Slow Day

[Emily]

Pretty slow day on the forum today. And being the Facebook addict I am, I check ever ten minutes and find nothing ^^;

So looking to have a conversation on anything that doesn't involve the weather or fetishy business!

can we talk about fandoms I love fandoms

[EmeraldThread]

I, too, love fandoms! The only fandoms that I really follow are anime-related, though, I wonder if that's okay? Anyway...well, actually, currently I haven't read much manga or watched much anime, but I HAVE been reading a lot of John Green books! I keep wondering if there are any other nerdfighters on the forum, and I keep thinking of posting a topic for it and then I think "Oh no, but every time I ask people in real life if they know him, they're like NO so maybe not..." So...by any chance have you heard of John Green? ^^'

[Emily]

I'm sorry to say that I'm REAAALLY not well-read LOL I'd be happy to get myself acquainted with this John Green though. Do you have any recommendations?

[EmeraldThread]

Yes, I recommend every single thing he's ever written. But I'll give you a list of them and which ones I've read and liked best (btw, I should mention he writes young adult fiction):

Looking for Alaska (read) - This was John's first published novel. It's about this kid who goes to a boarding school in Alabama (heavily based on John's own high school, and the novel is in some ways autobiographical) and in the beginning he seems kind of like a wimpy nerd. But it's pretty much about the things he does, trouble he gets into after making some friends, even though he still retains his nerdy ways. Personally, I really liked his hobby/interest of knowing people's last words, and the novel in its entirety is just really insightful. This, aside from his most recent, is probably his most well known novel.

An Abundance of Katherines (read) - This guy's girlfriend dumps him, so he and his friend end up taking a road trip and end up, I think it was in Tennessee working for this woman who owns a factory. Oh, but I should probably mention that the title is in reference to the girls the main character has dated - there are nineteen of them and they're all named Katherine, spelled exactly like that. At one point he says that since he was a child prodigy, he has a literary fetish for the name Katherine. Of all of John's books, even though I love every single one of them, I liked this one the least. It's great, but not as great as the others.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (read) - John wrote this one in collaboration with David Levithan (who, if you've ever read or seen Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, wrote the part of Nick), and it's about two guys who meet in Chicago, both of whom are named Will Grayson. They're vastly different, but following their lives separately, they're also pretty similar, and it's really like reading two loosely connected stories until the end. I just finished it the other day and it's excellent. I actually ended up reading 2/3 of it in a night and finishing it at 2:18 in the morning on Monday since we didn't have school from the hurricane. Totally worth it.

Paper Towns (haven't read) - Since I haven't read this one, I'm just gonna find you a short summary elsewhere that's probably a hundred times better than what I've given you for any of the other books thus far. ^^; "Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew." (taken from www.us.penguingroup.com)

The Fault in Our Stars (read) - This is John's most recent novel, published earlier this year, and it's the story of a girl named Hazel who has had terminal cancer for three years. She goes to a support group and meets this guy there named Augustus Waters, who she ends up really liking, and they end up sharing a common interest (or one among many) - meeting Peter Van Houten, fictional author of "An Imperial Affliction." Honestly nothing I write can do this book justice. It's the first and only one that's ever made me cry, and I absolutely love it. It might be my favorite. I would say it is. Yes. So read it.

I should also mention that John is one of the vlogbrothers on youtube with his younger brother Hank, and their videos are hilarious and insightful and wonderful, and I suggest that even if you don't have time to read John's books right now, or just don't want to, you should definitely just go search vlogbrothers and watch some of those videos.

[Emily]

Okay now I feel bad that I didn't come back to check. You've written like a novel here LOL

I'll take your word that these are good and find some of these at the library so we'll have more things to write super long PMs about XD thanks for the recommendations!

[EmeraldThread]

Haha, no worries, I write novels whenever I reply about something I'm interested in.

Yes! Everyone I've recommended these to so far has loved them (my friend went so far as to pretty much buy all the books at once and read them all in quick succession). Any time, glad to be of help, and I hope you like them!

[stephab13]

HOMG Actual books.

One: You guys are precious.

