In the opening of John Green’s Looking For Alaska, we are introduced to Miles, pranks, the Colonel, Alaska, and the Great Perhaps. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Looking For Alaska.
This has sort of been a long time coming, and I don’t think it’s any sort of mystery now that I was going to drop a John Green novel into my reading rotation. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is going to take…shit. Like six months or so. That’s a long time for the focus of the site to be on one series with no interruptions or other books to talk about. (There will be one-off reviews like I’ve done with A Song of Ice and Fire, and I’m currently reading the Bas-Lag trilogy and I have 45 million thoughts I need to convey to you all, so we will still have other books to discuss!) Truthfully, the Nerdfighter community has been pestering me (in the most lovable way possible!) to commit to reading at least one of this man’s book that I thought it was high-time to actually do it.
Hence the Nerdfighter post yesterday. OMG I AM A NERDFIGHTER AND I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT. Going into Looking For Alaska is fascinating to me because it’s very similar to my experience with The Book Thief. I have not even the slightest clue what it’s about. I don’t know character names. I don’t know where it’s set, or when it’s set, or if the main character is a reptilian overlord from a distant star cluster. I don’t know themes. I don’t know if Alaska is a person or a place or a concept, and I don’t know if the “looking” part implies a search, a vision, an action, or if it’s all a trick. I don’t know if John Green writes in first person, third person omniscient, or if this is an experimental novel written entirely in velvet and Morse code. HEY IT COULD BE I’VE SEEN WEIRDER.
Because this isn’t separated by normal “chapters,” all the post titles will follow the same format as above, as I am assuming this is how the book is broken up. Everything is leading up to a certain day (or maybe an “after”), so I’ll dignify posts this way to make them easier to determine which parts I’m talking about. Sound good? Then let me start Looking For Alaska.
The prank.
Given that I read the first “chapter” and I’m talking about both, I’m going to assume this is the “event” that all the “befores” refers to is this prank. I like a well-executed prank and while I had a very bizarre, atypical high school experience, the school prank by the seniors was always immensely entertaining. Honestly, though, I am actually excited at the concept that I think is at work here. I’ve never really done a book for Mark Reads that was about high school or being in school in any context that isn’t Hogwarts. And while that school experience is the only thing I want in life, it didn’t have a whole lot that was indicative of the schooling system that I’m used to. Wow, I swear I won’t turn my reviews of this book into me talking about Harry Potter every other sentence. OR WILL I?
So, from this…prologue? In media res intro? Whatever it is, I’ve surmised that Alaska is a girl who is not the main character. There’s the Colonel. I like nicknames that are ridiculous, so there’s another positive point for this book. Who is the Eagle? What are Weekday Warriors? I’m used to the term “Weekend Warriors” from the cycling world, which refers to folks who only ride their bike on the weekend and they own the best gear and the best bikes and their spandex outfits are always clean and they always drink top-of-the-line electrolyte drinks and I just got carried away. I’m going to assume Weekday Warriors have nothing to do with that.
What I will assume is that a great deal of the plot and development leading up to the prank will explain who the hell all these people are, why certain people deserve to have failing notices sent to their families, and what it is that inspired such a monumental prank on this unnamed school’s campus.
before
one hundred thirty-six days before
Oh, Florida, you are such a bizarre state. Very green; some wonderful people who are quite hospitable; and Disney World and Harry Potter Land are there, and I’ve never had so much fun on a waterslide. But you’re a strange state, one I don’t know that I could ever figure out unless I spent an extended length of time there. I’m pretty sure I don’t necessarily want to do that. I still haven’t been to Gainesville or Miami and I’d love to, but…seriously, what a weird state. Also, your heat is OPPRESSIVE and took away ALL MY RIGHTS both times I was there.
So this book is set in the United States and a lot of establishing facts are introduced in the first proper “chapter” of Looking For Alaska. Miles is off to boarding school, one that I’m assuming replaces public high school. The thing that stands out to me most about all of this is how lovably awkward his parents are, something that I understand deeply and beautifully down to my bones. It is what I have known and will always know: My parents were awkward as fuck. I always find it interesting how that trope pops up again and again because it’s not a trope for me. I relate to nearly every depiction of awkward parents ever made. I think part of that comes from the dynamic between my mother and father and the massive cultural divide that existed the whole time.
