John Green

Recently (by which I mean several months ago) Kam recommended an author to me, and I didn't have anything I was really itching to read at the time, so I bought one of his books. My selection was made easy by the simple fact that's only written three, so An Abundance of Katherines introduced me into the world of John Green. I can now say without a doubt that it is truly a lovely world.

I have now finished his first two books and I'm about 200 pages into his third, and I'm actually kind of irritated that I'm writing this blog instead of reading it now. John Green is seriously the kind of author who makes you hate yourself, because he makes you wish you could read faster and slower at the same time. I find myself devoting hours in a single sitting to ripping through his pages as quickly as possible, eager to know about Colin's relationship problems and just where exactly Margo has been hiding for the past 100 pages. And at the same time, I wish I could slow all of it down, to make those last few paragraphs stretch on for ten more books. I sadly compare my remaining 100 pages to the 200 I've already read of Paper Towns -- his latest book -- and I wish it wouldn't pass so quickly.

John Green has a very personal, informal writing style. His books are told from the first person point-of-view of the main character, and it gives his writing a sort of voice. Instead of a nameless narrator who hides behind a smoke screen the entire story, he speaks from a character, one who has a name and a personality and thoughts of his own. I feel like when I read from that person's point of view, I think with that character, and I grow with that character through the novel. And his endings. Don't even get me started. The first book he published (the second one I read) made me seriously rethink my view of life and death. When an author can have that effect on his readers -- that's one seriously powerful pen.