The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

 “Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different—unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.” 

Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.

From looking at the overall rating of this book I didn't really very high expectations, so maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much!

Not only did I find the storyline interesting - a doomsday coming of age from a new perspective - but I found the writing style of Walker made it so much more engaging, her words and juxtapositions easily brought to mind the images and emotions needed to get involved with the story on the page.

When you read the blurb on the back cover it doesn't sound like it, but make no mistake, this is a YA apocalyptic novel, so if that's not usually your style then you're probably not going to enjoy it for more than a few chapters. 

Although I don't think it's the main intention, this book also brings up some pretty good concerns about the environment and the lasting effects of our modern lifestyles. And when I was reading it I could't help but think about how much was a prediction of things to come, and how would we react if something similar really did happen in our lifetime. I also found really interesting how the slow death of humans was very similar to the death of the earth - we see ourselves as slightly more intelligent but in the end the truth is that we are just as susceptible to death as every other living thing on this planet. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.” 

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

A really great book, as incredibly sad as it was witty and even hopeful.

John Green nailed the teenage perspective, and I can only assume the terminally ill teenage perspective.

It's not a long book, so definitely worth the read.