John Green on the Brain

I love love love John Green; I am so grateful to JBean for telling me to read, The Fault in Our Stars, which has now become the book I tell EVERYONE to read. Everyone. My sister. My Mom. My favorite aunt. My best friends. Folks at the Library. Prairie Dawn. Before Prairie Dawn had even read it I made her put it on the fall lineup for our Teen Book Group. (More on that soon!)

I love that John Green writes real teenage characters, tangible to real teens. These characters are coming into their own and trying to understand the world, sometimes poetically, other times emotionally stumbling through it like a weaving drunk. Green's characters are sometimes sweet and funny, sometimes self loathing or self deprecating, sometimes funny as hell, other times over the top dramatic, sometimes raw as hell, but always BELIEVABLE!

I love that John Green celebrates nerds, and being honest, and wearing your heart on your sleeve, and has the most quotable lines and lovely sentiments. And sometimes it feels a little cheesy, but not really, because if you felt heart broken or in love or in lust as a teen you felt exactly the way his characters do. I love that John Green values speaking one's truth and honesty. And I love that his books always peak your interest to go and look up another book or author, like when I was driving back from Chicago and was listening to Will Grayson, Will Grayson and someone quoted an e.e. cummings poem that I hadn't heard yet (and I love e.e. cummings!!), so the first thing I did when I stopped was look that poem up!

It is authors like John Green that make me a little more than jealous that we didn't have authors writing amazing books like this when I was a teen--and no, I'm not going to go on about how when I was a teen we walked up hill both ways to school in feet of snow...I'm not that old yet! 

So, yeah, John Green has been on my brain lately. As I've mentioned our Teen Book Group will be discussing The Fault in Our Stars this month. Btw, when Prairie Dawn finished reading it last week she came into my office and had to process the book with me for about a half an hour before she could start work. There were just too many things to discuss. You have to talk about that book with someone else. So, of course rehashing the book made me hungry for another John Green book, so I took Will Grayson, Will Grayson on CD with me for my drive to Chicago (perfect since the story is set in Chicago/Evanston). And just yesterday I saw this on a friends' page on Facebook, which is an interesting watch and will probably make you want to watch more John Green vlogs. And the movie of The Fault in Our Stars is coming out next year, and oh my gosh, the girl who's playing Hazel is also playing Tris in Divergent!

Anyway, this post is going no where. It's just John Green love now put out into the universe. That is all.

P.S. the e.e. cummings poem mentioned in Will Grayson, Will Grayson goes a little something like this:

"since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis"

--e.e. cummings