{read: YA bestseller} The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I stayed up too late last night to finish The Fault in Our Stars because I couldn't put it down. Yes, the plot was in some cases predictable, but the voices and personalities of 16-year-old Hazel Grace and her boyfriend, Augustus, are so honest, raw, and true that I couldn't pull myself away.

Hazel and Augustus meet in a support group for Cancer Kids. After a bout with osteosarcoma that cost him his leg, Augustus is NEC (no evidence of cancer), but Hazel's cancer (thyroid with mets in her lungs) isn't curable even though a new drug has so far stopped the growth of new tumors. Despite Hazel's misgivings about leaving more people to grieve when she dies, she and Augustus find common ground by sharing their favorite books and end up on a quest to Amsterdam that doesn't go quite as planned.

This is a book about the harsh realities of life, the joy that can be found nevertheless, and the courage it takes to be human. Sad, yes, but also funny and uplifting.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton, 2012)
My rating: 5 stars

{read: YA bestseller} The Hunger Games

I picked this book up after hearing rave reviews from several friends, even though I'm not usually a sci-fi fan. The straightforward narration made it a quick and easy read, good for NaNo. I couldn't always predict what was going to happen next, and I liked the futuristic hybrid mutations, like the tracker jackers and the mockingjays. I did see Katniss's crisis at the end of the book coming from almost the beginning, though, and am hoping the series doesn't revert into predictability. Although I knew she was going to live through the Hunger Games to make it to books 2 and 3, it was sort of like watching Mission Impossible: the enjoyment is in seeing how the characters get out of impossible situations. The editing wasn't that great and I wish more attention had been paid to punctuation, but I'll definitely finish this trilogy.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008)
My rating: 3 stars