(Also, just to clear this up: my father passed away in 2006, so if you see me using past tense for him and present-tense for my mother, that’s why. I’ve confused people with that before, so I don’t want to do it again!)
My mother has always been outspoken, a fiery redhead who uses her anger as both a weapon and a shield. To say I’ve gotten my personality from this aspect of her is an understatement; even if she’s my adoptive mother and I don’t have an ounce of her blood, my socialization with her taught me to be ~fierce~ and ~flawless~ about the way I carry myself. Yes, I had a whole host of self-esteem issues (some which I still have) that I had to work through, but at the core of my identity was this desire to be myself and fuck all the rest. That comes from my mother. She ruled the house.
My father, on the other hand, was so much quieter, a serene and stoic figure who might crack the occasional joke, unaware of how good they might be. What was so striking about my dad was that he wasn’t a very striking person. He blended into the background of everything. In that sense, he was the polar opposite of my mother, and it was that crucial difference that spawned most of the conflict and awkwardness growing up. My father grew up in Hawaii, of mixed Japanese and Hawaiian descent, and his culture produced the man I knew. None of his relatives were loud, boisterous, or invasive, just like him. I took a lot of trips to Hawaii growing up before the family was too poor to afford them, and I saw the same thing in the people I met there.
Miles’s mom, in a way, reminds me of this weird divide between parents, even though I admit she’s not at all the same. My mom is the kind of mother who would make “a small mountain of artichoke dip” because she figures it would be necessary. Every time I go home to visit my mother, one of the first things she asks me is if I’m hungry. I think there’s a part of my mind that believes that she is convinced that since she no longer cooks for me, I do not eat at all, so every visit I have with her is a chance for her to fill me up with foodstuffs for the long winter of hibernation. This is my life’s canon don’t you dare oppose it.
And look, all this said….the Good-bye to Miles Cavalry is just so awkward that I feel like it’s bursting out of the pages of this book. I, like Miles/John Green, like to give Official Sounding Names to things that are innocuous. Hell, how many times have I done that around here? It’s one of the ways that Miles copes with the little things; it’s not life-ending that his goodbye is so strange, but it’s a thing he has to deal with. On top of that, another clear reason y’all recommended I read this: Miles makes lists. CONSTANTLY. That sheer fact alone is probably enough to make me fall deeply in love with this book, but I’ll try to put aside my bias for lists and approach this book with an open mind, so that I can:
1) Determine what I like and dislike about it
2) See if I can discover why so many other people like it, and why it’s often taught in schools these days.
3) Continue to do what it is I do best around here.
Wait DAMN IT.
The only thing worse than having a party that no one attends is having a party attended only by two vastly, deeply uninteresting people.
This is in the Bible or something, right? What a goddamn universal truth dropped into this book. ON PAGE FOUR, NONETHELESS. Holy crap, why didn’t I read this before?
It’s the world that Green drops us into, and I like introductions that can give a reader a sense of who these people are, what sort of personality they have; nothing super complicated or nuanced, of course, because that’s sort of what the point of the whole novel is. You introduce the idea, and then spend the book developing from that point.
That point, it seems, is something Green introduces here, another Properly Titled Important Thing that will provide, at the very least, some sort of thematic motivation for our main character and narrator: The Great Perhaps.
“So this guy,” I said, standing in the doorway of the living room. “François Rabelais. He was this poet. And his last words were ‘I go to seek a Great Perhaps.’ That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.”
