Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Book: Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆☆


It's been awhile Mr. John Green! It was fun to read this book during the readathon. I managed pretty much most of it, needing only about another hour or so the next day to finish up. Interestingly enough, it had a lot of similarities to the book I'd just finished (the kdrama one) that I kinda am now getting the stories mixed up in my head. Funny, don't you think?

Well, this one is about a girl who has severe anxiety disorder. She's quite convinced she is going to get that C.Diff infection and die, like any second now. Which makes her pretty paranoid about germs and food and whatever might be going on in her stomach. But she is coping, sort of mostly, and has an awesome friend (who sort of stole the show for me and as some of the best lines) who helps her through it.

The book starts out with her renewing a friendship with a dude she knew back in elementary school. His dad has suddenly disappeared and being from a massively wealthy family, there is a reward offered for any information about the situation. Our girl (dang what's her name again...oh right, Aza) and her friend decide to go for this reward money. In the process, sparks begin to fly with this boy that she had pretty much forgotten about.

Well. It's classic John Green in that these two have some pretty deep conversations. And the boy is pretty, introspective shall we say, and has a blog where there's a lot of.. I can't think of another word except deep... stuff on it. It makes him be an interesting character, but not too very relate-able I'd say. I don't know. It's weird because on one hand, I enjoy this deep stuff, this make you think stuff, but on the other hand, sometimes it gets annoying and too agenda-y. Know what I mean? I guess this time around, this agenda-y stuff bugged me more than it has in the past. But still, like I said, it's good stuff!

Anyway, the romance comes to a dead halt when kissing is massive problem for Aza. And then she and her friend had a falling out, which is not fun, and anyway. It turned out to be a bit of a downer, and now I can't even totally remember how it all ended up, but it wasn't the happiest of endings. Which, you know is okay, but, it just depressed me.

Yeah. So. I liked it, but I didn't love it like I have his other books. His writing is awesome and I had no problem tearing through it on readathon day. So that's something.

Have you read it yet? Let me know what you think!

Book Banter Topic Two: John Green

Once upon a time I discovered John Green. And I loved him from that very first video I watched. It just went on from there. When I learned that Jenny didn't so much love him, I was like... wait, what? How can you NOT? 

And thus, another Book Banter was born!






Jenny Says:

This one is tricky because I don't hate John, he just annoys me.  

Reason 1: His You Tube Video Blog

To be honest I haven't watched too many of these but while everyone else is heehawing at him, I just sit there looking confused. Some  of the things he says are mildly funny, I guess, but talking really fast and clever editing videos doesn't make you a comedian. I guess his brand of funny isn't mine because I just don't get it. 

Suey Says:

When we discovered his videos, we binged watched, one after the other after the other and never got sick of them. I'm not at all bothered by the fast talking, I love it. And the editing, of course that doesn't make a person a comedian, it just makes him a fabulous YouTuber. Something that because of him, tons of other people are doing and becoming. It's a whole new thing and he started it. That's cool. And I look back and think, now why didn't I think of the? I could have used YouTube to talk to my sisters and we could have become famous and had a gazillion people copy us and then start a conference about it and... and... and... 

Here's a recent video just in case you haven't ever watched him and want to know what we are talking about here:

Jenny Says:

Reason Two:  His Books

Oh, John. Please, in the name of all that is holy, stop writing books about yourself! Everyone of his main characters, if you pay attention, is totally him! Slightly nerdy, lanky, a wallflower, not one of the "in crowd". I could go on and on but you just have to read the books and pay attention and you'll see what I'm saying. Why does he do this? Is it because he's so small minded he can't reach outside himself and create a character that's different from him? Or is he actually in therapy for his chronic fast talking and the therapist has assigned him to write stories about himself to help discover his inner self? Who knows, but for some reason he just can't seem to stop writing about himself. Even The Fault in our Stars is about him...as a girl! Sigh! 

