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Friday, March 21, 2014

This Week's Random Read...An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green

I picked this one up from my new book display at work. I think - might be wrong - that it's the author's first novel, or at least an early one. He was working on The Fault In Our Stars when it was published.  I got it because one of our students had asked for more John Green. Actually, she wanted Will Grayson, Will Grayson, but our copy was out till May and I wasn't going to buy another copy when we had one which was coming back in the next few weeks. She said she had read this one and I said in that case, she's pretty much read all of the works of John Green to date, except Will Grayson, but I'd lend her my personal copy if she couldn't wait. She ended up buying her own copy. And no one yet to read this book, so I thought I might as well.

I'm up to page 69, not bad as I took it only yesterday and it's a book that needs the reader to focus. But the chapters are short, so you can put it down.

The novel is a road story, with the nerdy Colin Singleton and his best friend Hassan(actually, his only friend) travelling around after Colin's graduation(Hassan is a year older)with no special aim except for Colin to get over being dumped by his girlfriend Katherine, the nineteenth girl of that name to dump him. He only dates girls called Katherine. Colin is also unhappy because he is no longer a child prodigy and can't yet call himself a genius because he hasn't done anything world-shaking.

At this point in the book, they've arrived at Gutshot in Tennessee, seen the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and accepted a job with a local woman whose daughter is the tour guide.

Very strange book, sort of a cross between The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime and Libba Bray's Going Bovine. But I feel the need to continue reading, like scratching an itch.

I may even get around to reading The Fault In Our Stars

2 comments:

UrbanDragon said...

I gather that The Fault In Our Stars is popular at my 14 y o son's school. He passed on the recommendation after reading the eBook version & it does sound interesting, if sad.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Yes, my great niece Dezzy has read it and enjoyed it(if you can use the word "enjoy" of a sad book.) She's about the same age as your boy. She's started a craft of her own, makes Fimo pendants with book covers and that was one of the first. It's very popular in my library, about tie I read it.