With Her Nose Stuck In A Book

The Fault In Our Stars is a young adult novel about a young girl, Hazel, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 13. The novel begins when she is 16. She is on a trial of a “miracle drug” which has stopped her tumours growing. Her cancer is being contained but doesn’t have a cure. Hazel is understandably depressed. She spends all her time at home reading and watching tv with her parents. Her mother nags her to “get out more” and part of her getting out more includes attending a support group. Here, she meets Augustus Waters - extremely attractive, one-legged cancer survivor. They fall in love.  You know when you pick up a book about two teenagers who have cancer that it is unlikely to have a happy ending but despite that, the book still has a lot of humour and is hopeful.  The teenagers can come across a bit pretentious at times. The dialogue between them gives Dawson’s Creek vibes but I loved Dawson’s Creek so I can’t complain. What was even more pretentious though, was...

I watched the movie Girl, Interrupted   a number of years ago but I had never read the book. I finally got round to reading it and I loved it. The book and movie vary in places but both are extremely good.  Girl, Interrupted is a memoir of Suzannah Kayson’s two-year stay at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Her experience there is horrific. In 1967 after a twenty minute session with a psychiatrist she had never met before, he declared ‘You need a rest’ and she was sent off to McLean in a taxi right then and there. She was told she would be there for a few weeks. She stayed nearly two years. She was the 18-year-old daughter of distinguished parents who had made a half-hearted attempt at suicide and had a general inability to live up to her parent’s expectations, failing classes, refusing to go to college and being unable to hold down a job. Kaysen writes: ‘I read everything. I wrote constantly and I had boyfriends by the barrelful…Back then I didn’t know that I - on anyone - could...

I know this book had mixed reviews but I enjoyed it. I completely agree that it does not fit in with the timeline of the series but it was still a fun read.  Without spoiling it too much for those who have yet to read it or see the play, the story centres around the death of Cedric Diggory in the Triwizard Tournament in the Goblet of Fire. Harry is now 40 and is failing spectacularly at being a dad to his younger son Albus. Albus goes off to Hogwarts and is promptly sorted into Slytherin where he becomes best friends with Scorpius, son of Draco Malfoy. Hogwarts isn’t fun for Albus - he feels like he doesn’t fit in. He feels alienated. He just doesn’t get on with Harry and the two struggle to connect. After yet another argument with his dad, Albus and Scorpius decide to go on a time-travelling quest to stop Cedric’s death from ever happening. But messing with the past never ends well and their journey has disastrous consequences. Imagine a reality where Hitler still reigns or - even...