The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

From Goodreads, 

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Goodreads - The Fault in Our Stars

Awards and Nominations:

• Buxtehuder Bulle (2012)
• The Inky Awards for Silver Inky (2012)
• Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction (2012)
• The Inky Awards Shortlist for Silver Inky (2012)
• Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas for Mejor novela extranjera independiante (2012)
• Odyssey Award (2013)
• Georgia Peach Book Award (2013)
• Audie Award for Teens (2013)
• West Australian Young Readers' Book Award (WAYRBA) for Older Readers (2013)
• Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award for Young Adults (2013)
• Milwaukee County Teen Book Award (2013)
• Indies Choice Book Award for Young Adult (2013)
• Deutscher Jugendileraturpreis for Preis der Jugendjury (2013)
• Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (2013)
• Dioraphte Jongerenliteratuurprijs for vertaald boek en publieksprijs (2013)
• Alabama Author Award for Young Adult (2013)
• FAB Award Nominee (2014)
• Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2014)
• Soaring Eagle Book Award (2014)
• Lincoln Award (2014)
• Green Mountain Book Award (2014)
• Luisterboek Award (2015)
• Evergreen Teen Book Award (2015)
• California Young Readers Medal for Young Adult (2015)
• Louisiana Teen Readers' Choice (2015)
• Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2015)
• Oklahoma Sequoyah Award for High School (2015)
• Goodreads Nominee for Best of the Best (2018)

I remember the first time I read this book.  I tore through it in less than 24 hours.  I also remember stopping at a very specific point in the book and crying because I knew what was going to happen.  I saw everything that was happening and emotionally broke down.  This was the second time I've read this book.  And while a lot of emotion was still there, and I read it very quickly, I didn't cry.  Upon finishing the book I also rewatched the movie. 

Hazel is just your average teenager, except she has stage IV cancer.  Her lungs don't work like they should, but her parents want her to have a normal life and practically force her to go to support group.  She begrudgingly goes and meets a boy named Augustus Waters.  Augustus, a survivor, lost his leg due to his battle with cancer.  Hazel and Augustus soon become inseparable and bond over Hazel's love of a book that ends in the middle of a sentence.  Augustus decides to use his wish to fly them both to Amsterdam to meet the author and get their questions answered.  On this trip, one of them learns that the other is extremely sick.  

I absolutely loved rereading this book and I am now questioning why I've never put it in my top 5 books.  I'm a huge fan of illness books.  Should that be cancer, a rare disease, or mental illness, I'm a fan of it.  I loved that Hazel talked about all the medical of it, but spoke as a kid explaining it not as a doctor.  I feel like so many illness books talk in medical jargon that takes some exploring and researching to determine what it means.  Hazel told the story from her point of view and she really "dumbed it down" for us.  I also feel like there was so much emotion in Hazel and she had a wonderful character arc from being a pent up frustrated teenager to having fallen in love with Augustus.  His character was a constant throughout the book and he never really wavered from that.  There was one moment where he broke down emotionally, but other than that he kept the same humor and life throughout the book.  I just love that both of these characters were able to find each other and fall in love despite all that they were facing.  

While I had no complaints about the book itself, I did have a complaint about the movie.  We all know that Hazel is on oxygen and struggles to breathe at times.  When she goes up or down stairs her lungs have to work harder to keep up.  In the movie, there is a scene where she wakes up in the middle of the night unable to breathe and screaming for her parents.  Out her door we see a light come on as her parents run down a set of stairs and up a set of stairs to reach her.  Why do they live in a house with so many stairs if she struggles to breathe while climbing them!?  I feel like that is the worst thing you could do to someone on oxygen.  I understand if their fictional family had fictional memories, but they seriously needed a one-story house instead of one with a labyrinth of stairs.  

I have to officially say that this book goes into my top 5.  It is a fast read for me because it is so good, even though I know what is going to happen.  It has a wonderful story and they fall in love which makes everything more "magical".  I give this 5 stars.  I definitely recommend reading the book before watching the movie.  

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

From Goodreads,

"Will Grayson meets Will Grayson. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers are about to cross paths. From that moment on, their world will collide and lives intertwine.

