What Are You Reading the Week of 15 June 2013?

James Brian Jacques (pronounced "Jakes") (15 June 1939 – 5 February 2011) was an English writer best known for his Redwall series of novels and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.

He was born in Liverpool, England, on 15 June 1939. His parents were James Alfred Jacques, a Haulage Contractor, and Ellen Ryan. The Jacques family had Lancashire roots; there is no record of them having French ancestry, despite
their French sounding surname. When Brian found out that people with the Jacques surname were living in County Cork, Ireland, he wrongly assumed that his family roots were there. A large percentage of Liverpool people do have Irish ancestry so it was easy for him to make this mistake.

Brian grew up in Kirkdale near the Liverpool Docks. He was known by his middle name 'Brian' because his father and a brother were also named James. His father loved literature and read his boy adventure stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, but also The Wind in the Willows with its cast of animals.

Jacques showed early writing talent. At age 10, assigned to write an animal story, he wrote about a bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. His teacher could not believe that a 10-year-old wrote it, and caned the boy for refusing to admit copying the story. He had always loved to write, but only then did he realize the extent of his abilities.

He attended St. John's school until age 15, when he left school (as was usual at the time) and set out to find adventure as a merchant sailor. His book Redwall was written for his "special friends," the children of the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind, whom he first met while delivering milk. He began to spend time with the children, and eventually began to write stories for them. This accounts for the very descriptive style of his novels, which emphasize sound, smell, taste, gravity, balance, temperature, touch and kinesthetics, not just visual sensations. He became dissatisfied with the state of children's literature, with too much adolescent angst and not enough magic.

His work gained acclaim when Alan Durband, his former English teacher (who also taught Paul McCartney and George Harrison), showed it to his (Durband's) own publisher without telling Jacques. Durband told his publishers: "This is the finest children's tale I've ever read, and you'd be foolish not to publish it". Soon after, Jacques was summoned to London to meet with the publishers, who gave him a contract to write the next five books in the series.

Redwall was an 800-page handwritten manuscript. It is now common for children's books to have 350 pages, and the "Harry Potter" books far exceed that, but in those days 200 was regarded as the maximum that would hold a child's attention. It set the tone for the whole series, centered on the triumph of good over evil, with peaceful mice, badgers, voles, hares, moles and squirrels defeating rats, weasels, ferrets, snakes and stoats. He did not shy away from the reality of battle, and many of the "good" creatures die.

Redwall alludes to the surrounding human civilization, for example with a scene featuring a horse-drawn cart. But the subsequent books ignore our species completely, portraying an Iron Age society from the misty past building castles, bridges and ships to the scale of forest creatures, writing their own literature and drawing their own maps.

Jacques said that the characters in his stories are based on people he has encountered. He based Gonff, the self-proclaimed "Prince of Mousethieves," on himself when he was a young boy hanging around the docks of Liverpool. Mariel is based on his granddaughter. Constance the Badgermum is based on his maternal grandmother. Other characters are a combination of many of the people he has met in his travels.

Jacques remembered well the rationing during the war, when he fantasized about the dishes in his aunt's illustrated Victorian cookbook. Groaning boards spread with sumptuous feasts are common scenes in his stories, described in mouth-watering detail. The war also informed his depictions of gruesome battles.

Brian was known to prefer old-fashioned ways; he always preferred an old typewriter as being more reliable than a computer, he is known to be not fond of videogames and other modern tech, though he allowed an animated television series to be produced which he introduced himself each episode on PBS and answered children's questions after the cartoon ended. He never felt that he fit the image of a writer sitting in his garden, and told the New York Times in 2001, "I have a working-class ethic. I get up in the morning, and I still feel guilty about being a famous author." Nonetheless he was deeply touched by his success at reaching children. He was also pleased to be recognized by the people of Liverpool.

His novels have sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and have been published in twenty-eight languages.

Jacques also had musical interests. In the 1960s he formed a folk music band, the Liverpool Fishermen, with two of his brothers. He hosted a radio show called Jakestown on BBC Radio Merseyside from 1986 to 2006, featuring selections from his favorite operas.

