Author Updates

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd make a quick post with some news about various authors we've featured in the past.

Ally Condie, author of Matched (original post) released the sequel to Matched, called Crossed in November of last year. Check it out on Amazon. This is part of a trilogy. The third book will be called Reached and will be available in November of this year. Check out her blog post about it here.

John Green, author of Looking For Alaska (original post) just released a book called The Fault In Our Stars. It's about a young girl with cancer who falls in love with a boy she meets at a support group. I've heard it is incredibly sad, but very good. Apparently film rights have already been bought for this book! Check it out on Amazon.

Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children (original post) will soon release a book called Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past, which is a non fiction book about found postcards. It's due to be released in April. Check it out on Amazon.

I'll try to do posts like this about once a week, maybe more, maybe less depending on the news. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think or tip me off on some new release!

"Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.": John Green

Looking For Alaska (Amazon) by John Green is a book about a boy who goes to boarding school, trying to find what he calls a Great Perhaps, and he ends up finding... well, quite a few things, including friends (something he had never had before). One of them is a girl named Alaska Young, who he proceeds to fall in love with.

The book is written in sections with titles like "one hundred days before" and "forty-six days after." Now, I just read the Amazon summary, and it spoils what the "before" and "after" is about. I don't want to spoil it, because I liked not really knowing (it is foreshadowed a bit) and guessing. However, I'm going to say this: I got to that part while reading at work and I got pretty close to tears. I assume that if I hadn't been at work it would have been a lot worse.

This book hit home in a lot of ways, and I wanted to send an emotional email to John Green. He does have contact information up, with the caveat that he won't respond, pretty much no exceptions. For some reason, seeing that made me feel uncomfortable. I'm sure it's just because he's busy (he's pretty famous, I suppose-I just had never heard of him before), and doesn't want people to get their hopes up for a reply, but I still feel mildly uncomfortable sending him this emotional message, knowing he won't reply. It seems silly, somehow, even though I don't necessarily expect a reply from anyone else. I decided to send him a quick note instead (he does say that he reads every email):

"I just finished Looking For Alaska (recommended by a friend), and I wanted to commend you on an excellent story. Even though I didn't very much like the character of Alaska (she reminds me of some people I know and don't particularly get along with), it didn't matter. The book hit an emotional nerve with me, and I wanted to let you know that you did a very good job (something I'm sure you already know!). Good luck with all of your future projects!"

EDIT: I just got a delivery failure reply email, using the email on his website. Oh well.

Sorry I didn't post for a few days! It was my birthday weekend and I was rather busy! I should be back to posting daily now though.