An Abundance of Katherines

This is the second Young Adult novel I've read by John Green, the first being The Fault in our Stars. It's completely different but just as enjoyable (in a different way). Green is probably the best of his generation at capturing young adult idiosyncrasies (sort of like John Hughes was with his movies), and he writes characters that are interesting while not being sort of traditionally attractive.

Colin Singleton is a nerdy prodigy who, upon graduating from high school in Chicago, is dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine. Yes, always Katherine, always spelled that way. His friend Hassan decides that the only thing to pull Colin out of his funk is a road trip, so they hit the road with no particular destination in mind. When they see a sign advertising the tomb of Franz Ferdinand -- in Gutshot, Tennessee of all places -- the boys have to check it out. They wind up making friends with Lindsey, who's mother owns the textile factory in town, and get offered jobs and a place to stay.

The writing is witty, the characters are interesting, and the story is really well told. My only real problem with it is I felt that it ended very abruptly. I would have liked to have had a few more things worked out before the end. But it was a really great read.

An Abundance of Katherines

Drums of Autumn

Okay, so this is the fourth book in the Outlander series, and it is awesome! Claire is hanging out with Jamie in pre-Revolutionary War North Carolina, while daughter Brianna is living in the present day (of late 1960's) Boston, attending college and falling in love with Roger McKenzie Wakefield. But then Brianna learns something that makes her decide to go back in time to see her parents... and off to Scotland she goes, to go through the stone circle.

Okay, you really need to start with Outlander and read the books in order, otherwise you're going to be pretty lost, because author Diana Gabaldon refers to events that took place in previous books. And they are all really long books, like 1,000 pages almost. But so worth it! The research she has done is just incredible, and she tells her story with humor and passion. These books are true page-turners, almost impossible to put down. And you find yourself chomping at the bit for the next one (which I started this morning - thanks to my mother-in-law for the birthday present!).

They've made a cable TV series based on the books, it's on Starz. I've watched the first few episodes and it's pretty good (of course they haven't even gotten half way through the first book yet). But the books are still way better.

Drums of Autumn