In June 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Liverpool.

He lived with his wife in Liverpool. The couple had two sons, now adults, David and Marc, and grandchildren Hannah and Anthony. Marc is a carpenter and bricklayer. David is a contemporary artist.

Jacques was admitted to the Royal Liverpool Hospital to undergo emergency surgery for an aortic aneurysm. Despite the efforts to save him, he died from a heart attack on 5 February 2011.

Redwall series
Redwall (1986)
Mossflower (1988)
Mattimeo (1989)
Mariel of Redwall (1991)
Salamandastron (1992)
Martin the Warrior (1993)
The Bellmaker (1994)
Outcast of Redwall (1995)
The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
The Long Patrol (1997)
Marlfox (1998)
The Legend of Luke (1999)
Lord Brocktree (2000)
The Taggerung (2001)
Triss (2002)
Loamhedge (2003)
Rakkety Tam (2004)
High Rhulain (2005)
Eulalia! (2007)
Doomwyte (2008)
The Sable Quean (2010)
The Rogue Crew (2011) (posthumous)

Tribes of Redwall series
Tribes of Redwall Badgers (2001)
Tribes of Redwall Otters (2001)
Tribes of Redwall Mice (2003)

Miscellaneous Redwall books
The Great Redwall Feast (1996)
Redwall Map & Riddler (1997)
Redwall Friend & Foe (2000)
A Redwall Winter's Tale (2003)
The Redwall Cookbook (2005)

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001)
The Angel's Command (2003)
Voyage of Slaves (2006)

Urso Brunov series
Urso Brunov, Little Father of All Bears (2003)
Urso Brunov and the White Emperor (2008)

Other works
Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales (1991)
The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns (2004)

Great job again richardderus!

Yesterday I finished Ruby Red which was an excellent YA novel. I promised one of my cousins to read to the movie start back in march, but didn't get to it. So Now I saw it in the library took it away and finished it in 2 days. It started up really good, but annoyed me a bit with the delay of Gwen telling her mother about her abilities, but it got really really good in the end. It is also the start of a trilogy, so when I'm back home on Monday I'll go and get the whole lot of it.

Since I then ran out of reading material yesterday and my family-in-law don't own so many pleasure-reading books, I had to stop at a small bookshop and got The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. I#m not far into. It is definitely not so lightly written as Ruby Red, but is seems to be a good book, with humor but also some thoughts in it. So far, I'm missing the reasons/motivation of why the old man's doing what he's doing. See where it takes me. :)

Wish you all a nice reading week!

I'd never heard of Jacques before now. Where have I been? Do you have a favorite of his, Richard?

Awww, Redwall! I read a fair few of those books as a kid. They were fun.

This weekend I will try to finish The Bull from the Sea, by Mary Renault, and then maybe in honour of the talking animals of Redwall I will start The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame.

I am going to start the second book in the Fionavar Tapestry series called The Wandering Fire. It's been awhile since I read the first book so I hope I remember the story. I will also be listening to The Good Dream on audio.

My son read a couple of the Redwall books when he was younger. I had been hoping they'd hold his attention past a few books because he's not much of a reader, but no luck. :)

This week, I've started Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and I'm still working my way through A Storm of Swords.

Thanks for yet another great start to the week, Richard. I think this was my favorite bio yet. My son loved the Redwall series when he was young. I may have to give it a go, myself, soon!

I'm still reading The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays by Oscar Wilde. I'll be reading this one for a while. I loe it, but I just spent almost a week in the hospital, so I have to get my reading mojo back. I sure wish doctors could fix that, too!

Thoroughly enjoying listening to Flight Behavior and moving aling reading Miss MacIntosh, My Darling.

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(3) @NarratorLady, I'd seen Brian Jacques' books for sale in used bookstores, but did not try reading any until recommended by LTers here. I did read and enjoy Redwall, but have not read any other books in the series. This is my review:

Although it started slowly, the story of Matthias and the abbey Redwall became interesting and entertaining as I continued to read. Brian Jacques has created a charming world inhabited by the creatures of the field and wood.