Two: I'm jealous. Particularly of John Green because I've been hunting him down FOREVER. ... Think I'm just going to have to Amazon the CRAP out of him.

You know what makes me sad, though? The fact that I have to turn to THE INTERNET to buy A BOOK. Like, seriously? What is society coming to these days? You know they're talking about having kids do exams on computers only?

That makes me sad. Writing is a very important skill to have! And it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to replace a pen than a laptop...

*rant rant rant rant rant*

... Fandoms are always fun to discuss though

[stephab13]

I'm also very tempted to slip in a "kids these days", despite the fact that I'm really not that old...

... And, refusing to hashtag that on moral grounds.

#Iamahypocrite

[tma]

You know what makes me sad, though? The fact that I have to turn to THE INTERNET to buy A BOOK. Like, seriously?

Yes!!! While I love having a public library- I miss having a bookstore in our local mall (evidently setting up to have bowling, mini-golf, roller coaster, bumper cars, and a good amount of higher end restaurants is Way more important than keeping in a bookstore. :P). Other than word of mouth- the way that I discover so many books is wondering around the library or a bookstore. I refuse to believe that "amazon picks" or whatever else will always find me what I'm interested in. Sometimes it takes seeing a front cover, or a title and saying, "Hmmmm", then looking at the back and inside cover and saying, "Oh... that *does* sound interesting"

Ok... am blathering.

#C#orBb (little music joke )

[Emily]

ah first, tma your music joke haha!

and stephab, I talk about "kids these days" all the day, and I'm not even legal! (although I still don't understand hashtags #cannotkeepupwithfadsthesedays) :'D looks like Mr. Green will have to wait...I've got a lovely history book that's about half a thousand pages long waiting for me to read it and write a WONDERFUL essay on it.

Sitting in a book store and reading all day is one of the simpler joys in life :3 one that I haven't had the time to appreciate lately...

[MissMercy]

Anyone else into The Dark Tower series by Stephan King? It's a total favorite of mine. I also love the Kushiline series by Jacquline Cary (Kushiel's Dart is the first books) and The Black Jewels by Ann Bishop.

I have this thing for fantasy with a darker twist :3

[EmeraldThread]

I hadn't even realized there were other people here talking about things I like talking about, so I'm just going to casually rejoin the conversation.

You know what makes me sad, though? The fact that I have to turn to THE INTERNET to buy A BOOK.

I miss having a bookstore in our local mall

Yes to both of these. I much prefer shopping in a physical place, and not online, largely because I like to see and touch and know exactly what I'm buying as opposed to ordering it and hoping it doesn't arrive in some unexpected condition. At least if I get home with the front cover of a book bent, I know I probably stuck it in the car carelessly (if that happened, that is).

I SO very much miss having a bookstore within, like 25 miles of my house. Sure, there are used bookstores, which, don't get me wrong, are invaluable. But since Borders went out, the closest B&N stores are in towns or cities I've never been to. What bothers me is that they replaced the giant Borders that used to be closest to me with a liquor store. I get that it's just a whoever-rents-the-space-gets-it kinda thing, but I'm still not pleased about it. >:[

looks like Mr. Green will have to wait...I've got a lovely history book that's about half a thousand pages long waiting for me to read it and write a WONDERFUL essay on it.

Also, replace essay with much more wonderful essay on John Green. Everyone involved will appreciate it. :3 Except maybe not, it would just be a cool thing to do, minus that part where you fail the assignment...on paper...because you'll win in wonderfulness points.

[Emily]

Yay, topic resurrection! I was looking at this and thinking what it was and why it had my name on it and then I clicked and it and I was like HOHO. I hit the library and borrowed a few titles :> I think I'll be starting with Looking for Alaska. 8D Just cause it sounds cool.

Personally, I like small bookstores just because I don't know what to do with myself in places as large as B&N cause I just wanna read everything!

[stephab13]

For the poor Australian... Is B&N an acronym?

We used to have Borders, which shut down. And Angus and Robertson, which was smaller and, as we found out with Borders, the same company, so that doesn't exist either... So we do have a couple of chains, and I'm lucky in the area I live, where we do have a couple of stores around..

