A Girl's Guide to Chronic Illness pt.3 - My book review on 'The Fault in Our Stars'.

Some of you may or may not know but I am a HUGE bookworm (well maybe a little one, I'm only 4ft 10 *Sorry, not sorry*). Books are a way to transport into a different universe, to forget everything going on in our own lives and live our childhood fantasies. We transport into wizards or vampires, superheroes and detectives, we delve into a fairytale romance, we live in hope that we might get the happily ever after that often happens in books. Books transport us to wherever we want to go, we connect to the characters, the events and the words etched onto the pages and these words, character and events have the power to change our lives. When I read a book, it quickly becomes my favourite when I relate to it, when the book makes me feel understood, when it completely understands how I think or feel, or understands the things even I can't understand, books are there for me when I need them most. To a non-bookworm it's hard to understand how a book could possibly ever "change your life" but what they don't know is that they haven't found the right book. Books connect people together, and they speak the words people are afraid to say. So in case you didn't get the message, I LOVE books. I fell in love with reading ever since I was a little girl, excited when I went to the library and maxed out the limit of how many books I could borrow. With all the screens and technology these days, I'm still old fashioned in the sense that nothing beats a good book. Now you're probably wondering, why do I love books so much? The truth is, a book is always there for you, its words ready to give you an epiphany or comfort, it might spark creativity and inspiration, maybe help you from not feeling so alone or maybe I like running away from the world just for that brief moment; books help you cope with the harsh reality that is called life. Even when I was little and life seemed pretty perfect, reading books still let me be whoever I wanted to be or they acknowledge how you really feel and you can finally think someone gets it. I decided to write a blog post about one of my favourite books that features life with illness as it, somehow manages to completely sum up how it feels to be sick, it doesn't romanticise illness and it's honest. I'm not one of those people who is fixated and non stop talking about illness, but sometimes having a book about someone going through similar things is a comfort. I was blessed as I picked up this book perhaps when I needed it the most, it understood how it felt to have to fight your own body every day. Although I don't share the same illnesses as the characters in this books, there are still those little things that give you hope or make you feel understood and that's invaluable. They understand how debilitating, how crap it truly is to have this illness and that's the exact reason as to why I believe books have the power to change your life, they make the unexplainable, explainable.

This is my all time favourite book, I've read it well over 15 times and I can assure you I could probably quote this book word by word. It's a masterpiece, and John Green has such a talent conveying a story so much so it appears the words have talents themselves. It follows the story of a teenage girl with cancer, and it doesn't beat around the bush as it talks about the isolation of illness, the fear of death and the depression side of illness. It's such a beautiful novel of love and loss, life and heroism but most importantly it talks about the shitty side effects that anyone with illness faces; like effects of medication, the depressing support groups, the effects on relationships and friendships and how you can't do things, people, your age would be doing. It doesn't shy away about being honest and truthful, not shying away from the taboo topics, like dying. Often people feel scared to mention the "C word", but what this book does it shows that any human has a limited number of days it's uncontrollable, unavoidable; we could die tomorrow or in 15 years time, no one knows, but the book is all about making the most of our limited number of days. Although I'm not going through the horrendous rollercoaster of a journey cancer takes people on, and I'm incredibly fortunate to not have to go through that, I still loved this book. It gave me hope in a hopeless situation, but most of all a lesson on how to live. This book has funny parts and parts that will make you want to sob your heart out, but it's this brilliant metaphor about life. There are ups and downs, love and resentment, he understands the world and he understood what being sick is like in that world. It felt like he understood me. Although it was a book about cancer it made me laugh so hard and cry so profusely, it was a myriad of emotions. Green didn't write a book about poster children with cancer and how it is all sunshine and rainbows and how bravely they fight, or how they are victims of a disease he presented kids going through hell, desperate to live their limited number of days well and families having to deal with great loss. It's not, as Hazel Lancaster would say a 'Cancer Book' but a refreshingly real novel. Even if you don't have an illness but you know someone with an illness, it talks about the explosion that illness leaves behind. Despite everything, the quirkiness, humour and wisdom in this book is unlike any other I can assure you is one of the best books you could ever read. Just be sure to have tissues by your side.

Words are incapable of expressing how tender and open my heart felt after reading this. It taught me what it meant to truly empathise with others. It taught me what it means to live. It taught me how to find the positive in the most hopeless of situations. and because of that, I know am a better person after closing this book. John Green, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this little infinity. You gave me a forever within the numbered pages, for that I'm eternally grateful.