My boys loved the Redwall series!

I'm about half way through A Clash of Kings. I'm currently stuck at a chapter on Daenerys. I hate her chapters. They are so dull.

A friend sent me Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons this week after he heard that I had never read anything by Iain Banks. This was probably payback for me sending him Killed at the Whim of a Hat, The Coroner's Lunch and The Devotion of Suspect X as a Christmas present.

I'm 80 pages into Michael Chabon's most recent novel, Telegraph Avenue, and very much enjoying it.

>12 fredbacon: Dany's chapters eventually get somewhat better, although maybe not until the next book. I don't know, I found about 90% of A Clash of Kings dull.

I've never read any of the Redwall books. I watched the cartoon in the early 90s with my kid. Seemed like fun stories, but I'm not much of a one for phauntaisee bookes. I always liked the Q&A thing Jacques did after the cartoon, since I always ended up learning something.

I finished Wigalois by Wirnt von Grafenberg a couple of days ago, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle today. Now, there's a nasty-looking thunder storm outside, and I don't want to venture out on my bike to the library. Hmmm... I may have to pull something off my shelf to read. Yipes! Anybody know which book comes after A Swiftly Tilting Planet? This library copy lists her books in alphabetical order. Useful! Oh, I suppose it says online somewhere... Every time someone tells me to look something up online I immediately get bored.

"Anybody know which book comes after A Swiftly Tilting Planet?"

Many Waters: http://www.librarything.com/series/The+Time+Quintet

@16 - Coffeehag - Many Waters is next after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, followed by An Acceptable Time #5 and the last in the series.

At the risk of boring you... www.fantasticfiction.co.uk is a great site for all things fiction and lists series books in order. Just look up the author in question. :)

Hello, rocketjk and Neverwithoutabook! Thanks! And it's much less tedious when I don't have to go searching for an informative website. ;-) It's nice to know there's a site that lists series in order (unlike the lists in some books). I started reading The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - something my sister brought home once. I have no idea what it's like. Many Waters will have to wait until I can get to the library, unfortunately.

I just finished Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time Being a city walker in a walkable city, I loved this book. Now as I walk, I can see the various impacts that he describes. The studies that he cites are fascinating. I only hope it becomes an inspirational guidebook for many cities helping to overcome the multitude of bad decisions made by narrow "experts.

Finished The Girls of Slender Means for my 1000 Novels. Of the seven categories that this list is divided into, I have to say the I struggle with "Comedy" the most. I did enjoy this book. Now reading The Golden Notebook. Best reading to you all.

Been at a conference the last week so not much time for reading. Still enjoying Being Esther.

I have just started The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi, it promises to be a fascinating read, the 140 pages!!!

>hazeljune - I read that a few years ago - disturbing, yet fascinating!

Last week I finished Carl Hiaasen's Stormy Weather - a wild and fun read.

I started, finally, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life and love it. Very different.

On audio, I'm enjoying Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandria Horowitz, a book I'd been trying to read for a couple of years now but couldn't get through. The audio format for this type of book is much better for me.

Still underway in Van Gogh: The Life and really enjoying it ... just life has been busy! I hope to get to the "French Years" before I get there (Friday!).

Reading Greylight and Life With Father.

@19 - Coffeehag - You're very welcome! I find the Fantastic Fiction website extremely helpful, especially when customers are looking for the next in a series. Best of luck!

I've posted my at-long-last quote-filled review of TransAtlantic, Colum McCann's latest novel, on my blog, as well as on the book's page.

It's very, very, very beautiful.

#19> You're welcome. Just remember that if you go to a book's main page here on LT, if it's part of a series, there will be a link to a series page, which will then give you the series order.

The Wasp Factory, I realised I'd never read any of Iain Bank's work. I feel ashamed.

It's too early to say JUST what I like about it, but I'm liking it all the same.