Suey Says:

So  I get that his books may seem like he's just writing about his own life things, but all authors do that! ALL! Why pick on John? And I maintain that the reason his books are so popular is because everyone can see themselves in his characters!  Here's what I said to Jenny as one of my reasons I love John Green. I will copy and paste:

I love that he’s relatable. He’s normal. He’s gets people. He’s geeky like we all are. He owns up to it. He embraces it. He makes other geeky nerdy kids feel proud of that. He makes people feel like they can do anything. Because if he, a nerdy guy, can do it, we can all do it.

Also, along these same line I had this to say:

I love that he’s smart and funny and witty. I love that he says things that make me think. I love that he says things that make me feel.  I love the way he says things  and the words he uses. I think he’s a great writer full of real emotion.  

Jenny Says:

Reason 3 :The Women

I could just say that all the women in his books are type cast characters that are all exactly the same. Sexy but they don't know or believe it, angsty, gritty cursers. See where I'm going with this? What bothers me isn't exactly that they are all the same but it's the type of same that they are. I think John ,bless his diseased mind, is trying to send the message that women are beautiful no matter their issues or beliefs but that's not what I'm getting. I believe John just has a type and in some twisted way is writing about himself getting this type. 

Suey Says:

Alaska and Margo have similar characteristics, but I don't see the same type cast in An Abundance of Katherines or The Fault in Our Stars. Yeah. I just don't see it. Once again, I think people fall in love with these characters for a reason... we see ourselves in them. 

And one final point that I want to make as a reason to love John:

He uses his fame to teach and inspire other people. I mean, he’s probably pretty busy, and yet, he makes videos about history and literature and gets people excited about them. (His brother Hank does the science-y videos.) I love that he has so many projects all for bettering others. He has inspired so many people to go out and do their own projects and start their own things and be their own kind of creative. It’s just cool. And I love it.

Here's an example of one you should all love:

Bottom Line: I find John Green to be funny and inspiring. And he writes books that people can relate to.

And don't forget, be sure to go see Jenny's take on the subject!

So my readers... what do you think? Are you a John Green fan or does he annoy you?

Movie Review: Paper Towns

Movie: Paper Towns
Genre: Teen drama
Starring: Nat Wolff, Austin Abrams, Cara Delevingne
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: Two thumbs mostly up

I hadn't planned on going to Paper Towns on release night, but when we realized that it was release night, we were all like... why not? So, we found ourselves at the very first show!

Paper Towns is definitely not my favorite John Green book, so I didn't have really high expectations going in, but guys, it was really pretty funny. In a silly, crude and a bit of a naughty sort of way. We were all LOLing in many many places and I'm not a huge LOLer really.

This kid (Austin Abrams as Ben) stole the show.

One thing... I don't know why the girl who plays Margo gets such press time and billboard time and etc because,  you know, she's hardly in the movie. (She does disappear after all.) It's the boys, the three friends, that really should be headlining this thing. They. Were. Awesome. Oh my gosh, they were great.

Backing up... here's a bit of a summary of the story for those who have not read the book: We have Quentin (also known as Q) who's had a crush on his neighbor Margo since she moved in when they were kids. Now that they are in high school, they barely talk. Margo is WAY out of his league. Then one night, she comes to him and asks for his help to exact revenge on all her friends that have wronged her in some way. Q has the best night of his life. The next day, she disappears and now it's his mission to find her.

Q and Margo sneaking around.

Up front, it appears it's a story about this crazy Margo girl, but really, it's about Q and how he learns what's really important. Which has nothing to do with Margo, but more about the relationships he's had going for years already. I really like this message.

The movie, like I said, is crude in parts, but you'll laugh anyway. I thought the audience would come unglued entirely when one of the boys has to pee in a can as they are driving. Stupid, but so so funny due to the crazy awesome acting job on his party. On the other hand,  I did not like how the movie glamorizes teenage sex and makes it look perfectly okay. Whatever.

