Cheer up! The Fault in Our Stars

So, here's a great idea for something to do while dealing with the recuperation of your aging father who is battling lung cancer.     Read a book about two teens who are struggling with cancer and fall in love and one of them is certainly going to die but hopefully not in the book. (Hah!  You think I'm going to tell you if one of them dies?  Read the book yourself.)

Read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  Really, read it.  (That link takes you to an NPR article and about the book.)

I adored books about dying teens when I was a teenager.  They - the teens, not the books - were always so noble. And brave.  And selfless.  Green's characters are also very attractive and intelligent and literary.  And brave. And witty.  And selfless - sort of.  And sarcastic.  And irreverent.  And in love.  Sigh. 

There's this whole other character, an author, who turns out to be just...oh wait.  I can't tell you what that character turns out to be like because then as you read the book you'll be saying things like, "He's going to save their lives"..or, "She's going to wear clown shoes" or whatever I intimate the author might do.  You can't make me say more than I have already said.

Read the book.  It will not cheer you up.  It might make you grateful.  If it doesn't make you grateful, do NOT let me know.