Big bookshops are pretty cool... OH B&N IS BARNES AND NOBLE yes yes I went into a few of these in the states. New York was wonderful because I had to kill 45 min so I went into one and had coffee and it was like OMG COFFEE AND BOOKS I'M IN NEW YORK and your books are all so BLOODY CHEAP. It's ridiculous. I mean, paperbacks here you're lucky to get for $25 nowadays. I bought over there a leather-bound, UNDATED Twelfth Night over there for the same price and the shopkeeper giggled hysterically at me as I stared.

But I do like small, second-hand stores... The vanillin of the old books... *shivers* And then there's just the fact that so many people have come across these books before, and they've all been so loved, like whenever you pick it up, it's not just a story - it's an amalgamation of the history of everyone whose fingers have ever brushed the pages...

:-)

[Emily]

To the wonderful Aussie: eeyup, for Barnes and Noble

OH OH OH NEW YORK 8'D /personal attachment. I feel like every Barnes and Noble has a Starbucks in it and the people who frequent B&N are all like...coffee hogs. They like their coffee and they like their laptops. Whoooa inflation down in Australia dude! I wish I thought of second-books as poetically as you do. Except I'm one of those people that loves the feeling of holding a new book and being able to smell its newness and caressing the beautiful cover before my brother takes it and chews it up or something. I'm very stingy about lending my books to people.

Speaking of books, @ElementsofGray, I've checked out Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns and I'[m reading them this week! :>

[EmeraldThread]

I think I'll be starting with Looking for Alaska.

Great book. Seriously great. It's a good choice to start with.

stephab, I don't know if I could ever afford books where you live. That's really not cool that they're so expensive because books are awesome! I guess it gives you an even bigger appreciation for used book stores. I love them anyway because you find so many unexpected things there for wicked cheap (oftentimes not in all that bad condition either), but like Emily said, I also love the feeling of a new book. Then again, just having books to read is what matters, whether you buy or borrow or...however else people gain access to books.

Someone I talk to on another site actually told me of this thing they did in her area of...Spain? Maybe England, I forget where she was at the time, but anyway! People had left books around town in random places for some special book occasion where you were supposed to place a book somewhere in town for another person to find and pick up. I thought it was such a cool idea, I'd love to do something like that in the spring or summer (when the weather's actually nice xD).

[stephab13]

If any of you guys are on Tumblr, I'll reblog the picture again... Melbourne Central - a big 'shopping centre' type thing in the city - has a used-book-library which sounds similar... It operates on an honesty policy. So anyone can pick up any book and borrow it - they just ask that you either return it, or leave a book in its place. It's a very cool idea, and you can spend an age just browsing there.

But, it is hard living here... I never buy books (not that I ever have time to read...) (though I did just buy myself 4 John Green books - only cost me about $70, which had me OVER THE MOON, especially with free shipping!). If there's something I desperately want, I'll wait until I go back to the states and stock up then. Same with DVDs and a lot of clothes (which is awesome because of the opposing seasons so the clothes I need are always on sale ) Oh, and did I mention that songs on iTunes cost $2.19 over here? Ridiculous.

I do like new books. It is also very cool to just crack open something and PROTECT THE SPINE WITH YOUR LIFE and just truly own them... But I'm more an old book person. Though, I like loved possessions. And nothing compares with old book smell.

Plus, I have some pretty awesome things. Like med textbooks from the 1900's :-) You can't buy those at a B&N!

[EmeraldThread]

I don't have Tumblr, but that sounds so cool. I wish there were a place (that I knew of) around here! I mean, I've seen book swap/borrow kinds of things around at my school and stuff, but a whole place like that is wicked cool!

WOW. That IS ridiculous, I had no idea things over there are so expensive. Makes sense, stocking up like that. It's a good idea. John Green books are always worth reading, so I'm glad you were able to get them! Have you gotten the chance to start any yet?

