Paper Towns

I have been taking advantage of finally having some spare time this holiday and I sat down to read Paper Towns by John Green. I have been wanting to read more of his books since I read both Looking for Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars. I was quite hesitant when I started this book, because (not surprisingly) I had expectations of being left with tears streaming down my face and no sense of fulfilment.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not left with a soul-crushing sadness, but rather a sense of anticlimax. I thought the book was beautifully written (as are all of Green’s other books) and I was captivated from beginning to end.

I enjoyed the character of Quentin at the beginning of the book. He is a shy, somewhat nerdy, young man. He is well-adjusted (thanks to his therapist parents) and he knows what he wants to do with his life. He has good friends and good grades. The only wrench in the works is Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo has been Quentin’s neighbour since they were two-years-old and he has been in love with her for most of his life. Margo is wild, beautiful, and full of mystery and adventure. She is a member of the popular crowd (and Quentin is definitely not) until one day she catches her boyfriend cheating on her with her friend. That night, she knocks on Quentin’s window and takes him on an all-night adventure of revenge and some vaguely illegal activities. The next morning she is gone. She ran away, taking her car and leaving only a few small clues for Quentin to use to figure out where she may have gone.

Guaranteed laughter – my favourite kind

When I was 12 years old, I came across a book that would soon become the book I turned to everytime I needed to smile after a hard day or week. No matter how many times I read this book, I laughed until I was crying. The book is called Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. It is the first in a series of 10 books that were released between 1999 and 2009. I have every single one of them, and I still read them almost every year.

I thought a bit of a throwback would be appropriate today because I am officially on the brink of adulthood. Today is my last day of being 20 years old and I thought the best way to celebrate would be a trip into my childhood. I have memories of sitting in my grade 7 classroom, reading this book after I had finished an exam and was waiting for the rest of the class to finish. After about 10 minutes I had to put the book away because I was snort laughing and disturbing the poor kids trying to concentrate on their exam.

When I was 15 or 16, I was reading them in class again and my constant laughing peaked the interest of my friends. I lent the book to various people in my grade and I love the idea of  my (now quite worn) copy going from backpack to backpack and spreading it’s humour to those around me. By the end of high school, I had dog-eared the pages that made me laugh the most, so I could prepare myself for them whilst reading. Although, to be honest, I knew most of the book by heart at that point.

It had been a while since I had last read it, but I just got home after my third year of university and the first thing I wanted to do was read this book again. It has so many happy memories for me, and as usual, it didn’t fail in making me giggle uncontrollably. I know that I will be carrying this book with me wherever my life takes me, because no matter what may happen, I know it will always cheer me up.