Authors you would like to Meet | Top 5 Wednesday

This week's Top 5 Wednesday topic is to discuss the top 5 authors you'd like to meet. These are people I would love to have a conversation with, partially because I think they're awesome people and also because they're great writers and I want to get in their heads and learn about their creative process. These are five authors I would like to meet:

1. Gillian Flynn

Read my review of Gone Girl here.

HOW does she come up with all these creepy, sadistic, psycho/sociopathic characters and stories? It's incredible. She's brilliant when it comes to writing characters that simultaneously repulse and intrigue you, and I'd love to know how she comes up with these things. 

2. Amy Poehler

Amy released her first book last year, but she's been writing for TV and film for years. From SNL to Parks & Rec, she's made me laugh 'til I had tears streaming down my face - I love her humour. Can she just be my friend please?

3. Victoria Schwab (a.k.a. V.E. Schwab)
Read my review of Vicious here.

Another master of writing! At so many points while I was reading Vicious, I seriously wondered which of the main characters I should be rooting for, if any. I love it when an author can make me think a certain way one moment, and then have me questioning everything the next.

4. John Green 

Read my reviews of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns.

John Green has made me laugh, he's made me cry - ok, mostly cry. And not just cry - he's made me sob giant salty tears of grief. But I digress. He seems to have a talent for creating lovable characters and tapping into readers' empathy. Plus, I love Nerdfighteria and watching the VlogBrothers - DFTBA!

5. Laini Taylor

I just started reading Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and I already love it. The way Laini describes the setting makes me feel like I'm there and it's just beautiful. I'd love to learn some tips from her on how she creates such a vivid world...and how she maintains her gorgeous hair colour!

Which author(s) would you like to meet?

Photo Credits: 1. Photo is cropped. "Local Author Night at The Book Cellar" by Amy Guth via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. 2. "You Are Here 01" by GabboT via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License. 3. Photo via Victoria Schwab's Goodreads page. 4. "John Green" by Gage Skidmore via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License. 5. Photo is cropped. "Project Book Babe" by TaraRebeka via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

"Paper Towns" | Book Review

See image credit below

Quentin Jacobsen has loved Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar since they were children. When she climbs through his window one night with a revenge-filled adventure planned, he jumps at the chance to reconnect with her. The next day, he arrives at school to find that she's missing - and she's left him clues regarding her whereabouts.

I want to start with the positive on this one: I think the message John Green sends in Paper Towns is extremely important for everyone, not just the young adults whom this novel is geared toward. Through his characters' experiences, Green teaches us the dangers of falling in love with the idea of a person, without truly knowing the person in question.

My favourite quote from the novel is this: "What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person." This applies to so many members of our celebrity-obsessed culture; there are masses of people who fantasize about their favourite celebrity, but they aren't imagining the actual person because they don't really know them - they fall in love with the idea of the person they imagine in their minds.

Having said that, I must say this novel disappointed me. I consider myself a fan of John Green's writing, and indeed the writing itself is wonderful as usual in Paper Towns, but I found myself bored through much of the story. From the point where Margo disappears to the point where Q and friends decide to go find her, it was a bit repetitive in the search for clues and I found myself not really caring.

I think a big contributing factor to my disappointment is that Paper Towns has a very similar formula to Looking for Alaska, which is one of my favourite novels. I really didn't like seeing such a similar formula - nice, nerdy guy falls for unattainable girl, girl leaves in one way or another, boy learns a life lesson - it made it feel cheap. This story and its characters didn't affect me nearly as much as Looking for Alaska.

When I looked through the Goodreads reviews, I noticed that a lot of people didn't like the ending, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's yet another instance where Margo doesn't live up to Q's idea of her. It's then when it really hits home for Q that she's not the person he thinks she is because he doesn't really know her, he loves the idea of her that he's created.

There are some moments in this novel that I loved; as a road trip enthusiast, I found those scenes hilariously accurate and entertaining. Green's writing is beautiful and quotable as always and the novel's message is an important reminder to me. This is not a terrible book. But I was really disappointed to see a formula so similar to the one used in one of my favourite novels. I've come to expect a lot from John Green novels - perhaps I've created an idea that Paper Towns could not possibly live up to.

Read my reviews of The Fault in Our Stars, book and movie.