The road trip.

Oh, and a certain other star from a certain other John Green book/movie makes a cameo and oh my word the audience I was in about flipped out!! It was awesome! Let me know if you see it and if your audience has such a reaction!

Anyway, I enjoyed and it and we all left laughing and giggling and with this lovely message (see above) in our heads.

See it if you are a John Green fan, a teen drama fan, or a fan of the silly. If none of those things fit you, you'll probably roll your eyes and wonder what all the fuss is about.

Here's the trailer:

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Movie: The Fault in Our Stars
Genre: Drama
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: Two thumbs up

It felt like I took awhile to see this movie, even though it was still within two weeks of it being out. After having seen SO MUCH buzz and promotion for it, I felt like I was being disloyal to one of my favorite authors and the whole Nerdfighter community by not going right away and giving them my money that first all important weekend!

But life happens and we didn't get there until this past week. I'm sure they'll all survive!

Anyway. I'm guessing everyone knows what this movie is about, right? Two kids fighting cancer. But more importantly, it's about two kids falling in love and discovering that life isn't about the cancer they are fighting, but the life they are discovering. As part of that, they travel to The Netherlands to find a revered author and learn how a certain book ends. The author is terrible to them! But they learn stuff anyway. It's awesome. But can I just say, I'm so glad that there are some revered authors that live up the idea you have of them. Thank goodness for that!

And yes. The end is sad... terribly sad. I didn't think I'd cry since it was expected... I usually don't cry when someone tells me I'm supposed to.. I cry more at unexpected times, you know. But I cried. I mean, I leaked. I managed not to get to heaving sobbing sort of cry. But sheesh, it's pretty hard not to.

The thing is, this movie actually has more funny parts than sad parts. These characters are great! And I loved how Ansel portrays Gus. I mean, I wasn't so sure. He's okay in Divergent and all, but we just don't get to see what he can really do. But hes' really great. He has such an expressive face and eyes that he doesn't even need to say anything to let us know what he (as Gus) is feeling or thinking. Pretty much irresistible, that Gus!

That face! 

But being a mom, it's awfully hard not to relate more to the mom and the parent side of things with this movie. Seeing how they deal with things is inspirational and heartbreaking.

Anyway, I would say don't be scared of the subject matter and the sadness. Just go and be happy for your life! Okay? Okay!

Here's the trailer that you've all probably seen a gazillion times:

A to Z Blogging: John and Josh

Two of my favorite guys today for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. And I tried to resist. I really did. But, resistance was futile.

JOHN (Green)

I love what John has to say about creativity and inspiration in this, one of his more recent Vlogbrothers videos:




And you know I love the voice of this guy with all my heart:

JOSH (Groban)

A Plug for John Green

Did I ever tell you how much I love this guy?

And now we get MORE of him!!! He's going to use YouTube to teach us stuff! I think I've said before, he would be an AWESOME teacher! Now he'll prove it.

Just like he said, I am so excited.

Oh, and he finished signing all the books too, for those of you following along. I so look forward to my copy and wouldn't that be cool if I got this last one... or one that was Hanklifyed... or Yettified... or Henry scribbled?  Awesome.

Now... watch....

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Book: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: A
For: Fun and Love Month, and The Twenty Eleven Challenge
From: Bought it at Amazon


Because I saw this one getting rave reviews from tons of favorite bloggers, and because people suggested it for a fun Love Month romantic read, I couldn't wait a second longer and so jumped in and devoured this one!

It's about Anna, of course, who is forced by her father to go get cultured by attending an American boarding school in Paris. She hates the idea, but decides to make the best of it. Of course she meets a very nice guy. Very. Nice. Major problem though, he is already taken. But since when has that stopped anyone, right?

Very simple plot, but lots of swoon worthy bits and wow, does it ever make you want to visit Paris! To climb up the towers of Notre Dame? I think I better add THAT to my Bucket List for sure! And sit on the banks of the Seine eating croissants? How perfect can it get?