On audio I finished Claudius the God: And His Wife Messalina which was excellent and The Last Lecture which gives a detailed portrait of a very goal oriented man. I could use a little more of that. Now I'm listening to Life After Life and liking it very much.
On Nook I've had to put a hold on Skirt Steak because I've felt that I should spend all my reading time trying to finish by RL book club book for the meeting Friday, Birds of Prey. The problem is I hate the book, I find pirates about as interesting as zombies, which means not at all. Every time I sit down to read I fall asleep. Well, whichever way it goes, the torture will be over Friday and I can read books I actually like. The problem is that the woman who recommended the book to the group is such a good sport slogging through most of the books I recommend, which she usually doesn't like, that I feel I should return the favor.

I'm about halfway through Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream by Deepak and Sinjay Chopra. The Chopra brothers, both physicians, tell their story of coming to America to finish their training as doctors. It is an interesting story of cultural differences and assimilation.

I'm about 40% through The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis, first in a series set in Domitian's reign with Marcus Didius Falco's adopted daughter Flavia Albia as the sleuth. It got off to a slow start, and Albia isn't quite as brightly snarky as Falco, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

I finished The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays by Oscar Wilde, who is now my new literary obsession., and am now just starting Redgauntlet by Sir Walter Scott. (There are no more books by Wilde sitting on my shelf, alas.)

Redgauntlet is starting off well, though, so we'll see.

Richard I just started Transatlantic and am thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you for your review..excellent as always.

Just finished Flight Behavior. Really enjoyed it!

Now I am reading Digital mind jail by Gojim Oavin.
Ebook about 30th century where all people live in digital
environment and must to wear digital glasses, till one day
group of people struggle to find out about what is hidden behind digital veil and why...

I have just finished a the very special Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi.

I am now starting The Dinner by Herman Koch.

The Mystic Rose by Stephen R. Lawhead

I'm hoping the third installment will be better than the second!

Finished listening to Flight Behavior......Barbara Kingsolver at her best! BTW, she is one of those few authors who narrate their own audiobooks beautifully! Just started listening to Joyland by Stephen King.

I am happy to report that our library has all of the Redwall books. My younger cousins report that they are very good reading.

Thank you Richard. You have contributed to the growing number of book cases I have in my house. (It is so nice to have a scapegoat handy.) I visited the used book store and came away with copies of all three of the Chet and Bernie books. Without reading your review of them I would have happily walked right by them and not picked them up.

I finally finished On the Edge by Jenny Pitman. It wasn't terrible but I'm not going to recommend it to anyone either.

Now I'm reading my Early Reviewer, Ten Thousand Heavens by Chuck Rosenthal. I haven't had good experiences with books told from an animal's point of view lately but I am enjoying this one so far.

>35 momom248: Thank you, Maureen, and I hope the read is as good for you as I found it to be.

>41 benitastrnad: I live to serve. My evil laugh is broken just now due to allergy sore throat, but consider it laughed.

Somehow, I got interested in a book I started and abandoned a couple of months ago, The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks, so now I've abandoned Redgauntlet. Go figure, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished reading American Green: The Obsessive Quest For the Perfect Lawn and learned much from this lighthearted history of the American lawn. The tone might be lighthearted, easy, and very funny reading, but it does have 50 pages of footnotes and 15 pages of index, so it is also well documented. It covers everything from the history of turf grass to the history of turf grass companies, environmental issues associated with the lawn, and on to labor and immigration issues. People who like narrative history would like reading this book. I gave it 4 1/2 stars and put it on my best book of the year list.

I also finished Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan and this book will not make my best of the year list. In fact, I just barely managed to finish listening to it. It is basically soft porn for men. All violence and sex in that order with just enough action/thriller thrown in to keep me listening. There is a better book in there than what got published. Somebody needs to tell the author to cut the existential "what is the meaning of life" crap and write an action/thriller. There is nothing wrong with doing that.

#40..hemlokgang. Have you read Barbara's Prodigal Summer ? I think that this one is her best ever!!! This novel is the same setting as Flight Behavior.

Finished Life After Life last night and still thinking about it. Have lots of thoughts & questions.

I finished the sixth book in A Dance to the Music of Time, The Kindly Ones which puts me at the halfway point in the 12 volume series. I'm absolutely loving it.