I’m not going to do any research on this idea, though I am vaguely familiar with Rabelais from college; sort of like what I did with American Gods, I know there’s something here that would help give this context if I looked this up, but I’d rather speculate. I sort of feel that’s all one can do, since this is supposed to be his last words. The very use of the word “perhaps,” as opposed to “purpose,” is ambiguous in nature, and I like this idea that whatever Great Thing that Miles is hoping to find, we don’t know what it is. He doesn’t know what it is. He doesn’t know where to find it, what it’s about, what it could be, or if it’s even real. It feels like a statement of possibility: Miles is off to Alabama to find this Great Thing there, only because he knows that he won’t find it in Florida. Is something pulling him to that boarding school? Maybe that is what he feels. Maybe there is no feeling at all and he’s simply throwing himself to the wind to see where he lands.
I had never been introduced to this idea before. The existentialist in me loves it. And what a damn fine introduction to this book, I might add.
Finally. i can participate again. (you read too fast for me, sir)
i am glad you enjoyed the first chapter so much.
did you find that miles was rather indulgent and pretentious for wanting to find the Great Beyond as such a young age?
Lots of people are asking the big questions and shit when they're teenagers…
Wanting to find a purpose in life isn't an age-specific thing, I don't think.
I think him being indulgent and pretentious is kind of the point in a lot of ways. While I agree with others here that its not an age-specific thing, I think it is really really common for teens and young adults to view new experiences this way. Everyone's searching but teens are still figuring out who they are so they're searching doubly so I think.
Yay, Looking For Alaska! I made half my family read this book and they all loved it, so John Green is clearly doing something right (many things actually).
I don't have the book with me right now – younger sisters are adorable thieves/borrowers aren't they? – but I remember my first impression of this book was that I dearly loved John Green's way with words. I'm one of those pretentious people that drops huge/rare/just-read-them-in-a-19th-century-novel words in mid-conversation because it feels like a waste not to use them, and Miles as a narrator seemed like my spirit animal in that sense. And then he mentioned The Great Perhaps which I'd never heard of and which sounded like such an intriguing concept/beautiful way to use those words and I was hooked.
I, like you, haven't read this book before, and now that I'm reading along with you, I'm wondering, "Why not?" Most of my friends are Nerdfighters (there has been significant crossover between Nerdfighteria and the HPA since HPA FTW when John and Hank made a video supporting the HPA in the Chase Community Giving competition) and I discovered who they were when Hank performed some songs on a HPA livestream. It's always been one of those things that I knew I probably should check out, but just never made the time to do it.
So I started reading this book pretty much as in the dark as you–no idea who it's about, what the writing style will be…nothing. Just that I knew what the author looked like because I ran into him like three times at LeakyCon without meaning to.
To give you an idea of how much I liked it, I actually didn't even notice that I'd finished the first "chapter" and kept right on reading. It wasn't until I got to the start of chapter three and came here to read your review that I realized I'd read past what you were reviewing. Whoops?
I really like the way he paints a picture: I got so sucked in because I could see everything without even really trying to imagine it. It was just there in my mind, already formed and living.
I have a feeling I'm going to be getting the rest of his books as soon as we finish this one. I don't think I'll be able to stop.
Hiya Mark…are you going to be breaking these up in any particular way so we know where to stop reading? Have I missed that post? Sorry if I have. I haven't picked up the book yet, but I have the feeling that pretty soon I just won't be able to handle NOT reading along with everyone.
I was going to include a photo of my bedside table with my worn copy of Fellowship of the Ring looking all sad, waiting patiently, ready with a bookmark…alas, I will broaden my horizons with something new and exciting. If I have to… ; )
One of my favorite things about John is that he is fantastic at accurately expressing feeling. The awkwardness at the party is palpable, but the chapter itself is not. I can easily understand Miles and his friendless high-school experience and awkward parents. John is also great at showing the scene to the reader (I can definitely picture said mountain of artichoke dip.)
