rank_books_by_arbitrary_criteria epitome of incomprehensibility The bookshelf next to my bed is only semi-organized - it's supposed to be all poetry, but I've piled novels and magazines on the top of it. Idly, I was looking at three fiction books that happened to be in the same heap, and I thought, "I will rank these according to how traumatizing they might to a random teenager who comes across them and assumes that they have cute, heartwarming tales inside based on their covers!" As one does. So, from least to most "traumatizing": 1) And_Both_Were_Young by Madeleine L'Engle: slightly. 2) A_Clockwork_Orange by Anthony Burgess: a bit more so. 3) Song_for_Night by Chris Abani: oh, completely, but now that I look at the cover again, it seems sad rather than cute. Can you see the gun the boy is holding? Does it look innocent without that detail? 260210 what's it to you? who go blather from