Now I'm reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

Just finished Blasphemy : new and selected stories by Sherman Alexie. Loved it and love him.

Still working on 1,000,000% Men by Olafur Gunnarsson. Icelandic and hard to find. Written in 1978, but English translation not until 2008. Picked it up on Iceland trip a couple of years ago. Worth seeking out.

And the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf.

(41) @benitastrnad, there's a fourth book in the Chet and Bernie series... ;)

I'm currently reading (still, it's my 'bus' book) Life with Father and I've started Serpent's Reach, a CJ Cherryh I'd not yet read! Horrors!

Hello everyone! So, I finished reading Beachcombers: A Novel by Nancy Thayer on Saturday, June 15th! Wonderful author, great book! :) I immediately started reading The Eighth Day by Brooke Leimas on Saturday, June 15th and it really is a good book. :)

I got a huge amount of reading done over vacation! A re-read of Gone Girl, The Prophet by Michael Koryta, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Joyland by Stephen King, and Angels and Demons, which (surprisingly) was the first time I had ever read it.

I'm about to start OCD, the Dude, and Me, since I'm focusing on YA fiction at work, and I forgot that I have about 50 pages left in Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry, which will need to be finished soon so that I can return it!

#38 - hazeljune - Let me know what you think of The Dinner. I purchased it recently, but haven't gotten around to reading it. Most of the reviews I've read have been extremely positive, but I've heard a couple of negative ones, and I just want to know what other readers think.

#40 - hemlokgang: I really hope you enjoy Joyland! I thought it was a great mystery with lots of classic King-style writing.

I started reading The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession. Another in my attempt to understand why I have to mow the Big Green Monster. I also started listening to Garden Intrigue because I wanted something light and fun that is also witty and Lauren Willig fits that bill to a T. Besides, it was at the library and available, and I have had trouble getting that one in the past, so grabbed it while I could.

# I am not sure as yet about The Dinner , I have also noted that it has very mixed reviews.

I'm starting on a member giveaway of Tell Me by Lisa Jackson. Also dipping into Contagious Optimism which is best read in bits to be absorbed and digested properly. *Edited to add that I'm also reading Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu although that requires a lot of thought and consideration so best taken in bits as well. :)

#54: I read The Dinner recently. I enjoyed it and would recommend it, even though I didn't love it. It is definitely interesting.

Finished reading Life After Life a couple of nights ago and I'm still thinking about it. Can't start another book just yet.

Finished Joyland and once again Stephen King spun a unique tale! Will now listen to The Forgotten by David Baldacci.

I finished reading Sovereign by C. J. Sansom. I have started to enjoy these books and am getting immersed in the way middle class people lived in 16th century England. They are not so involved with politics, but are in a way that makes the reading enjoyable. The books bring just enough of the events during the reign of King Henry VIII to give the series context, but not so much as to be driven by the lives of the great men. This book is somewhat of an exception as Shardlake does meet the King and is drawn into a conspiracy that has its roots back in the Wars of the Roses. These are mainly character driven mysteries and I like that.

Currently reading No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel, which is very poetic and charming. Probably about halfway through, and I'm sure I will love it by the end.
I'm also listening to American Pastoral on audiobook. It's my first experience with Philip Roth, and I'm not too far, so I don't have much of an opinion yet. I'll be in the car for about 5 hours this weekend, so I should get some good "reading" time in!

I finished Solace by Belinda McKeon, a very fine debut novel. I look forward to the next book by this author.

I'm now reading Joseph Mitchell's McSorley's Wonderful Saloon.

I'm done with 13 reasons why and I'm about to start Paper Towns by John Green. I'm really looking forward to reading it. Did any of you guys read it?

#61
John Green is a favorite with this group. Especially popular is Fault in Our Stars.

#60 I loved McSorley's Wonderful Saloon -enjoy!

>54 hazeljune: hazeljune: I thought The Dinner showed humanity at it's absolute worst. I suppose there are people as morally bankrupt as this bunch but I'm glad I've never run into them.