Maybe I should read this. I sort of scarred myself against it when I thought it was this other book that I read and hated, but as soon as I looked it up on TV Tropes, I realized it wasn't. Then I ended up spoiling myself. But it still sounds really interesting…
I am heartbroken over the fact that I can't read this along with Mark since I've wanted to read this book for a while. Damn you exams, quit stealing all my time. Though I suppose I will have these reviews to look forward to when I do get around to reading it 😀
Also, those six months with LOTR reviews will be amazing. I just know it. *exited*
I don't understand where 6 months came from. By my calculations it should take just over three months. (66 chapters at 5 chapters a week is 13 weeks and 1 day). If Mark is dividing this up by chapters, then LotR is actually shorter than The Hunger Games (22 chapters per book vs 27 chapters per book). I know the books are dense, but this doesn't seem like that huge of an undertaking compared to some other projects
Maybe he's planning on splitting up some chapters or taking a closer look at certain sections? I mean its pretty dense material and lord knows there is a LOT to talk about. But, I'm not sure why it would be a bad thing to take something so influencial at a slower pace. I thought close reading and slow intake of entertainment was sort of the point of the site? Perhaps I am alone with thinking this but I think lord of the rings is not something you tear through at a breakneck pace. You could write papers on single paragraphs! But I kind of feel like saying that Hunger Games is longer than lotr is kind of like saying harry potter is longer than Heart of Darkness. Some things are meant to be digested slowly.
I don't see how he could account for splitting up some chapters at this point, though, considering he hasn't read any of the chapters yet.
I also don't really see doing one chapter a day as an inhibitor to close reading/analysis.If nothing else, we have a comment section with a quote function; if people want to draw attention to specific passages, they can. The Doctor Who reviews on the other site have spawned quite a few essays in comments. I don't really see anything preventing that from happening on this site, as well, especially since (if the number and type of comments on some of the Hobbit reviews are any indicator) there's a pretty massive readership for this particular project, including quite a few people who take an interest not just in those books but in that entire world.
I agree. I'd hardly consider a book a month a breakneck pace. A chapter a day is excellent for the in-depth analysis I've come to expect from this community. All I can think is that Mark is planning to do one-off books between each of the three volumes of LotR to stretch it out for 6 months. But I don't think that entirely makes sense.
Huh, I didn't even think about this. Maybe he's doing the appendices as well? That would take some extra time at least. Maybe there will be breaks between the books for other reviews?
In any case I'm a fan of spacing it out and reading it slowly, I think it suits these books. Although I obviously wouldn't mind a chapter a day either 😛
I'm not sure why he would put other books in between, he hasn't broken up other trilogies like Hunger Games or His Dark Materials. :S
Yeah, the only place I could possibly get a physical copy is from the local library, where there's only one copy and it's checked out for a long time. I'm still considering getting it as an ebook, but I have a bright-screened, inconveniently located computer and no ereader, so that's probably a no-go.
I'm confused as to why Mark would think that The Lord of the Rings would take six months. It's actually shorter than the His Dark Materials trilogy (something like 60-62 chapters versus 76 or 78, IIRC). Even if you consider the appendices as separate chapters (which I'm not sure I would), it's still shorter by a fair amount.
I'm glad that you like it so far and I can't wait to see what you have to say about the ideas John Green included in the story.
Mark,
An FYI on The Lord of the Rings. There are 6 "books" in the three published books. Each one is pretty much a stand alone. Of course, as in other novels you do have to watch out for the cliff-hanger.
My suggestion (I'm biased since I want you to read these soon) is that you read one "book" at a time. That way I can start to see your reactions sooner rather than later. I realize that LotR is a big project and not everyone is taken with the books. With the 6 book strategy, you could pacify "me" and keep other readers interested with different books in between.
Submitted for your consideration,
BetB
Plus, Tolkien intended for the whole story to be printed as one book, and it was only split into three so they could price it low enough that people might actually buy it (there was a paper shortage in England after World War II). So the "endings" of the first two parts might not be as natural stopping points as you're used to from other multi-book series.
I love that the current trend of telling stories in three parts, popularized by LOTR, was a complete accident.
So, I've read this before but I am not reading along with you because life is interfering with my mark does stuff (how DARE it) so I'm going to have to tread carefully.
I think one of the things I like best about John Green is his ability to add philosophy and big damn ideas into YA books. One of the things that frustrates me most about education (and did when I was a child) was underestimating young people and I really think his writing does not. Teens DO think about crap like this and they are extremely likely to jump on whatever is the last thing they read and declare it their new thing. Look at every college student that has ever existed! haha.
