"What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person."

ND Tunes | D'arline by The Civil Wars

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers. -Amazon

Dear Blue,

I finished it! I finally understand what Margo Roth Spiegelman means to everyone!

I spent all summer trying to finish this book (and believe me, this is in no way, evidence that Paper Towns is a boring novel). It's just been one of those summers of noncommittal reading. I also started a book club of sorts with a lovely girl when we both discovered our love for YA...she actually lives around the corner from me, believe it or not. I had recently started Paper Towns, and she had begun a reread of the same, and we both decided that it should be the first of many books in our makeshift club. But you know what happens when you have an obligation to read...it lays dormant at the bottom of my bag, ignored for other novels, left on my bed when I meant to pick it up... Either way, the important part is that I finally finished it during the past week.

Paper Towns by John Green is about Quentin Jacobsen and his unparalleled fascination with the adventurous and enigmatic girl next door, Margo Roth Spiegelman. More importantly, it's a story about a journey towards truly knowing someone.

Everyone has a Margo Roth Spiegelman in their lives. That one person that almost seems mythic in their conception. Floating just above the mundane nuances of everyday life. Any time I surrender to a fevered crush, I look at each guy as if he's the single most fascinating person on the planet, and everything from the velvety tone of his voice, to the sound of his dress shoes on the carpet carries some form of poetry. And then one day, I walk into the communal area on my job, and watch as he nervously sops up steaming coffee frothing over the edge of his styrophone cup, and I realize he wakes up just as disgruntled on Mondays as everyone else does.

One of the most eye opening facets about this novel is how it reveals the ideas we have about people. Fantasies that we often choose over the real thing because it can be more fun to piece a person together like a paper doll, than to deal with someone of flesh and bone with feelings, emotions, and a host of flaws. This is the thing I think I love about John Green the most. He has the ability to make human again the person once untouchable. It's a lot of fun to read novels where the main character attracts that seemingly unattainable character, but it's gold to observe an author turn fantastical ideas on their heads, and make real life that magical thing we all should seek after.

I'll say that I wasn't as moved by this novel as I was by The Fault In Our Stars, but that doesn't diminish the truth it holds, and I recommend that you read this novel at least once.

Also, if you've read Paper Towns, you know how strongly Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass pulses through it. I've never read any of Whitman's work, but John Green has inspired me to jump in. Who knows. Maybe I'll highlight passages and leave it for someone special to find.

 Hugs and Love, 

 Britta

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Book Review

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

-GoodReads

"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure  of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable , and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."- Augustus Waters

The excitement over The Fault in Our Stars was infectious, and I purchased this novel with high hopes that it would be one of the best novels I've read. Period. Now, in normal circumstances, having such high standards can be a bit dissapointing, but in this case, not at all. In fact, I'm in such awe that I loved it so much, I'm still staring at it like, did that really happen?

I adored mostly everything about this novel. John Green's characters are out of this world, and there's almost no way that Hazel, Augustus, Isaac, and the entire cast aren't living their lives in Indianapolis today. They all felt so real, its like meeting new friends and family. John Green is one of the only novelists I've read in the YA genre to write an intelligent novel that is not in the least pretentious. It awakened my desire to further learn the craft of fiction, and seek out gorgeous classic poetry to read.

I loved Hazel, her thoughts on life, the books she read, and her overall voice. She makes great points about cliched literature featuring cancer patients who are wise beyond knowing, and heroic up until the end of their battle with cancer. This type of literature does not portray accurately what it means to truly battle cancer. It's beautiful to read a novel of this type that doesn't drench itself in heroics, but shows naked human spirit. And Augustus, what can I say? He's one of the best characters I've encountered. He's witty, intelligent, charming in an 'adorkable' way, and challenging. As he and Hazel bond over the novel they read together, reveal their thoughts on living, dying, and fighting, I found myself further pulled in. 

What I loved most about this novel is that Green manages to create a highly realistic novel that is moving as it is heartbreaking, whilst also, creating a beautifully rich romance that has all of the qualities of a fairytale (without the cheese). I loved Hazel and Augustus' adventures as they cope with their situations in a proactive and zealous way! Green's writing completely captured the beauty of young love,  Amsterdam, life, really, everything. There are wonderful lessons to ponder. I wanted to underline so many passages, and I feel I might have missed some. There are moments in the novel that are so heartbreaking, but beautiful all the same. It was quite hard to read, and realize how many people live lives like this everyday, and it gave me a greater awareness of what it is like to battle cancer.

The only thing I wasn't very fond of in the novel are the characters sarcastic/disdainful opinions about God, and the church where they attend support group. Although it wasn't often, and it seems plausible that these would be the opinions of teens going through this situation.

Bare in mind: This novel contains profanity and sensuality.

I will have to reread The Fault in Our Stars because I was actually saddened to end it.  I'm happy that although I have three other Green novels, this was the first one I picked up.

I give The Fault In Our Stars by John Green 5 out of 5 cups of Earl Grey with a tray of macaroons, and bubbly like the stars.

Feel free to check out my diary-esque entry about how The Fault In Our Stars effected me and my writing.

The Spark of 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green

I've climbed onto the John Green bandwagon pretty late in the game. His latest novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is stirring up a load of excitement within the 'bibliophiliac' community! It jumped to number 1 on Barnes & Noble and Amazon bestseller lists shortly after Green's announcement of this forthcoming novel. I'm not sure I've ever experienced such anticipation for a novel that has little information about it.  The title, however, is enough to cause me to stop and ponder on it's meaning. Green did fill us in on it's partial inspiration which is a line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "'The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.'" After some scouring of the net (And I mean, purposeful searching), I found out that the novel will be about a young woman who's suffering from terminal cancer and is forced by her parents to attend a support group. The allure is made even more plausible with John Green's promise to autograph every copy of its first printing. It's a bit of an enigma, but I'll admit that even I would like my chance to purchase one of the autographed copies, just to say that I have a piece of John Green national treasure.

Although, I haven't finished Green's previous novel,  Looking For Alaska, I did get the feeling that it is easily a YA classic! It contains wonderful writing and musings about life, love, and harder challenges. One of my favorite quotes about life is: "...He was this poet. And his last words were 'I go to seek a Great Perhaps.' That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps." It actually encouraged me to go on to Wales to take on Grad School! Alaska seems one of those profound characters that will stick with you! One classic quote that made me love her was: "Her library filled her bookshelves and then overflowed into waist-high stakes of books everywhere, piled haphazardly against walls. If just one of them moved, I thought, the domino effect could engulf the three of us in an asphyxiating mass of literature." I also purchased, An Abundance of Katherines, because it seems a quite clever and thoughtful read. I've heard that Green includes graphs and charts within it. What's more fun than a novel with little scavenger hunts? That's what I call boss-like ingenuity!

While fans wait patiently for their signed copies of The Fault in Our Stars, a few have decided to use their creativity to create novel covers! John Green proudly showcases these fan-made masterpieces on his Tumblr dedicated to them. Here are a few of my favorites:

Thanks to fan enthusiasm, I am now looking forward to The Fault in Our Stars! I'm still trying to figure out whether I should pick me up a one of a kind John Green treasure. His charisma, wit, and undeniable 'nerdigems' will keep drawing me!

Have you read John Green's work? What are your favorites, and are you looking forward to The Fault in Our Stars?

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