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Saturday, January 5, 2013

okay? okay.

I wish I read this in 2012 so I could say that it was my favorite book I read that year, because it would have been. But I read it this week and the year has a barely started and there are so many books to be read, so I can't make that statement.

I read Looking for Alaska in high school and fell in love with it, so I have wanted to read this since I learned about it. This was another Tumblr-frequently-quoted, but it wasn't a disappointment. John Green writes for teenagers and maybe early 20-somethings, but The Fault in Our Stars is a love story that can be appreciated by all ages. It tells the story of two teenagers, Hazel and Augustus, both diagnosed with terminal illnesses, who fall in love. My favorite part of this book was the wittiness in the banter exchanged between Hazel and Augustus. Therein lies my only criticism as well. It was hard to imagine two teenagers talking the way the two main characters did. It was too smart and too well-read for a 16 and 17 year old. I laughed, cried and smiled while reading this. If I were to count only the hours it took for me to read, without factoring in the times I put it down to do other things, it would probably total less than 10. I didn't necessarily fall in love with either character, but I was enamored by their relationship. I think you should read this because it's incredibly sweet, honest and smart, and there are not enough realistic love stories anymore. Here is my favorite passage of the book. I'm sorry if this is a spoiler, but I read it before I read the book and it made me want to read it more:

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 returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.

I MEAN REALLY? If I still listed my favorite books/bands/activities in my Facebook profile, I would add this book to favorite books.

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