On October 12, 2017, I had the opportunity to see John Green on tour with his new book Turtles All the Way Down. I had never been to a book reading before and I rather think I have been spoiled by the experience. It started fairly normal, John Green came out and read from the book, giving a brief summary so we would know what was going on. He then explained how his own battles with mental illness helped him shape the main character who suffers from a similar affliction. As he said, he wanted to “portray a character whose mental illness wasn't helpful”. His character wants to be a detective, but unlike other popular detectives in literature, the main character’s OCD proves utterly unhelpful in getting the main character towards this goal. I admire this attempt to deconstruct the popular romanticism of mental illnesses and hope it is a trend that continues throughout the next decade.

But back to the book reading, after John Green did his bit, the event sidetracked from the course I assume other book readings take and Dr. Larry Turtleman came out to give us a science lecture. It should be noted that Dr. Larry Turtleman is *spoiler* John Green’s brother Hank in a turtle man costume. I am not sure how other audience members felt about this surprise science lecture (I do know my two friends found it a little long) but I adored it. I am a Biology/Greek major with a creative writing minor with five decent-ish novels and an okay children’s book published. So the fact that I was being treated to a comedic presentation on monotypic taxa was awesome at a book reading hit like, all my favorite things. I now know several more fun science party facts than I did two days ago. I adore science. Also Hank Green is hilarious. I am still laughing at his voice crack when he managed to lift his turtle head up enough to notice, “holy cow there’s a balcony!” (Or something like that).

After the lovely science lecture, it was back to book reading business: questions and answers about writing! The only two that stuck out to me (and thus the two I remember) are a) how do you feel about people who say “omg i’m so OCD” and b) how do you deal with writer’s block. John Green said that he understands that when people say “oh i’m so OCD” that they are simply being colloquial and do not mean any harm. He also acknowledged he probably does it himself with other mental illness terms like “crazy”. So in conclusion, he doesn't get mad when he hears that, but he does find it annoying because it promotes trivialization of a very serious aspect of some people's lives. As for how to deal with writer's block, John Green’s advice is something I am going to try and implement into every facet of my life. He said that what helped him get over a period of severe writer’s block was “giving himself permission to suck.” And hearing that, it occurred to me that allowing myself that same luxury--convincing my brain that it is okay if something I do isn't the best thing ever--would solve so many of my problems. It would help me relax at horse shows; it would help me stress less over trying to balance school, work, competing with equestrian team, homework, family time, and keeping my apartment reasonably clean (my car’s just a lost cause); and it would help me be myself in social situations. So that is advice I am going to perpetuate: give yourself permission to fail.

Here’s where the event took a weird (in an awesome way) turn and Hank Green gave us a lovely mini concert on his guitar of some of his physic songs (I don't know which ones, i’ve trained my brain to check out when it here's a physics term to avoid an anxiety or, worse, a panic attack). I did, however, thoroughly enjoy his rendition of “All Star.” My friend liked his last song best. Can't remember what it was…. Anyways, after that John and Hank did a talkshow-esque segment and answered fun questions like “Batman or Superman?” (The answer was Batman’s a better character but Superman is a better superhero). Other notable moments from this segment are when Hank quite honestly forgot the phrase “behind the scenes” and said “behind the sides” and John’s story about dumped at Denali national park by a girl he spontaneously drove to Graceland with one night, which isn't even in his top five worst dumping stories. It was an eventful segment.

Then we had some sweet bonding moments where we sang a song from the World War One trenches whose only lyrics are “we are here” and goes to the tune of “auld Lang syne” and had to keep absolutely quiet during the “bah bah bah’s” of “Sweet Caroline.” Both were very soul enriching experiences and made John and Hank very pleased with us as an audience so that was fun. I’ve been singing “we are here” to myself ever since.

Long story short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book reading, which I assume is a very unique book reading, and think I will be bored at any others I may eventually attend. I also enjoyed it despite having barely any knowledge of John and Hank Green. I’d seen a few of their educational videos on history and chemistry and I was aware of a John Green’s other books, but I am by no means a fan girl of theirs. I may watch more of their videos, however, because they are hilarious and I’ll probably end this book because I have it now, and I don't think anyone dies. I try not to read books where the main character dies. I get overly emotionally invested in characters and I get tired of the empathetic mental breakdowns. There are so many other more productive things I could be doing with that time. But back on track, if you are not aware of these two brothers, you should look them up. They're pretty cool. And I am thoroughly glad that I had the opportunity to see them (though in retrospect I could have totally just waited a day to see them in Asheville becuase like, I go to school there, but I got to see my friends and enjoy the particular oddities of the Charlotte show so no regrets).

As a final note, special shout out to my boyfriend for going with me to Charlotte because I got stung by yellow jackets shortly before I had to leave and didn't know if I was going to have an allergic reaction while driving. You are a saint for chilling in Charlotte for two hours while I attended this event and being in the car for four. I owe you big time.