The Fault in Our Stars

For the past five years, I've been gorging on novels for teens and preteens as well as my usual diet of adult fiction. Not a relapse, well, maybe a partial one, but an important one. In January, 2009, I attended a writers conference at my alma mater, SDSU, and immediately started to draft a novel for teens. By fall, I enrolled in the first of many UCSD writing courses. Now, five years later, I've read dozens of young adult (YA) books, completed writing a teen novel, and drafted two more novels along the way.

I launch Book Nook to share some of my favorite reads, from current authors of adult and YA fiction who give up days and years of their lives to create stories that entertain, inform, and challenge us. As a result, we are terrified, fantasized, seduced, maybe educated, and sometimes transformed.

The following is a favorite book I read last year that will be released as a movie this summer.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
http://johngreenbooks.com/the-fault-in-our-stars/

It was on Amazon's Best Books of the Month list in January, 2012, and the rest is history. Time Magazine and the New York Times Bestsellers List loved this story about two high school kids who attend a support group for teens with cancer and discover a connection that goes far beyond their diagnoses. If they weren't such spunky smart kids, with clever brains and undeniable bravery in the face of illness, this might not have worked so well. But Hazel and Augustus (great names) transcend everything around them to spin a cocoon of their own making, with books, fantasy, friendship, romance, and ultimately, love. She's the one who's depressed, "a grenade" with advanced cancer and a breathing tube. Try making something positive out of that. He's the knight in shining armor and remission, with a prosthesis for one leg. His persistence leads to the gold medal, Hazel's reluctant heart, thanks also to good looks, fast quips, and irresistible charm. The irreverent dialogue and narrative embolden the story and characters to light up our hearts. Hazel tells us: (my) "diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You're a woman. Now die." When the pair sits side by side in his bedroom, during her first visit to his home, she explains that her hands are cold because they're "underoxygenated." He responds: "I love it when you talk medical to me." So the story goes, with inevitable ruts and bumps that make it all too real. But these lovebirds reject their predicaments and fly from the nest for an impossible dream come true. If only it could last. The ups and downs of life-threatening disease, the constant shadow of death, and the sheer joy of living make John Green's tale a miraculous gift for readers of all ages.

The movie trailer: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/video-fault-stars-first-trailer-675298