Book Forty-Two

Title: 13 Little Blue Envelopes
Author: Maureen Johnson
Summary: If your free-spirited aunt left you 13 little blue envelopes: Would you follow the directions? Would you travel around the world? Would you open the envelopes one by one? Inside envelope 1, is money and instructions to buy a plane ticket. Inside envelope 2, are directions to a specific London flat. Inside envelope 3, tells Ginny: find a starving artists. Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/man-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with disastrous - though really romantic - results. But will she ever see him again?
Genre: Adventure
Time Started: 7th September.
Time Ended: 28th September, 11:54pm
Page Count:  319
Age Rating: 13+
Warning: Minor sexual themes.
Appeal Rating: 9/10.

First things first, the blurb is really misleading. It makes it seem like a romance novel ... it's not. Yes, Keith and Ginny DO fall for each other and kiss a lot and sleep on a bench when Ginny misses lockout at the hostel, but it is not all about Ginny and Keith. It's about Ginny, about becoming independent, travelling the world, making friends, coming out of your shell. In no way is it a romance novel.

Anyway.

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to properly get into it, and it took me so long because (a) homework is ridiculous this year so it kept me busy, and (b) I wasn't reading much.

The characters are amazingly developed, and they all have fantastic, real personalities. Peg seems like such an awesome woman, and it's a shame Ginny didn't get to spend as much time with her as she could. Only a truly amazing person would take their niece around the world, through thirteen letters, in such a short amount of time.

Maureen Johnson is a fantastic writer, with a large imagination and an excellent sense of humour. I will definitely be checking out more of her books.

Now, I have to go do homework, so I can't write any more. Definitely recommended!

Book Forty

Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Summary: When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls names Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherins. Colin is on a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.
Genre: Adventure/Romance
Time Started: I can't remember
Time Ended: 30th August, 3:38am.
Page Count: 215
Age Rating: 13+
Warning: Profanity, suggestive conversation.
Appeal Rating: 7/10.


It started off really slow and I admit, I wasn't getting into it. But about a third of the way through, I started getting into it, and it kept getting better, and I started to connect with the characters and I really liked it.


In certain aspects, I'm like Lindsey, but not drastically similar. It's in the sense that she's "not real" because she changes herself for people. Around TOC, she's bubbly and giggly and preppy. Around the oldsters, she has a Southern accent and she's sweet and generous. Around Colin, she's herself. She stops pretending.


In a way, this is like me. My truest form is the one I show online. Offline, people will judge me for what I like and who I like, etc., so I hide certain things from them. Online, people don't judge me, and those who do - well, who cares about them?


It's the way I hide offline that makes me like her. The Internet is the Colin to my Lindsey.


But enough rambling - it was a great book and I recommend it.