Should I stay or should I go?

I'm currently reading a book called If I Stay by Gayle Foreman. You may have heard of it since Catherine Hardwicke was rumored to have signed on to direct1 it before it ever made it to a bookshelf2. In this book a girl, Mia, has a pretty awesome life until one really wretched accident. The book follows Mia around as she examines her life and decides if she is going to stay in the land of the living or move on3. It's quite disturbing, actually. And it's making me think a whole lot of deep, introspective thoughts. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but unless the last fourth of it does something to totally upset me, I'm giving this book two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

1: I wonder which was the deciding factor in wanting Catherine for this project: Her ability to turn a YA novel into a major blockbuster or the fact that she can withstand filming in Oregon (where If I Stay is set).

2: Who sells the film rights to a book before it is even released as the actual book? I can see it now. "The new major motion picture based on the book Stephenie Meyer has yet to write!")

3: I keep thinking of that moment on Buffy when she tells Dawn, "The hardest thing in this world is living in it." And then she jumps through the pretty special effects and makes me cry.

My apologies for the bad footnoting notations. If you know how to make them correctly on blogger, please feel free to share your knowledge.