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.