Also, as a southern runaway/ex-pat (shh I know its not a separate country it just feels like it), its always nice to see modern day placed books take place there. Because they don't very often.
I think one of the things I like best about John Green is his ability to add philosophy and big damn ideas into YA books. One of the things that frustrates me most about education (and did when I was a child) was underestimating young people and I really think his writing does not.
When I try to talk to people about this novel – all of John's books, really, but especially Alaska – is that I love that it doesn't patronise either its readers or its characters. It assumes that the reader, even if they actually are in the "young adult" age to which its targeted, are intelligent enough to comprehend things. And it treats its characters like, well, teenagers: they can be brilliant, they can be stupid, and John never pretends teenagers don't do plenty of things they shouldn't.
er, missed a phrase in there… it should be, "When I try to talk about this novel, what I most try to articulate is that love…"
I really like that Miles, even though the Good-bye to Miles Cavalry is so awkward and embarrassing and he doesn't seem to have any friends, is not self-pitying, he knows what to expect from people.
The whole thing reminds me great deal of my last school year, when I left in the middle of my A-levels and had no one to say good-bye to either. I still haven't found my Great Perhaps, but maybe Miles can inspire me.
I don't have anything in particular to say to this, but I felt compelled to respond because it struck a tambourine in me. I suppose because I've left places without saying goodbye or having anyone to say goodbye to. Sometimes it's OK to have no one to say goodbye to, because of all the friends you haven't met yet!
Thanks, you are probably right. I guess that's why I liked this part in the book so much, Miles is not miserable about leaving, knowing the life he is leaving behind is simply not 'it'. I guess it is a good test, if you can leave without shedding tears or any regrets, then it was the right thing to do.
OH man, I've been waiting for you, Mark, to finally read one of John Green's book since MRHP. I just love how John moves through his thoughts with his characters and imply emotions. There's so much going on in the character's head than there is in their spoken dialogue. It's how my mind moves.
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Yeah I really have no idea how else to explain it but i'm super excited!
You know, I think the reason why the trope of awkward parents shows up so often, is that pretty much everyone's parents are awkward, in their own way.
I don't mean bad, and neither do I mean good. You can have the wonderfully loving parents, the parents who fight a lot but are still great people, or the parents you can't wait to escape from: they're still awkward. I think it comes from the fact that when you're raised by two people, you get to know all their quirks and follies. My mom is totally the person who over-cooks for parties, to the point that a small get together with three friends involves ten things of chips, a giant thing of dip, and a beautiful reeses peanut butter cake the size of my head. (For the record, I have absolutely no problem with this). Similarly, I have definitely dealt with my dad's wish to follow in his footsteps….years of not so subtle hints to go to the same uni as him. Of course, when I didn't, he felt no grudge. Love ya, dad!
You know….I'm always so interested in comparing these High School stories to my own experiences. because they're very similar. My high school was technically 7 years long, because my school system got rid of the middle school concept. First four years there, I had very little friends- unless you counted those people who I thought were friends, because we'd been so in primary school, and then used my loyalty to them to make my life a living hell. I can completely sympathise with the character's parents expecting giant groups of friends over, and just wishing they'd get off your back so you could go lurk in your room and feel less embaressed. But once you get good friends…well, its a glorious, glorious thing.
"The Great Perhaps". Such an interesting concept, and the type of thing I can think of John Green talking about in one of his videos. I'm not sure where he's going with this, but I love the concept: the wanting to find more in your life. Somehow, I'm doubtful that he's just going to go to boarding school and BOOM, its there. In my experiences, a big change surprisingly doesn't change you, at least not quickly. It needs time.
I’m confused, my copy of this book doesn’t have a section called “the prank”. It starts with “136 days before”. Is this chapter only included in some editions?
I just bought the book (stupid kindle doesn’t have it in the uk so I had to get another paperback that I don’t have room for) and I don’t have The Prank either! What is this!? I must know!
From Mark's description, I think it's actually just a teaser of a part that comes later in the book. So even if you don't have it at the front of the book, you'll likely be reading it in its proper context later on anyway.