Have you read any John Green novels? If so, which one is your favourite?

Image Credit: electrictuesday via flickr in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Top Blue Covers | Top 5 Wednesday

This week's Top 5 Wednesday topic is your Top Blue Covers that you own! I scoured my bookshelves for the colour blue and to my surprise, I found that I don't actually have a lot of blue covers. The important thing though, is that the blue covers I do have are pretty cool.

1. Road Ends by Mary Lawson

I love this cover. Those who know me outside of the internet know I love Winter, so this cover, to me, is beautiful. The dreary-looking, snow-covered roads seem to be in a small town, which is another thing that interests me, so this cover draws me in and makes me want to be in the depicted scenery.

2. The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

Another gorgeous cover! This cover has intrigued me since I first laid eyes on it, and I finally bought the novel last month. The details in the wild cat design are beautifully done, including the sleeping person in the literal mouth of the beast.

3. The Passage by Justin Cronin

Trees and forests are another form of scenery I find beautiful. The iridescent cover adds to the mystery - are we seeing the Passage right now?

4. The Great Gatsby and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is very simple and very stunning. I love the design of the flapper woman toward the bottom, and the title's font evokes the 1920s. In terms of colours, the gold writing is striking against the navy blue cover. This is one of my favourite book covers, period.

5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Read my reviews of the book and the movie!

And last but not least, TFiOS. There was no way this would not be on this list. I've always liked this: the black and white clouds contrast nicely against the sky blue cover and the cartoony clouds make it seem like you're in for a light, care-free read. That's incredibly ironic, given the novel's content.

What's your favourite blue cover?

Photos by Author

"The Fault in Our Stars" | Movie Review

Expect tears. That's the first thing I want to say about this movie. But if you've read John Green's novel of the same name, you already know what a sob-fest you're in for.

I'm really impressed with The Fault in Our Stars. It is a truly moving story of two teens who are in love, and how their lives have been and continue to be affected by cancer.

I think the cast did a beautiful job of portraying this very sad, very sweet story. Shailene Woodley makes me love Hazel even more than I did before, and Ansel Elgort IS Augustus. Personally, I think they were both perfect in their respective roles.

Fans of the novel are probably concerned about how well the film adaptation presents the original novel's sentiments and quirks. Fear not, because this film is very true to the novel. I'm so glad they were able to keep the scenes and lines that we, as fans, have come to love so much. The cast and crew truly brought the novel to life in front of our eyes.

If you're a fan of the novel, I think you'll be very impressed with The Fault in Our Stars as a film adaptation. If you haven't read the novel, I absolutely recommend reading it and watching this film. Hazel and Augustus' story is one of reality, love, and above all, hope.

You can read my review of the novel here.

"The Fault in Our Stars" | Book Review

"TFiOS" book cover

The Fault in Our Stars, written by heartstring-tugger extraordinaire John Green, follows Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with stage 4 Thyroid cancer with metastis forming in her lungs. After her mother forces her to attend weekly support group meetings, Hazel meets Augustus Waters, an intelligent, very attractive 17-year-old boy in remission from Osteosarcoma. Although Hazel fights it at first, the two fall in love and develop a relationship that is a pleasure to witness take form.

To call this book a tear-jerker would be a massive understatement. John Green gives us such an honest portrayal of cancer's effects on families and relationships. You really do fall in love with the characters over the course of the story; it's the wonderful characters coupled with the harsh truth about cancer that make this story so painful. And yet, through all the tears (and trust me, there are a lot), Green manages to leave readers with a sense of hope at the end of the novel.

I absolutely love this book (I've now read it twice), although I do sometimes find it hard to believe Hazel and Augustus are teens because the way they speak sounds so advanced. I've never known any teenager to speak with the level of intelligence they do - which is not to say I think teens are unintelligent, because I don't, nor am I saying these kinds of teenagers don't exist. I just found a lot of their speech to be so metaphor-laden and mature-sounding. I think this maturity can be attributed to the amount of growing up their cancers have forced them into; they had to deal with extremely difficult situations at a young, impressionable age.

I highly recommend this sad, beautiful, hopeful, and incredibly quotable book to anyone and everyone. Be warned: you will cry, so be sure to keep a box of tissues by your side.

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars? If so, what did you think? Will you be watching the film adaptation?

You can read my review of the film here.