The Fault in Our Stars (2012) - Book by John Green

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After hearing so much about this book I have finally managed to read it. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as everyone has been saying because, although I love the Vlogbrothers channel, I am not a fan of John Green's writing. I was very pleasantly surprised because not only was the book enjoyable but I was quickly drawn in and had a strong desire to keep reading even at 3am. In case you have only just acquired the internet, it is a story about a young girl, Hazel Grace, who is dying from cancer and her encounter with the metaphor loving Augustus Walters.

The story is very hard-hitting because it is about such a terrible topic and anyone would well-up during reading. Sadly I was not overly interesting in Augustus, I dislike pretension and he was quite self-admittedly a pretentious character. The moments that affected me the most were the points where the parents were speaking to Hazel and dealing with losing their daughter. These sections were written very well, possibly because John is a father, and made me feel very emotional. The reader can sympathise with all those affected by the cancer, those physically suffering and the others who are close to them.

The characters were good. Teenage girls written by men are normally awful but Hazel Grace was quite normal, believable and likeable. The adults were quite perfect and very parent-like, familiar to all who were reading. The friends, however, were slightly mixed. Isaac, a fellow cancer patient was funny and likeable whereas Kaitlyn, a school friend of Hazel's, is quite clichéd as an over-dramatic secondary friend.

After finishing the book didn't resonate with me the way it has seemed to with so many other people but it really isn't the genre that I enjoy. It was well written and enjoyable and I hope that the film does it justice. I'm glad that John Green has written a book that I enjoy because I feel like a better Nerd Fighter but I worry that the other Nerd Fighters promoting it so strongly has diminished my enjoyment of the book because nothing was a surprise.

Howl's Moving Castle (1986) - Book by Diana Wynne Jones

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The book that sparked the famous Studio Ghibli movie was one of my childhood reads and after I realised that I knew the film version better than the original I thought that I had better reread it. Despite the same title the book and the film are actually very different stories, both equally good for their respective mediums.

The magical realm is created wonderfully as new magical characters or items are introduced slowly through the narrative. The fact that one of the strongest characters in the book is a fire demon name Calcifer shows how Diana Wynne Jones can deftly combine the normal with the extraordinary.
Diana's story is slightly different, following more characters and resolving things differently.
Personally I felt as though there were too many characters and in the final chapter was quite confused with who all the different people were. I think the writers of the film must have either felt the same way or decided that too many characters would cause the story to extend beyond the traditions 1.5-2 hours for children films. Either way their decision to remove a few unnecessary characters aided the story.

Only having read the first book, although there are 3 more, left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction because it ends quite abruptly. The final chapter contains everything and it becomes very rushed and simply ends. Another chapter or a epilogue, though quite extravagant for a children's book, would be helpful just to ease the reader out of the world.

Although it is a very quick and easy read for most adults and despite the flaws that I can pick in the book it is still a very worthwhile read because of the magnificent story, writing and characters which work together to create an entertaining book deserved of such a great film.