I was wondering the same thing. My ebook copy doesn't have it, and neither does the physical hardcover copy that is at my library.
Mark, I have also known the oppressive southern heat. I lived in Texas for almost seven years. It was hot and humid and plain disgusting. If that wasn't bad enough, the weather brought out some nasty ass bugs, too.
I just didn't want to go outside, ever. Except for maybe in the winter, but we only had like two weeks of winter anyway. Sometimes even during Christmas, it would still be hot as hell.
Mildly related: a year before I was a senior myself, the senior prank from a neighboring school was featured on that MTV pranks show. What the kids did was stick somewhere around 35 000 plastic forks into the front lawn of their high school. So not only did they get the 'wtf' reaction that accompanies any good prank, the forks aerated the soil. It was awesome and environmentally friendly.
Actually, I'm not very awesome sauce at telling stories, so here, have a link: http://mustangforums.com/forum/1849013-post24.htm…
When I was in college, at a hippie college in the woods (IREL ZHPU YVXR gur fpubby qrcvpgrq va guvf obbx), there was a tradition of having a senior prank every year, and it always had something to do with the Dean. He was usually pretty good-natured and went along with it, because he expected something wacky to happen every year.
Now this particular year was a year that people had tried to get a Community Garden going on the grounds, but for some reason the Dean was against it. This made a lot of people unhappy. Part of the Dean's job is to read all the Senior Theses (it's a tiny school), so for the prank, the seniors the Dean on a sort of obstacle course that ended at an unassuming piece of land with a sign saying "to find the senior theses, start digging here!" and a shovel. So he took the shovel, pushed it into the ground to dig… and immediately the seniors unfurled a banner behind him that said GROUNDBREAKING OF THE COMMUNITY GARDEN!! and took a bunch of photos of him with the banner. It was hard for him to say no after that 😀
That is a wonderful story.
My senior high school prank wasn't nearly as awesome. We put a bunch of bubble wrap on the bleachers of the football/track field place. The story of how we got the bubble wrap is much better – the girl who got it actually wrote to a company that manufactures bubble wrap and asked them to donate a bunch of it because she was doing a science project about the Mars Rover (is that a thing? or was it the Moon?) and she wanted to use bubble wrap to simulate the ground of the planet/moon. And they said yes and sent it to her.
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
oh my god mark you will fucking LOVE this book
i read it in ONE FUCKING DAY
Oh Mark <3
Weirdly enough I reread this book just a couple of weeks ago independently.
I–well–I–augh
I want to say all the things, but I don't want to spoil you in any way, shape or form, so I'll just have to settle for hnnnnng and wait with my chocolate to soothe the soul. I cannot wait for you to read this book 🙂 Hopefully you'll absolutely love it.
It makes me so happy that you're reading this, Mark. I just spent a couple week obsessing over MRHP and I'm really excited that you're becoming a nerdfighter! Please tell me you're going to read all of John's books!
And I hope you're going to watch all (or at least a large chunk, although it's well worth it to watch them all) of his videos. It really makes the reading of his books so much more interesting when you know his voice and, even more, what he's like and what he's interested in, because then you come across some little tidbit while you're reading and think, "That is so John!" It really makes the experience very different from reading any other book.
Right. I am getting past the disappointment of no LOTR, but only because apparently I'm easily distracted by new books. Which explains why I'm currently reading like four.
Anyway, I'm really liking this so far. I'm just one section ahead, seeing that much like with The Book Thief, I suppose there's no telling how much Mark will read. Which reminds me that John Green recommended The Book Thief in one of his videos! I'm really enjoying myself watching them.
Mark, I want you to know that my copy of Fellowship of the Rings is all lonely, opened to halfway, sitting on the back of my couch, sad that you aren't reading it. Ok. I've said it, I'll move on now. 🙂
I am unprepared for this book, and I've read it. Do you know what that makes you, Mark??…. I just spent like five minutes trying to come up with a word, but I failed, so I'll go with so unprepared that you're talking about lists and velvet and Morse code (which by the way, maybe velvet OR Morse code, but NEVER both). That's how unprepared you are.