#62 yeah I've already read The Fault In Our stars but to be honest I thought it would be better than this! I read Looking For Alaska by John Green also and it was absolutely amazing that I'm thinking about re-reading it,but the ending of the fault in our stars was expected -that's my opinion- Did you read it anyway?

#65: I had the exact opposite reaction as you; I was disappointed in Looking for Alaska after having read The Fault in our Stars. I just loved the latter so much.

Last night I started May We Be Forgiven. Only about 30 pgs in, but interesting so far.

#66 I just feel that The Fault in our Stars was so expected,I liked it but not as much as I like looking for Alaska! I was eager to know what's going to happen next and things like that. Anyway,I didn't read May We Be Forgiven,is it good? I'll start Paper Towns today.

I'm rereading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I first read this many, many years ago as a teenager and wanted to read it again from an older perspective.

Just started my early release book The Book of Secrets A Novel. :) Liking it so far! :)

>60 mollygrace: Ooooo! One of my life-list favorites, along with Up in the Old Hotel. I so hope it gives you the wonderful reading pleasure it gave me.

I've read three unmemorable books to review for different blogs. Not bad, not even boring, just...~meh~

So, I finished reading The Eighth Day by Brooke Leimas on Tuesday, June 18th! I don't know if the horror would be considered dated by today's standards - the book was written in 1983 - but I certainly considered the plot to be unusual and gripping! :) On the same day as I finished reading The Eighth Day, I immediately began reading The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve, which so far, is a totally engrossing book! :)

I've started THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY alternative history series and gave a whopping 4 stars for HITLER'S WAR even though more praise for Turtledove is superfluous. World War II has been refought and replayed a zillion times, like the American Civil War; but there's a reason that people stay fascinated by it.

So what, so the war might have started in 1938 not 1939, what's the difference? Might have been a lot....

I just finished The New Mind of the South by Tracy Thompson. The author is a born-and-bred Georgian who now lives outside the South, and I'm a born-and-bred Alabaman living in Seattle, so I felt easily connected to all she had to say about how the South has changed in the years since she (and I) moved away.

And I just started A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and am enchanted so far.

73susanna.fraser
Loved A Natural History of Dragons - who could resist that cover? :)

This last week I read through the Ruby Trilogy. I really liked the first book (Ruby Red), I cannot seem to remember what happened in the second (Sapphire Blue). I do remember, it was a fine read and a good YA-story, but somehow it didn't get in with the story. The third one (Emerald Green) was... difficult. It was easy enough to read. But it was too long in the first half and than the end was too rushed and short for my expectations. The authors had such long episodes where nothing really would happen and than she rushes through the ending. It was unsatisfactory, but I liked the story and it's characters and I would recommend it as an YA-book. Although the main character sometimes really is dumb...

ETA: I started The Far Pavillons.

Hello again, everyone! So, I finished reading The Last Time They Met: A Novel by Anita Shreve on Thursday, June 20th! Such a good book - slightly slow to get into, but certainly worth the time! :) I immediately started reading Guilt by Association by Susan R. Sloan on Thursday night - excellent book so far at 80 pages in! :)

I've finished The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks,, and found it both fascinating and instructive.

Now I'm on to make a second attempt at Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, which seems to be going quite well, this time around.

#61 - I read Paper Towns and was extremely pleased with it! It was quirky, intelligent, and laugh-out-loud funny. The only drawback was that it sometimes felt like the book was straining a little too hard to be poignant and literary, particularly at the very end. But I really liked it, and I'm planning on reading more John Green in the very near future. My sister in particular is a huge fan, and she's not big on reading in the first place.

#79 Paper Towns was the first book by John Green that you've read? Go and buy Looking for Alaska right now as it's absolutely amazing. I'll tell you what I think of Paper Towns later as I've only read 18 pages.

#80 - My sister loved Looking for Alaska as well! She keeps badgering me to read A Fault in Our Stars, but I've heard it's a tearjerker, so I'm holding off on that one. I cry at the drop of a hat.

#81 Hahaah well I've also read The Fault in our Stars but unfortunately I didn't like it that much. The ending was expected anyway. As for Looking for Alaska,it really deserves to be read,I'm rereading it actually!