The inherent fantabulousness that is John Green

At 6:16 this morning I finished reading Paper Towns, and promptly burst into tears.

Now, it is a weird quirk of mine that I never cry at movies, but I cry reading books all the time. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, too, but the written word has always affected me more. I cried when Dumbledore died. Heck, when I was reading Deathly Hallows I cried when Dobby died and then didn't stop until about thirty minutes after I finished the entire book. I mean, I've come close to tears reading Terry Pratchett books.

But this was a different kind of crying. This was crying because I just had no idea what to do with myself. I finished reading the book, and for a moment I just sat there, while an internal battle of entirely conflicting emotions went on in my head. That's the way this book is. It's one of the most hillarious books I've ever read (I can honestly say that I've never laughed harder at a book in my life), and it has a sort of... jovial air about it. The word I want to use here is "romp".

But at the same time it's deep and moving and surpisingly powerful. You read it and find yourself thinking about human nature. It's almost philosophical in a way, and at times deeply symbolic.

And then of course it's a mystery, and an adventure, and one of those books where you're sitting there wide-eyed going "DON'T DO IT, QUENTIN! NOOOO!" With the humor and the tension and the drama and the sadness all in one, finishing the book leaves you with your emotions totally out of whack. And of course there's just the general awesomeness of it all. When I finally closed it, I wasn't sure if I should sing, cry, or do a happy dance.

I don't leave to go to school until 6:30 and I had finished the book before then, but I brought it to school anyway, so I could prop it on my desk and look at it's awesome* (by the way, I bought the yellow Happy-Margo cover). I went back and re-read the drunken beer-sword scene again. I laughed a lot the second time, too.
*"Awesome" is one of those words that can be used at any time, even when not generally condoned by normal grammatical rules. This is especially true when it is being used to talk about John Green.

I haven't read many good books lately (the last one being Nation by Terry Pratchett), but Paper Towns was freaking awesome. It may just be on my Top Ten list, now. And on a side note, I'm officially getting Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Let It Snow for Christmas. I mean, I knew John Green was awesome, but holy crap can the guy write.