DWD's Reviews

  Originally published in 2006. Published by Listening Library in 2019. Read by Jeff Woodman. Duration: 6 hours, 47 minutes. Unabridged. Synopsis: Colin Singleton is a child prodigy who has recently stopped being a child. He has graduated from high school, is preparing to go to a great college but he is unsettled by a couple of things. Number one: being a child prodigy means that you are potentially an important adult. Colin is aware that it is now time for potential to turn into something - anything - meaningful. Number two: Colin just got dumped - again. He has dated 19 different girls and all are named Katherine. Technically it is 18 different girls because Katherine 1 is also Katherine 19, but the point is pretty much the same. So, Colin is wallowing in self-pity when his best friend, a slacker named Hassan, comes to him and suggests that they need to go on a road trip. They head south through Indiana and eventually end up in Gutshot, Tennessee where Colin meets a girl nam...

  Originally published in 2005. Audible audiobook edition published in 2019. Read by Wil Wheaton Duration: 6 hours, 40 minutes. Unabridged. Set in a boarding school in rural Alabama, this book features a diverse group of friends who are trying to figure out the big things in life - where to get cigarettes, where to get booze, where to get fireworks, the meaning of life, where to find a girl or a boy, how to hide your violations from the adults at the school and what is going to be the next big prank. Miles Halter is the new kid at school and he is desperately in love (like a lot of young men) with the lively and enigmatic Alaska Young. Alaska is as unique as her name. She is a fervent defender of women's rights, she smokes and drinks whenever possible, she is an A student and yet she insists on carving her own way. The book follows this group as they go through Miles' first year at the school, all the while counting down to something as indicated by the chapter titles... Wil Wh...

  Published in 2021 by Penguin Audio. Read by the author, John Green. Duration: 10 hours, 3 minutes. Unabridged. This collection of essays is, from what I understand, mostly a re-working of essays that Green has published on his blog or his YouTube channel. However, they were all new to me because I haven't seen more than a few snippets of his videos that my oldest daughter has shown me.  I know a bit about John Green because I live in Indianapolis, which is my adopted hometown just like it is John Green's adopted hometown. Green doesn't go out of his way to make his presence felt in his adopted hometown, but he is our current well-known author, replacing Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) with a completely different kind of vibe. Vonnegut gives off a whip-smart angry feeling with sarcasm to spare. Very clever. Green gives off a smart, understanding melancholy feeling. Just as smart as Vonnegut, but different. Vonnegut grew up here and moved away. He was always proud to be FROM In...

Published in 2017 by Listening Library. Read by Kate Rudd. Duration: 7 hours, 12 minutes. Unabridged. High School students Aza and Daisy are best friends living in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are also investigating the mysterious disappearance of a billionaire who lives on the other side of the White River - the rich side of the river that doesn't flood. Well, they investigate when they aren't going to school, eating at Applebee's, studying, working (Daisy) or keeping appointments with the therapist (Aza). Aza has obsessive thoughts - they crowd out everything else when they come, and lately they've been coming at her hard and fast. It turns out that Aza knows the son of the missing billionaire and when she and Daisy run into him while they are investigating, it seems like there might be a spark between this boy and Aza... John Green is one of my favorite authors, which is weird because I have only read two of his books (this one and The Fault in Our Stars ) . But, I...

Originally published in 2012. I teach high school. This book exploded onto the scene 6 years ago. It was everywhere. Girls carried it around. Boys read it on the sly. Even if boys didn't read it, they knew the basics of the plot. But, I had never gotten around to reading it. But, after hearing so much about John Green and his podcasts from my own high schooler and after seeing him on my adopted hometown's PBS station (same adopted hometown as John Green - Indianapolis) discuss books with Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts, I finally decided to read this book. And...it deserves all of the hype. The kids sound like kids - exceptional ones to be sure, but they sound like kids. Kids who have been dealt a very bad hand in life and are still trying to figure out what it means to be a grown up, what it means to fall in love and what it means be alive. They are sarcastic, inexperienced and smart. What kind of book is it? It's the kind of book where you laugh out loud on one p...