That's true. Old book smell is something special, I can't deny that. There's just something about it you really can't get from any book unless it's got some age. I've got this old book - no idea where it came from or how we got it - of Poe's short stories and it smells so good! People think I'm really weird because one of the first things I do when I pick up a book is smell it. Those med textbooks sound really cool, though. My grandmother still has all of her books from when she was in college, and I really hope I can have a look at them sometime. I've seen them sitting around and I don't know what it is, but even looking at old books, knowing they exist in my presence is exciting. xD

[Emily]

Elements, I'm halfway through with it and I don't know if I love it or not but I can't put it down and it's so impelling and and I must continue reading it or adfuaiofduaio. I have learned recently, as I carried the book around with me, that he is rather well-known :'D I could feel people judging me when I walked around with my nose stuck in it all day, navigating the halls and escalators and stairs and ten floors of my school. But I must say it's pleasant to not be able to get out of a book because I haven't felt that way in a really long time.

Good god, $70 for four paperbacks?! That's some outrageous pricing and it would forever have restricted me to the library The borrowing thing sounds interesting though - I'd really like to visit a place like that! :> There's probably places like that where I live but I never get the chance to go out and explore. xD Also, paperback spines. I'm too cheap to buy the hardcovers so I always wait for paperbacks to come out. For hte past few years, I've been reading my paperbacks really carefully, not even sticking a bookmark between pages so I don't make some weird indent It's a bit extreme, but I love my books and it makes me feel bad to see the condition some of my HP collection is in. T ___ T So many years of packing and unpacking and moving and shelving.

[EmeraldThread]

I'm halfway through with it and I don't know if I love it or not but I can't put it down and it's so impelling and and I must continue reading it or adfuaiofduaio.

Get used to it. xD This is how you're going to feel with every single John Green book. In the end I decide I love them because they're so darn good, first of all, and because they get my attention so quickly, so completely that I just...I can't not love them. Be prepared for TFiOS. That's all I can say. It's the first and only book in my entire life that's ever made me cry.

Also. YOUR SCHOOL HAS ESCALATORS?! That sounds so fancy even though it's probably really not, but I've never seen an escalator in a school before! At the risk of sounding like a creep, I want to take a field trip to wherever you are and just hang out on school escalators and feel cool about it. Also, ten floors! That's...roughly three times as many as any school I've ever been in. xD Kind of scary, it's so huge.

[Emily]

I finished it and then I was like "Wait, is this it? THIS IS THE END WHAT" I think that's my final verdict too though, he's awesome. I couldn't find any other John Green books at the library by my school, so I guess 'll have to look a little further. T - T I haven't read a tear-jerking book in ages. The last one might have been Empress Orchid by Anchee Min and that was a good two or three years ago.

I was impressed too when I first started high school. And then I learned that they don't work 80% of the time, and the 2-4 escalator is permanently being fixed. The electricians probably make a million working on that one down escalator alone. Also, coming to school face to face with a broken up escalator is pretty much the start of a crappy day. I just realized how spoiled I sounded LOL I welcome thee into my grounds! Although the security guards might not. I think they live to confiscate our freedom and kick us off floors. Out of the ten floors, we're only allowed to occupy three of them during free periods. Sometimes I want to ask them what the hell the benches are for if not for sitting ==; It's a pain to be sitting around on the first floor when the next class is on the 10th. ; A ; That reminds me of last year when I had chemistry on the 9th floor after swimming on the first. *shudder*

[EmeraldThread]

If you want a tearjerking book, read The Fault in Our Stars next. I dunno if I mentioned it before, but it's the first and only book that's ever made me cry. I read it in a couple days around school and it was fantastic. The rare novel that I'd put off all my school work and other priorities to finish as fast as humanly possible. Gather ALL the John Green books!

Wow, that's pretty anticlimactic. XD Nah, you don't sound spoiled. Your school has 10 floors, you need something faster than stairs if you're planning to traverse that many between classes. You have security guards too?! I guess with a school that huge, though, it makes sense. My school was pretty small, so the closest thing we had to guards were the night janitors (who, if you saw them, were nothing like guards at all). All these things seem so new to me, for high schools. xD I'd never seen a bench in a school, I don't think, until I started college, and even then I thought they were the most amazing things, like people purposely put seats in the hallways for you to just hang around and do whatever...by which I mean sit. I guess I'm just easily impressed.