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Paper Towns
Paper Towns
John Green | 2013 | Children
9
7.8 (36 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fun (2 more)
Has a dectetive style
Short chapters
Disappointing end (0 more)
Detective style
Ok I love John Green as I've said for his other books I've reviewed but I can't help but say I was disappointed with the ending of this, it was totally not what I was expecting and not as dramatic as I thought. However, the book is very fun to read and it really gets you thinking. Margo is a very clever girl with an imaginative mind who just can't stop in one place. Q is a sucker for love and falls into a bit of a predicament. Qs determination is frustrating for his friends but friends stick together like they should. Overall a good read and would recommend it. I'm now going to watch the film.
  
Turtles All The Way Down
Turtles All The Way Down
John Green | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.4 (60 Ratings)
Book Rating
Storyline (1 more)
Characters
Could be a trigger to some people with mental problems (0 more)
This book was FANTASTIC.

I have never read a John Green book yet, so finding this gem from my local library system was a great find.

Aza has issues. Issues that none of would ever wish for our worst enemy much less a young girl. Her particular issue I don't have an exact word for, germ phobia with some invasive thoughts add some OCD in there?

Aza and her friend Daisy are looking to come into some money by doing some detective work. What she finds more than anything is an honest and open friendship with maybe a little love thrown in there.

My love for this book is amazing, now I have to find his other books and read them.
  
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Jayme (18 KP) rated Turtles All The Way Down in Books

Apr 15, 2018 (Updated Apr 15, 2018)  
Turtles All The Way Down
Turtles All The Way Down
John Green | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.4 (60 Ratings)
Book Rating
Characters (3 more)
Plot
Accurate depiciton of mental illness
Didn't have an "easy" or cliche "fairytale" ending
I’ve been meaning to pick up a John Green book for a very long time, but it wasn’t until I heard good reviews of this book that I finally did. My initial thought after finishing the book is this: I now understand all the hype.

I read a great deal of YA fiction, but it is not very often that I finish the book feeling whole. Not because the ending was that of a fairy tale — John Green has a reputation for ensuring those endings don’t exist in his novels — but because the book was just so well-written. I feel as if many YA writers sit down to write books, but forget who their audience is. They are writing a much more washed out and juvenile version of what teenagers are actually like today. They are afraid to let their characters cuss or talk about sex, as if neither action actually exists among young adults. YA authors tend to stray away from the reality of teen behavior, but this book faced realities in a compelling way.

The novel follows Aza, a sixteen year old with an obsessive compulsive disorder, as she navigates the implications of her illness on her relationships with other people. Simultaneously, Aza and her best friend Daisy make it their mission to find Davis Pickett’s billionaire father wanted by the police, and it just so happens that Davis is an old friend of Aza’s from camp.

I appreciated the way the Aza, Daisy, and Davis (as well as the other secondary characters) were facing so many different conflicts (i.e. grief, financial classes, love, mental health, college decisions) at once, because that is exactly how the world works. Real teenagers do not fixate their lives on one specific conflict for extended periods of time, rather they balance several conflicts. I love the way this book was able to depict that struggle to maintain a balance in such a way that allowed readers to follow each plot line to the very end.

I loved the characterization, as they all felt tangible. Their mannerisms and tendancies were displayed through each appearance on the page. There was not a single moment in any interaction that made me feel as if the personalities of these characters were lost, not even in the dialogue (which was also incredible). This attention to detail is something that will drive me to pick up another John Green novel in the near future.
  
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Holly Johnson recommended Queen of Denmark by John Grant in Music (curated)

 
Queen of Denmark by John Grant
Queen of Denmark by John Grant
2010 | Folk, Pop, Singer-Songwriter
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Queen Of Denmark and the Irrepressibles album were kind of jointly on my CD player in the car and I played them both endlessly. I love John's voice and I absolutely love Jamie [McDermott, Irrepressibles founder]'s voice as well - they're completely different voices but both extremely natural. Some people I play The Irrepressibles to, they thought it sounded like Antony, but I didn't get that. Whereas John has a more masculine appeal and nowness that has been embraced by the gay community of bears and beards. His stories are of woe tinged with a sardonic sense of humour, which is one of the most important things about his songwriting, whereas Jamie has an extravagant vision - extravagance on a shoestring, I don't know how he does it - but lovely orchestral instrumentation and absolutely beautiful vocals. I went to see the Mirror Mirror show at the Barbican and it was amazing and it should've been written about and applauded by the likes of The Guardian and that, but for some reason Jamie still continues to do lovely work but it just doesn't get the press and the support from the music industry that John has had. John is great and deserving of it - this album's brilliant, as is Pale Green Ghosts, but I would especially like people to listen to that Irrepressibles album, because he's a great artist and a hidden gem amongst the whole 21st century queer landscape."

Source
  
Turtles All The Way Down
Turtles All The Way Down
John Green | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.4 (60 Ratings)
Book Rating
Intelligent writing (2 more)
Realistic mental health issues
Fandom representation and fanfiction
It came to an end (0 more)
Wow. Just wow.
The synopsis for this book was very short, precisely 9 lines. The synopsis made me expect to read a book much like paper towns where they go on an adventure, detective style and find the missing person. However, this book was something so much more than that. The main concept of the book I felt was actually about the mental health of the main character Aza. Aza has severe intrusive thoughts that take control of her life. Near to the end of the book a sudden and dramatic incident occurs and you're left unknowing what the outcome will be. Although I wish it never ended, John Green ends the book perfectly.
When a book has help line contact details in the authors notes, you know it's going to be a serious book.
It took me less than 24hours to finish this book, I physically couldn't put it down. John notes in the AN that it took 6 years to finish the book, I can completely understand why. Just wow