Book Review, The Fault in Our Stars

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green.

       I have a disease. I have an unhealthy addiction to chick-flicks, it is incurable, I am ashamed... and yet: I cannot stop, and worse yet: I don't want to. In my many wasted days spent crying over a character in a movie dying of cancer (see: Keith, A Walk to Remember, Restless etc.) I have never cried as much, not even whilst reading The Book Thief, as I did when I read this book. 

       Although you'd be terribly, fatally wrong if you thought that that put me off the book. No, I pushed through my clouded eyes in order to fully absorb every beautiful word. I always hear about a book that changes a person's life. I hear about a book that makes you think about the world in a different way; that is what The Fault in Our Stars did for me. I now look at phrases and poems and literature and try and see it through Augustus Waters of Hazel Grace's point of view. 

       I not only fell in love with the words used in this book, I fell deeply in love with the characters and their witty, funny and nerdy views on the world. 

      The Fault in Our Stars is brilliant and I commend John Green on spending a decade writing it, this book is worth a decade. This is the first book I ever read where the main character is dying, cancer is commonly written or viewed from the point of a healthy person, perhaps because how do you put into words the thoughts and feelings of a girl who is achingly aware that she is going to die young. Green tackled this challenge and came through a worthy victor. 

      This hauntingly beautiful book is an epic romance of star crossed lovers, it shows the reader a unique view of the world. It will make you think, it will resonate within the recesses of your mind for a long time. This is a book that compels you to want more and re-absorb everything again and again despite the inevitable tears and perhaps why I cried for seventy-nine pages straight, this book reels you in, this book demands to be felt.

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Thoughts #1

I find it ironic that an author may spend years and years writing a book, and its readers often devour it in hours...

The Difference Between Genuinely Liking Poetry and Acting Like You Do

       

        The first thing you should probably know, if you really want to act like the title of this blog is to be well-read you must but some effort in. Meaning you need to have heard of a wide range of literature, today I will start with poetry.

        Knowing about poetry is essential to being a well-read, smart and cultured teen. Now my suggestion is to do a search on the internet of famous and more obscure poets, throw in a few medieval, some Victorian era English, famous Americans, German... Swedish (although be aware that if you choose LOTE poets, you will probably have to learn the original and English translation) even some modern, (but only the prissy sounding ones.) Once you have a list of various poets print it off, cut them up and put them in a hat, then draw five poets.
        Once you have your five poets, do some basic research, (i.e. read the first paragraph of their Wikipedia page, look at some opinions mesh them together and voila; you have your own unique opinion) now comes the hard part, this is serious for those wanting to really look like a priss. Memorise some of the poems, this is not that hard. I'm sure most people have memorised a four minute song and then there a people like me who have memorised Bohemian Rhapsody and most of Meatloaf's eleven minute ballads, but I blame my parents for that one...
        Anyway so if you can memorise a four-seven minute song I'm sure you can manage a five verse poem (tiny tip #1: memorise poems in little rhymy sentences e.g. "Why did you give no hint that night/ that quickly after the morrow's dawn/ and calmly as if indifferent quite" -The Going, Thomas Hardy, December 1912. Also say it with a rhythm like a ball is bouncing along, but not when it comes to actually reciting it!) Try to spread out your timeline of poems, choose some of the poets most famous and their most obscure, try to find out facts about it, such as dates and hidden meanings and occurrences.
       Now to make this all convincing you must know the difference between actually like poetry and pretending. A person who genuinely likes poetry will probably have a few cheap poetry books that they got on sale from a library, the will also shape the words with their mouth as they read poetry and maybe whisper it with feeling, they will also read a few poets and have definite favourites and say really cheesy reasons about why they like poetry <Take notes of all those things.
       People who don't genuinely like poetry will agree with whatever you say about it (so make you sure you have an opinion), they will avoid eye contact on the subject and they will try to make bullshit sentences that are laughable (but don't laugh at the poor souls, just gently recommend this blog) and completely wrong about poets and will spurt an exact response of whatever your English teacher had said.
      Knowing about poetry, or accurately pretending to is key to seeming well-read, smart and cultured. Just keep in mind that the most important thing about poetry is having an opinion on it, preferably yours or plagiarise an obscure one.