An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
I picked up this book mainly because of the chatter through the #lit tag on Tumblr. It has a lore around it, and is quoted often. Figuring that I could easily toss it aside if I disliked it, I undertook it during a rare rainy Sunday. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's prose comes off witty and cute. The plot line was a throw back to many of the 1980s summer adventure movies, and over all the characters were endearing. Also, this book shows the evolution of an author. I read Looking for Alaska a few years ago, and couldn't finish it. Green seems to have come into his own, and has finally found a home in his nerdy but adorable characters.
Young adult lit has a boy problem. Meaning, attracting young men into reading has become more and more difficult over the years. Green's novel is an attempt to bring the non-target demographic into the fold. Using characters like Colin and Hassan, Green crafts realistic dialogue and banter between the two of them. It's good to see two male characters have discussions that don't seem forced, and also are not centered around a love interest. The book spends a lot of time dealing with Colin's love live, but the brief reprieve the reader gets from that are Hassan's jokes. The pop culture references, and ability to simply connect to a male character is lacking. Boys are left out, or are told to go seek solace in the science fiction section. The book world is doing their best to subtract men out, and authors like Green are doing their best to add them back in.
As I walk away from this book, I can't wait to see what Green does next. His books are constantly evolving, and I'd love to see him tackle something more of a challenge. I want to see him write the young adult book that makes him a household name. After reading this one, I know he has it in him.
I'm moving onto Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. This book has popped up on more than one Best of 2011 list, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Also, I'm taking the GRE on December 20th so I'm going to have lighter reads in between now and then.
I picked up this book mainly because of the chatter through the #lit tag on Tumblr. It has a lore around it, and is quoted often. Figuring that I could easily toss it aside if I disliked it, I undertook it during a rare rainy Sunday. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's prose comes off witty and cute. The plot line was a throw back to many of the 1980s summer adventure movies, and over all the characters were endearing. Also, this book shows the evolution of an author. I read Looking for Alaska a few years ago, and couldn't finish it. Green seems to have come into his own, and has finally found a home in his nerdy but adorable characters.
Young adult lit has a boy problem. Meaning, attracting young men into reading has become more and more difficult over the years. Green's novel is an attempt to bring the non-target demographic into the fold. Using characters like Colin and Hassan, Green crafts realistic dialogue and banter between the two of them. It's good to see two male characters have discussions that don't seem forced, and also are not centered around a love interest. The book spends a lot of time dealing with Colin's love live, but the brief reprieve the reader gets from that are Hassan's jokes. The pop culture references, and ability to simply connect to a male character is lacking. Boys are left out, or are told to go seek solace in the science fiction section. The book world is doing their best to subtract men out, and authors like Green are doing their best to add them back in.
As I walk away from this book, I can't wait to see what Green does next. His books are constantly evolving, and I'd love to see him tackle something more of a challenge. I want to see him write the young adult book that makes him a household name. After reading this one, I know he has it in him.
I'm moving onto Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. This book has popped up on more than one Best of 2011 list, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Also, I'm taking the GRE on December 20th so I'm going to have lighter reads in between now and then.
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