It's 90 degrees on September 12th. This is not acceptable. I'm (sweatily) re-reading Looking for Alaska (by John Green, duh) for my YA Lit class and while I loved this the first time I read it in 2006, these days (and I may be struck down by the YA Lit gods for writing this) it kind of just blends in with other problems-at-boarding-school novels. This is of course probably a product of the huge explosion of YA novels published since 2005 (did you know that LfA is that old?!) and doesn't mean that LfA is not well-written and touching, but I wonder if, had it been written in 2013, it would have stood out enough to warrant the Printz Award that it won back in its heyday. I realize that we're reading it in class as an "historical" YA novel, paired with Seventeenth Summer (1942) and Forever (197something) (it cracks me up/makes me cry that these three books are all "historical" documents now) and that we're meant to look at the book in the context of the genre and its contribution, but I can't help but compare and contrast LfA with the similar books that are being written today in order to try to determine if it's still read and popular because of its quality or because it was a big deal back in 2005 (and is by, what's his name, Jake Magenta, that semi-popular YA author that no one has ever heard of and who certainly does not have a HUGE movie being made of his latest novel). I know, I know, the point of re-reading LfA is to understand the breakthroughs in YA Lit that have come from it and to understand the evolution of the genre, but humor me my non-historical analysis, k?
I also found myself underwhelmed by (minor spoiler alert) the boy's lackluster resolution to their search, and to the end of the book in general- feelings that I distinctly remember NOT having in 2006. But, of course, LfA launched John Green, and what teenager (or YA-loving adult) these days doesn't swoon over anything he writes? I'm generally underwhelmed by his novels, which, again, might cause teens to hunt me down for my blasphemy. I'm all for any author who has a huge fan base, seems to be a really good guy, and gets kids excited about reading, so I'm going to enjoy LfA as the genre-changing and author-launching book that it was back in the mid-Oughts. (And please don't hate me for my general John Green Malaise[TM]- it's problem that I struggle with daily and don't like to share with people. I'm trying a 12-step program that will hopefully help me to embrace witty dialogue and teens with terminal diseases with joy and wonder. Please be patient.)
Speaking of sweaty malaise (did you like that segue?), what is UP with this non-fall weather? I'm an aggressively anti-summer person and even more aggressively pro-fall person, so to have been teased with fall weather and then thrown back into the dog days of summer is making me cranky and a joy to be around. I refuse to put the air conditioner back in, I refuse to stop burning my Yankee Candle Fall Harvest candle, and I'm making (hot) chili for dinner. So there. Take that, Summer. Thanks for reading!
