Paper Towns. Finished 4-27-14, rating 4/5, YA, 320 pages, pub. 2008
Unabridged audio 8 hours, read by Dan John Miller
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life — dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge — he follows.
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues — and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.from Goodreads
This is my second John Green novel (I read Looking for Alaska last December) and I’ve listened to them both on audio. I liked the narration of this one a lot, where the narration of LFA made me dislike a key character. Anyway, I liked this story of Q adoring his childhood friend and neighbor from afar as they grew up and moved to different levels on the pecking order that makes up pretty much every high school. As a band geek, he can only imagine what it would be like if Margo snuck in his bedroom window at night, until one night, all of his hoping paid off as Margo wanted him, him!, to light the town on fire with her. As the best night of his life turned to morning he had reached a high he was sure would continue. Until Margo disappeared. Leaving only a bread crumb trail to follow if he was willing and, of course, he was.
I liked this story quite a bit. Many kids in high school face the same problem, of idealizing someone, of loving the idea of that person without ever understanding them. Q was a typical boy in love with a beautiful girl. As he and his buddies interpreted the hints left by Margot, they were able to have one last adventure together before graduation. I loved that. Now, Margot is a different story. Who would do that to someone? I won’t say anything else about Margo, so you’ll have to read it for yourself!
I see why Green is so popular with high schoolers and young adults. He writes insightful and beautiful prose and he really gets teens. I don’t read a lot of YA, but I will happily read more John Green.
Stacy's Books 
I’ve only read one John Green book – The Fault in Our Stars – and I thought it was wonderful. I definitely want to read more of his work!
TFIOS is absolute perfection in my opinion, but that is the only one I’ve read. I do have most of them on my shelves (or my daughter’s shelves) and I keep threatening to have a John Green read-a-thon. I think I remember hearing somewhere that this one takes place in Orlando? That would be interesting.
I know I need to read John Green… The Fault in Our Stars is waiting on my kindle.
I really like John Green. I enjoy his You Tube videos and his writing. I have only read one book by him so far, but he’s one author I hope to read more by–and soon. I am glad you liked this one, Stacy.
I still need to read one of his books. My book club just recently read The Fault in our Stars but I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the meeting so I didn’t read the book. At the LA Times Book Festival in April he was there and the line to get into his session and the book signing was HUNDREDS of people. I know he must be doing something right and your review seems to concur. I’ve got to read one of his soon!
I’ve listened to all of John Green’s books. The Fault In Our Stars is a must listen or read. I also loved An Abundance of Katherines.
John Green deserves all the attention and praise, imo. And it doesn’t hurt that he appears so fun and wise and nice. I loved LFA and Paper Towns and then AoK and of course, TFiOS. I think I am missing one (or two?)
I’ve read TFIOS. Thanks for your review of Paper Towns. It sounds really good.
I love John Green. But I also enjoy YA. Glad you enjoyed this one too 🙂
I really like John Green as well and think he does a great job of capturing that teen emotion. I listened to this one and really like the audio! I haven’t listened to any of his others to compare (read them).
I liked the story to. I just picked up Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines. I hope to get to them sometime during the year. nice review.