I finished a book last weekend (that I also may have started last weekend -- no judging!) that I just had to talk about; but first some background on WHY I picked this book up in the first place.
It is a book that has been all over the place since it was published; it won awards, was on book lists, displays, ect. It's a YA novel (so why hadn't I already been all over it???), and it's generally been spoken about wonderfully as a controversial novel about chronically ill teenagers.
...For anyone who knows me and follows my reading tastes you would think this was my cryptonite - but for one thing. It's sheer popularity was a turn-off for me.
I say this in the nicest way possible...but I generally don't like 'popular' books. I LOVE the search for a 'first novel' (and then wring my hands as soon as it's over for lack of a huge pile of other books by the same author that I can immerse myself in for weeks at a a time - another favorite pastime of mine), digging up some random little known book and reading it quickly and then to mention it to numerous people and have them say "I'm sorry, it's by who? Never heard of him." and then they go out and buy the book and I feel like I've set one more under appreciated book free - please ignore the ridiculousness of this, but it's how I FEEL!
I love reading obscure and wonderful fantasy novels, science fiction novels, and YA novels.
The downside to this is that I tend to say "I read that 'before it was cool'" as if it was a 'thing', and that I tend to avoid books that are hits right off the gate just 'cause'. Which is an awful reason to do ANYTHING. And I really can't stress that enough; if you can't think of (or say) a decent reason...you should probably just do whatever it is that you're avoiding. Generally speaking.
Anyways, sometimes this bad reading habit of mine leads me to overlook something so wonderful that when I do finally give in and read it I find myself saying things like "Holy f...why didn't I read this sooner?!", this -of course- leads to me berating myself for being a reading snob. *sigh*
Bottom line, sometimes I miss out on good stuff when I'm trying to avoid Jodi Picoult-esque things. No offense Jodi Picoult, or fans of hers...but her writing is not my style - and yes, I DID read a few. She is a published author, which is a definite one up on me!
So. The reason I ended up buying and the reading this particular amazing book was because of YouTube; which turns out can be kind of awesome if you know where to look. I was watching some random videos of cute animals, ect and I stumbled across the vlogbrothers. One of whom is John Green, author of (among various other things) The Fault in Our Stars.
If I had read this book as a teenager I'm sure I would have fallen in love with it as much then as I have now...but if I'm honest if I had loved it back then I might have been persuaded to read things other than fantasy and sci fi (which would have, I'm sure, tickled my parents to no end), currently my disinterest in poetry is firmly set. The only poems I enjoy being those of the late, great Anne McCaffery; the ones published in her books. My favorite series, the Dragonriders of Pern. (TBH I only enjoy those poems because of where they were published and how well they taylor into the overall plot...and maybe the number of times I've read them in the books which is probably quite high, but since I've never counted we'll never know. *breath* lol)
In his videos and this book poetry is presented as a way of expressing yourself, rather than the sort of boring by-rote, emotionless drivel I had been familiar with. He might still convince me to look further into some of the poets mentioned in his book...we'll see how the next read (in a few months) goes.
In any case, TFiOS (as it is known amongst close followers and fans), was overall an amazing book that I devoured in two sittings - not unheard of, but not to be taken for granted either. The subject matter isn't particularly uplifting, but it is insightful, enlightening, and exceptionally thought provoking. It may have set me off on a sort of reading-tangent. Again, not uncommon for me.
I would highly recommend it. Basically...READ THIS BOOK!
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
