by John Green
First sentence: “My novel Turtles All the Way Down was published in October of 2017, and after spending that month on tour for the book, I came home to Indianapolis and blazed a trail between my children’s tree house and the little room where my wife and I often work, a room that depending on your worldview is either an office or a shed.”
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Content: There is some mild swearing, and one f-bomb (in the notes). It’s in the Creative Non-Fiction section of the bookstore.

Sometime when Fault in Our Stars came out (I think?), I remember having a conversation with someone where I mentioned that I adore John on the vlogbrother’s YouTube channel, but I find his books, more or less, to be a bit overly pretentious. That’s not to say they’re not good; they are. But, I just preferred his short, 4-minute, thoughtful, smart video essays.

This book (it grows out of a podcast, which I haven’t listened to), is John in my favorite iteration of his writing. It’s a book of “reviews”, that’s loosely organized from his childhood through adulthood, of various facets of human life — from sunsets to Indianapolis to Viral meningitis to the Notes App. But, it’s more than that: it’s thoughtful, funny, full of history and trivia and literature, and I loved every minute of it. I don’t know if I had a favorite essay, but The Sycamore Tree made me decide to buy the book, and Sunsets made me cry. It was a delightful way to spend a few days. Green’s an honest, open, wonderful writer, and this format suits him perfectly.

Highly, highly recommended.