And the boy... Etienne St. Clair.... love that name. He's practically perfect too, with dark wavy hair and a British accent and speaks fluent French. But... the thing I truly enjoyed about this romance was that it seemed REAL. He wasn't all that perfect after all. He had his flaws. And stuff happens that seemed REAL...plausible...and the romance took time to develop. And they are truly friends... you know... friends. What a concept, right?

Bottom line: I loved it.

Now let's see if I can remember the bloggers who are to blame for me reading this book:

Fluttering Butterflies
Angieville
Brodi Ashton
Opinions of a Wolf
The Allure of Books
See Michelle Read

And here's a cute, if a little spastic, John Green, who I haven't talked about at all lately, who also LOVED this book:



And speaking of cute, he also mentions one of my other favorite things/people.... Charlie. Charlie is so cool like! DFTBA! :)

A Little John, Josh and Janette Love

Some random fun videos I've come across this week that I simply must share:

Why I love John:

(a video where John Green talks to a 15 year old version of his brother and discusses critical reading by comparing it to eating pizza... or something. Be sure to watch to the very end. Just sayin'.)



Why I love Josh:

(Okay, so you all know why, but this montage clip of the past few years really shows it all! New album people! New album!)



Why I love Janette (as in Rallison):

(This just cracked me up because it's so close to my reality...minus the Cheez Its, which I just really can't stand.)




Anyway. Enjoy! A lovely Friday and weekend to you all!

NaNoWriMo... NOT... and other stuff

I got a kick out of John Green's latest vlog so I thought I'd share.... especially for all you NaNoWriMo types! He cracks me up...



Good luck to all you writers. I wish I could try it, just for fun, but I decided to put that little thought on hold for now. Maybe some year.



In other news....


Want to learn more about my book club? We're featured today over at Booking Mama's so be sure to go check it out!



Oh, and it's time for all the fun blogger Christmas festivities to begin. If you want to participate in the Book Blogger's Holiday Swap, go sign up before Nov. 12. I promise, it's very fun. Then there's the Blog Advent Tour that's coming up during the month of December, so be watching The Written World for more details on that. And finally, we've got the Buy Books for the Holidays cause starting up again too, so don't forget to check that out!



Whew. What fabulous ideas everyone comes up with and all the work and organization that goes into everything. It's very cool.

Review: Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

Book: Let It Snow

Genre: YA Romance

Rating: A

For: Fun

I'm already getting behind in reviews since I finished this one a week or more ago,but I did want to tell you about it, so here goes!

This book is made up of three different stories, each written by a different author. I bought it awhile back (with my gift card!) simply because of John Green, of course. However, even though they are all different stories by different people, they are all tied together and I love how they did that!

The first one called The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson is told from the point of view of Jubilee, whose parents are suddenly not available on Christmas Eve, so she is heading, on a train, to her grandparents. The biggest storm of the century blows in, of course, and the train gets stranded. This is the story about who she meets on the train, how she is rescued and by whom, and how she ends up spending her Christmas day.

The second one, A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green, is from the point of view of Tobin, who is also without his parents on Christmas Eve. He is hanging out with his other two friends a girl named Duke and a guy named JP. They get a call from another guy telling them about how all these cheerleaders, whose train has been stranded because of the storm, are hanging out at the Waffle House and that they should come join the fun. So they go, but have numerous adventurous in the process and learn some cool stuff about each other.

Story number three, The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle told from Addie's point of view is all about how she is so sad about her recent break up. She is wishing so bad she could go back in time and redo things. Throughout the story, she learns that she needs to think less about herself and more about others.

In the end, it all ties together in such a fun way! I loved it! Just for a fun simple cute teen romance written by three great YA authors.

