say, heading upstairs for my clarinet.

“Holy shit,” I hear, then apologies to Gram and Big.
Back on the porch, I say, “You start, I’ll follow.”
He nods and starts playing some sweet soft chords in G minor. But I feel too unnerved for sweet, too unnerved for soft. I can’t shake off Toby’s call, his kisses. I can’t shake off cardboard boxes, perfume that never gets used, bookmarks that don’t move, St Anthony statues that do. I can’t shake off the fact that Bailey at eleven years old did not put herself in the drawing of our family, and suddenly, I am so upset I forget I’m playing music, forget Joe’s even there beside me.
I start to think about all the things I haven’t said since Bailey died, all the words stowed deep in my heart, in our orange bedroom, all the words in the whole world that aren’t said after someone dies because they are too sad, too enraged, too devastated, too guilty to come out – all of them begin to course inside me like a lunatic river. I suck in all the air I can, until there’s probably no air left in Clover for anyone else, and then I blast it all out my clarinet in one mad bleating typhoon of a note. I don’t know if a clarinet has ever made such a terrible sound, but I can’t stop, all the years come tumbling out now – Bailey and me in the river, the ocean, tucked so snug into our room, the backseat of cars, bathtubs, running through the trees, through days and nights and months and years without Mom – I am breaking windows, busting through walls, burning up the past, pushing Toby off me, taking the dumb-ass Lennie houseplant and hurling it into the sea—
I open my eyes. Joe’s staring at me, astonished. The dogs next door are barking.
“Wow, I think I’ll follow next time,” he says.

Between chapters there are always handwritten, poignant notes and poems, written by grief-stricken Lennie. She writes them on pieces of paper, on her shoes, on trees, on walls, everywhere. She doesn't keep any of them, though, she just leaves them at various places.

You can see an example of the right (click to enlarge).
I've never seen anything like this in a book before and I thought it was a fantastic addition!

As I said, this is my favourite book of 2010 so far and you can find out why if you come back tomorrow when I'll be posting my review - oh and I'll also be hosting a giveaway with an awesome prize (a copy the book + some great swag) so don't forget to check that out! :)

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