It's not that far from Evanston to Naperville, but Chicago suburbanites Will Grayson and Will Grayson might as well live on different planets. When fate delivers them both to the same surprising crossroads, the Will Graysons find their lives overlapping and hurtling in new and unexpected directions. With a push from friends new and old - including the massive, and massively fabulous, Tiny Cooper, offensive lineman and musical theater auteur extraordinaire - Will and Will begin building toward respective romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history's most awesome high school musical."

Goodreads - Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Awards:

• Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel (2010)
• The Inky Awards Nominee for Silver Inky (2010)
• The Inky Awards Shortlist for Silver Inky (2010)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2010)
• Odyssey Award Nominee (2011)
• Milwaukee County Teen Book Award (2011)
• Stonewall Book Award Nominee for Children's and Young Adult Literature (2011)
• Children's Choice Book Award for Teen Choice Book of the Year (2011)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2013)

A few years ago I read the wonderful book The Fault in our Stars by John Green.  I kind of fell in love like everyone else did.  Suddenly it was like John Green was on the forefront of young adult books when a sudden flood of his work hit shelves.  I quickly devoured Paper Towns and John Green quickly moved his way up my favorite authors list.  So while scouring Scholastic for books I found this book by John Green and purchased it.  However, once I sat down to read the book I realized that the name David Levithan was familiar too.  That's when I realized that he wrote Boy Meets Boy.  My excitement for this book went down a little because I absolutely hated the writing style in the book Boy Meets Boy.  Nonetheless I started reading the book in hopes I could find a middle ground in this book written by one author I enjoyed and by one I didn't.  

This book is told by two boys, both named Will Grayson.  One Will Grayson lives a life in the shadow of his best friend Tiny, while the other Will Grayson is struggling with depression and trying to keep his sexuality a secret.  Their stories alternate chapters until they cross paths for a brief moment in time.  This brief moment that will intertwine their friends and stories in ways they never imagined.

Favorite Quote from Will Grayson, Will Grayson:

"I think about how much depends upon a best friend.  When you wake up in the morning you swing your legs out of bed and you put your feet on the ground and you stand up.  You don't scoot to the edge of the bed and look down to make sure the floor is there.  The floor is always there.  Until it's not."

One of my favorite things about this book was the whole theme of friendship, and I honestly think that is why I loved the quote above so much.  Both Will Graysons in this book had to endure some kind of hardship with their friends.  For one Will Grayson he was constantly living in the shadow of his gay best friend Tiny.  He actually didn't classify him as his best friend because they just happened to be friends who were stuck together.  But things changed and he lost his best friend Tiny.  He then had the quote I mentioned above about how friend are always there.  And then there was the other Will Grayson who was burned by one of his friends when she pretended to be someone else online.  Over time he realized that he needed to somewhat mend things with her and move on from that part in life.  But the events that happened led him to a new friend and a new relationship.  Either way the message of the importance of friends was huge in this book.  I think that many of us take our friends for granted.  My best friend lives eight hours away from me in Austin.  We have had our fair share of fights over the phone.  And almost immediately I feel horrible for whatever has happened because I know that I took advantage of our friendship.  I do know that no matter the distance or events happening in life, that she will always have my back.  I know this is true because she called me from Europe when my dog passed away.  She talked with me for an extended period of time to make sure I was okay and had calmed down from the hyperventilating crying state she had first found me in.  Friends are everything in life.  You can have lots of them surrounding you, but you have to have one that you call a best friend.  Find him or her and never let them go.

While I loved the ties of friendship in this book, I really didn't like the way the book was written in an alternating format.  The even chapters were told by one Will Grayson and the odd chapters were told in lowercase by the depressed Will Grayson.  This made it easy to distinguish who was telling which part of the story.  John Green wrote from the perspective of the Will Grayson who was friends with Tiny, while David Levithan wrote from the lowercase perspective of Will Grayson.  I really hated having to bounce between two writing styles.  Thus far I have enjoyed works written by John Green, but I haven't enjoyed work by David Levithan.  I find his work dull and boring and it was no different in his chapters in this book.  I just didn't like jumping between the two opposite writing styles.  I felt like I was on a roller coaster that was a constant up and down.  I honestly could have read just John Green's chapters of this book and been completely satisfied.

All in all I enjoyed the friendship theme in this book, but really disliked how it was written.  I have come to accept I am not a fan of David Levithan's work.  I can't love all authors and their work.  I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  This is definitely a young adult book and will be enjoyed by fans of John Green or David Levithan.