Other Reviews:

Casual Dread

Things Mean A Lot

Firefly's Book Blog

The Famiy With Three Last Names

Not Enough Book Shelves

Reviewer X

John Green and the Last Words of 50 Famous People

So, since I can't seem to find proper time to do a proper blog because Christmas, as we all know, has to happen and that, for some strange reason, seems to take up a lot of time, I decided to share with you this wonderful, latest John Green vlog post about the last words of famous people, many of them writers and poets, which I figured you would all appreciate, and many of them very very funny. Enjoy!

Weekly Geek #24: Author Fun Facts

This week's Weekly Geek: Fun Facts about authors!

Markus Zusak

• born January 1, 1975 in Sydney Australia
• his mom is Austrian and his dad is German
• he is married and has a daughter
• it took seven years for his first book to be published
• he's written five books: The Underdog (1999), Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2001), Getting the Girl (2001), I Am the Messenger (2002), The Book Thief (2006)
• he's working an another book: Bridge of Clay
• he likes to surf and watch movies
• one of his favorite books is "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
• when asked where he gets his ideas from he says " I used to lie about this, but now I actually know – I started writing when I was sixteen. I’m thirty now. I get my ideas from fourteen years of thinking about it."
• he re-wrote the first 90 pages of The Book Thief between 150 to 200 times
• writing is hard for him and he says he has to drag himself to the desk to do it
• his advice to writers: Let failure be your friend!

John Green

• born August 24, 1977 in Indianapolis
• he is married, but no kids yet (his MySpace says "some day")
• he worked at a chaplain in a children's hospital for six months
• he loves learning about conjoined twins, finding out famous people's last words, and making up anagrams
• He's written three books: Looking for Alaska (2005), An Abundance of Katherines (2006) and Paper Towns (2008). Also a short story found in Let It Snow: Three Holiday Stories (2008)
• it took him four years to write Looking for Alaska
• he did a video blogging project with his brother Hank where the only way they communicated with each other for the whole year of 2007 was through vlogging... even though the year is over, they still do a ton of vlogging
• along with his brother Hank, he created the Ning group Nerd Fighters, which is becoming quite the movement
• Looking for Alaska is going to be a movie
• when asked where he gets his ideas from he says "I have no idea. I really don't. All I know is that my books all start with a person."
• his advice to writers: "Try to experience a lot of heartbreak and woe. Ideally, there should also be some weeping and gnashing of the teeth. That stuff will come in handy later. But the most important thing is to read. That's true whether you're an aspiring writer or a working one. Reading is the only apprenticeship that writers have. "

I love both these guys and hope that they have many many more books coming in the future!

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Book: Paper Towns by John Green
Genre: YA
Rating: A
For: Fun!

In this, John Green's third book, we met Quinten, also known as Q. He's had a crush on his next door neighbor, Margo, for as long as he can remember. They were best buddies when they were younger, but now that they are in high school, Margo, being in the popular crowd, and Q, being in the nerdy crowd, don't have much to do with each other.

But one night, Margo shows up at Q's window and asks him to come drive her around all night as she carries out a huge revenge plan on all her "friends" that have recently wronged her. Q reluctantly agrees, and ends up having the best night of his life!

And so goes the first part of this book. The second part is Q and his friends trying to solve a mystery surrounding Margo. Then in the third part, they think they've solved it and so they go off on 20 hour drive in the minivan to see if they are correct or not.

Mixed in with all the humor and funny parts that are signature John Green traits, we have the other side of a John Green book, which is deep introspective life learning lessons. I love this mix and officially declare myself a hearty John Green fan! As I wrote over at Goodreads, he makes me laugh. He makes me sad. He makes me think. He makes me mad. I love the characters he creates and the things he makes me ponder.

Other Reviews of Paper Towns:

Becky's Book Reviews
Teen Book Review
Books Are King
Zoe's Book Reviews
Reviewer X
Reading Keeps You Sane
Au Courant

Let me know if you need to be added to the list! :)