An Abundance of Katherines

[nevermore]

Have any of you ever read An Abundance of Katherines? (http://www.amazon.com/Abundance-Katherines-John-Green/dp/0525476881) (if you do the amazon "look inside" thing, be aware that even though it's for teens, the book has swear words, and some more... er... mature themed humor, and may have the swears/mature humor within the first few pages.)

I mentioned it in our anti-swear thread, and it got me wondering whether any of you have ever picked it up. I read it maybe a year and a half ago, and it was seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read.

It's about a boy named Colin who's just graduated high school, and is a child prodigy, making him really good at anagrams, math equations, and random useless facts. He's bad at making friends but good at making girlfriends, and only ever dates girls named Katherine. Not Catherine. Not Kathy. K-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e. When Katherine XIX (yes, the nineteenth) dumps him, just like all 18 other Katherines before him, he seriously rethinks his life and goes on a roadtrip with his (only) friend Hassan.

Definitely one of the BEST books for teens that I have ever read.

Some good quotes from the book:

"Hold on." He grabbed a pencil and scrawled excitedly at the paper as if he'd just made a mathematical breakthrough and then looked back up at me. "I just did some calculations, and I've been able to determine that you're full of crap."


"Dude, you're such a geek. And that's coming from an overweight Star Trek fan who scored a 5 on the AP Calculus test. So you know your condition is grave"

"By the way, I've decided to start referring to myself exclusively as 'Daddy.' Everytime Daddy would otherwise say 'I' or 'Me,' Daddy is now going to say 'Daddy.' "

"Colin did not laugh. Instead he thought, Tampons have strings? Why? Of all the major human mysteries - God, the nature of the universe, etc - he knew the least about tampons. To Colin, tampons were a little bit like grizzly bears: he was aware of their existence, but he'd never seen one in the wild, and didn't really care to."

[Vampyre]

The book sounds really funny! I'll remember to check it out when I go to the library.:D

[nevermore]

He's got two or three other books now, too. I learned that as I was looking up this book to share with you. I can't wait to finish ASoUE (and Mansfield Park, which I've put on hold) so I can go read his other works.

It was introduced to me by a coworker when I worked as a librarian. We were always passing books to one another (I introduced her to the wonderful world of manga, for example), and one day she was reading AAoC in the breakroom and laughing so hard I thought she was going to choke. When I asked her what she was reading, she assured me that I had to read it as soon as she was done, and a few days later, it was my turn to laugh so hard I couldn't breathe.

Soon practically the entire staff had read it, and we crammed it down the throats of so many kids that it quickly became one of our most highly recommended books. We ended up ordering about 6 copies because we couldn't keep ours on the shelf! :eek:

[ZigZag]

I've never read it, however, the author of the book has a youtube channel called (I believe) Vlogbrothers or something along those lines. He's hilarious.

[Brave_Mustang]

Oh my goodness, those books are so good. My personal favorite would have to be Paper Towns, but An Abundance of Katherines and Looking for Alaska are great too. Fair warning (if you haven't read them yet): Looking for Alaska is easily one of the most emotional books I have ever read. Have a box of tissues next to you as you read. Good grief - John Green (the author) is just phenomenal.

[nevermore]

oooh cool! I really want to read the others, too. When a book like AAoC is so amazing, you just KNOW the other books will be good, too. :o