I remember reluctantly picking this book up from my roommate, who wildly recommended it, and starting it slowly, and thinking I wouldn't like it…. and then I looked up and I was done with the book and it was 3am. And then when I tried to go to sleep, I couldn't, so I just sat on my hammock on my balcony all night thinking until the sun rose.
It's that kind of book, and yeah, I think you'll like it.
I'm just going to read along in my copy of Looking for Alaska, personally signed by John Green himself.
*shameless boasting*
Gahhh, I cannot express how happy I am about you reading this book/being a Nerdfighter.
This is my first time reading along, and I'm not quite sure about how I'm going to make it. I must!
I'm really excited for this book, I've only read one of the other books written by John Green, and I've listened to the first chapter of his new novel. I've also been a nerdfighter for quite a bit, so I have become familiar with John Green's way of speaking. Starting this book, I can feel the John Green spewing out of this book, and dammit, I am excited about it.
ait DAMN IT.
The only thing worse than having a party that no one attends is having a party attended only by two vastly, deeply uninteresting people.
This is in the Bible or something, right? What a goddamn universal truth dropped into this book. ON PAGE FOUR, NONETHELESS. Holy crap, why didn’t I read this before?
Seriously, get used to this. John Green has an amazing ability to narrow down universal truths into pithy one-liners.
I just started reading this last night (borrowed it from a friend who is a big fan of the Green Brothers). I had previously read his book "An Abundance of Katherines" – so far I am liking "Alaska" more.
I am still looking for my Great Perhaps. I don't love my career choice and some other things in my life. Have just hired a career counselor and am excited for a running club that I am joining. Here's to searching for what makes you happy and going with it. 🙂
I keep meaning to pick up John Green but then I never get around to it. I think that will be my resolution for 2012: read some John Green.
Okay so, I read your tumblr and your Twitter, but I had no idea you were going to throw in a surprise book after The Hobbit (as a series, I assumed you were not going to interrupt it because you have never done that before). Maybe I missed something, I don't know.
Also—six months or so? My first thought was immediately: "I–wait six months? What? Are there more chapters than I remember? That is a ton of chapters" And I went to count them and all of the books, if you don't count the appendices, are shorter than The Golden Compass. I think the highest amount of chapters is 22 or 23, I already forgot. As people have mentioned, the whole project would be shorter than His Dark Materials or even The Hunger Games. So I don't know if someone told you wrong information or if you vastly overestimated how long it would take but….well it should take only a little over three months with your usual format. Now, if The Silmarillion had been included, THEN I could see it taking almost six months. But then again I don't even think it would anyway.
Alright anyway—I do not have a kindle or some sort of e-reader, nor do I have the money to spare to buy a new book at the moment. However…I found a pdf file of Looking for Alaska and am reading from that, although it makes me feel dirty. I don't like reading published works free online (I tried to this with Jane Austen, and even though she is long dead I still felt weird so I bought the books). I want the authors who worked hard to write the novels to earn get that money. But I want to read along with what you're reading, even though I'm admittedly a bit disappointed it wasn't what I was expecting, and I had been very very excited for LotR. I need MarkDoesStuff in my life and I don't have the time to catch up with BSG right now from where I'm at in the third season (although I am still reading along with the reviews? WHY AM I SPOILING MYSELF I DON'T EVEN)
Alright so I like Looking for Alaska so far but I think I may have read too far ahead because you don't mention most of what I've just read and I don't want to say anything for fear of spoiling. So I'll say I've been watching the vlogbrothers videos in order and I'm loving them? And also I don't have The Prank in my not-exactly-through-legal-means access of Looking for Alaska…so I can't read that.
Just thought you should know, they are making Hunger Games action figures.
We will soon have a Peeta doll that comes with an apron,a Johanna figure that comes with velcro clothes and a 'Go fuck yourself" button, a Gale doll with weapons and a belt of dead rabbits, and best of all, a Haymitch doll that comes with a plastic flask and a button in his back that makes him say drunken slurs.
That is all.