Looking for Alaska in Blogger's Bookshelf

Dec 05, 2012 Lulufrances rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Unfortunately I didn't get married this day -> would have been an epic date!
However, at 12 o'clock and 12 minutes on the 12.12.12 I was actually reading this book, and that's got to be rather cool as well!
Especially since this has been my first John Green book ever, probably not my last though.
A shame I couldn't get the original in English from my library at the time I checked this out, but the German translation was quite good too.

Usually I'm not the type of person who enjoys (or reads) all the ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Niina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-english

Looking for Alaska was probably the hardest book ever for me to rate. When I first finished reading it I thought it was an obvious 4 star book. An excellent book but not quite up there with my absolute favorites. But then I asked myself; "How did it take me several weeks to read this book? And how am I suddenly 2 books behind in my reading challenge?". Yes! It's Looking for Alaska's fault that I'm behind in my reading challenge because it hasn't taken me this long to read any other book. And tha Looking for Alaska was probably the hardest book ever for me to rate. When I first finished reading it I thought it was an obvious 4 star book. An excellent book but not quite up there with my absolute favorites. But then I asked myself; "How did it take me several weeks to read this book? And how am I suddenly 2 books behind in my reading challenge?". Yes! It's Looking for Alaska's fault that I'm behind in my reading challenge because it hasn't taken me this long to read any other book. And that's plain weird...

...Because I did think it was an interesting story-line and I did really enjoy John Green's writing. The story's about Miles a friendless teen who convinces his parents to let him go to a boarding school to find the "great perhaps". Miles gets to know Chip and Alaska, two quirky, smart and strange teenagers that becomes Mile's partners in crime (literary). Together they discover life, friendship and love through drinking, smoking, talking and the occasional prank. That's until tragedy hits.

What I like the most about this books is the characters! They're pretty awesome in all their quirkiness! I've read many reviews claiming that the characters are too much. But they've all probably forgotten how it's to be a teenager! You're supposed to be too much! Everything is supposed to be a much bigger deal than it really is! I mean, almost every teenager is a bit manodepressive (if you weren't, you missed out on the glory of the teenage years!). I especially loved Alaska and I want to defend her from her book reviewing haters; It's actually healthy to be a teenage girl who enjoys sex! Especially when you're far from a stupid bimbo! And it's okay to laugh one minute to cry the next if you're a teenage girl! Especially when you actually got a brain!

But, yes, there's a but. I still can't get over the fact that it took me so long to finish the book! Even if I loved the characters and liked the story I didn't get caught up in it. It didn't keep me up way past my bedtime just to read one more page. But I think I'm going to blame the simple fact that I'm too old. This was never written for me, this was written for the teenage version of me and she would love it! So therefore I think that the 4 stars are fair because I have to review this book for was it is. It's a novel for teenagers; and it's a really good one!

That being said I don't want to scare off any readers who are a few years past their teens because this is a really good and enjoyable read for us "old folks" too... ...more

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May 27, 2015 Kaylee Gwyn (literarypengwyns) rated it liked it

3 Stars

It was good. It's a John Green books; it's going to be good. But, what I sincerely don't get is how Pudge cared about Alaska that much? I genuinely don't get why they all cared for her so dang much. I mean, I get that everyone has people who care about them, but this is a book. And by nature, the author can make us love and care about their characters and unfortunately I just didn't care about Alaska. Not that much. In fact, John Green, I think you might have participated in insta-love. H ...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Leanne rated it it was amazing

Absolutely loved it! The storyline was brilliant and I could relate to the characters. It's one of those books that makes you think about life. ...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Rebecca rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teen-and-young-adult, library-book

I didn't like this as much as The Fault In Our Stars, but I like that John Green's books are quite unique. I thought the countdown might have been to Miles losing his virginity so what actually happened threw me off completely! However I found Miles quite annoying because of how he acted as if he was the only one who properly knew Alaska (though I think this is acknowledged as stupid by their other friends in the book). I liked his relationship with the Colonel and I liked all the excursions and ...more

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