Independent Reading: The Abundance of Katherines 2

When Hassan, Colin's best friend was first introduced to the novel, I really did not like him. I just thought that he was annoying and lazy. But he's grown on me and now I kind of think that he helps Colin stay sane. Colin definitely overanalyzes and overthinks. And Hassan is more of a humorous character which plays into that. Colin and him make a perfect pair because they really are almost vitural opposites. And now I like him, because with that humor you can also tell that he really cares about Colin, or just people in general, as well. Right after the break up, he came over to Colin's house and offered a plan to help get his mind off of things which, now that I think about it, is actually kind of sweet. He says, "...you have a very complicated problem, with a very simple solution." Even if Hassan was only offering it thinking it would be fun to go on a road trip, he still related it to Colin's problem. He is supportive. I think a lot of his humor and even his support towards other people relates to the fact that he is insecure. Colin even describes Hassan as "a rather fat, hirsute guy of Lebanese descent", which kind of illustrates the humor in Colin. But since Hassan believes that he is fat, he often makes jokes about it. And being supportive has to do with the fact that he probably needs support so he gives it to everyone else, too. I am excited to get more into this book and find out what it's all about.

Independent Reading: The Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I have just recently started reading the book An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. But so far I have learned about the main character, Colin. Colin seems to be a very devoted pessimist, almost as if he likes being negative and wouldn't want to view the positive even if he could try. Colin views himself as a prodigy, not a genius. His view is  that "prodigies can very quickly learn what people have already figured out; geniuses discover that which no one has ever previously discovered. Prodigies learn; geniuses do." He just has gotten dumped by the 19th "Katherine" that he's dated. His main goal is to feel important, he wants "to matter". He feels useless now, though I'm not really sure why. To me it seems like if he's dated 19 different Katherines, let alone different people, he has some kind of lack of feeling or emotion, or he just gets over people really fast. Or maybe he has some kind of fault that is always causing these break ups. Gathering from the information on the back of the book, it seems like that's what Colin is going to try to do. Colin is starting up on a road trip with his best friend, Hassan who believes that this will help him get over Katherine XIX. I think Colin is starting to fall, very quickly, for a tour guide that Hassan and him meet on their adventure. He describes her scent by saying, "It was not the way Curve smelled that Colin liked-not exactly. It was the way the air smelled just as Lindsey began to jog away from him. The smell the perfume left behind. There's not a word for that in English, but Colin knew the French word: sillage. What Colin liked about Curve was not it's smell on the skin but it's sillage, the fruity sweet smell of its leaving." He reads really deep into her smell, I don't think he would do that if this was just his tour guide. Colin also reacts to her smile. He takes notice to it. "She had the sort of smile that you couldn't help but believe--you just wanted to make her happy so you could keep seeing it." and "The girl smiled again. Colin wadn't thnking about anything but himself and K-19 and the piece of his gut he'd misplace--but there was no denying her smile. That smile could end wars and cure cancer." He is way overexplaining her smile, not to mention the fact that she kind of distracted him from thinking about his last break up. Therefore I think that Colin has more than just aquainted feelings with this girl and could potentially become a love interest. Maybe Colin needs someone other than a Katherine.

Independent Reading: Paper Towns by John Green

Margo Roth Spiegelman is one of the main characters in this piece of text, but she is not psychically in the book for most of it, I'm wondering what would happen if Margo was in the book more. Not exactly that she was where everyone else was, interacting with them, no. I'm just wondering if I would've taken the book a different way and thought about it differently if maybe Margo's view was offered more throughout the book. I think it would have made the book a lot less mysterious. The whole book nobody knows where Margo is and that's what makes it exciting. if we were getting updates on her I don't know if I can say the book would have been as good. The whole book I thought that Margo wanted Quentin to find her, that she had left clues so that somebody would eventually find her. But when Q does find her, she doesn't respond in a very pleasing manner. "She spins around and grabs a fistful of my shirt and shouts into my face, "Where do you g I think it could be interesting to see into Margo's head and to see what she was thinking, but I think that the author didn't do that to almost give her character more character. Margo is made out to be a very special and different individual in this text. She acts normal, but only the reader and Quentin and some of the other main characters know, or try to know, her true self. I feel like Margo definitely thinks differently than others. Her mind goes deeper than most people are willing to try. I like that, though, it makes for a better character in my opinion.