The Question of the Candle
As many of you know, the cover of my first novel Looking for Alaska features a candle that has been snuffed out, leading to an improbably large plume of smoke.
The candle was not part of the original cover design. Originally, it was just the smoke. But then some people at certain bookstore chains were like, “That looks like cigarette smoke,” and we were like, “Yeah, that’s because it is cigarette smoke,” and these bookstore chains were unhappy about this, because smoking is bad for your health and I guess seeing smoke on a book cover might make young people want to acquire emphysema? Or something. It was never very clear to me.
So anyway, we added the astonishingly smoky candle because we wanted these bookstore chains to carry and support Looking for Alaska (which they did, and I am certainly very grateful for it).
But more than seven years later, we are preparing to re-release the hardcover of Looking for Alaska, and both Julie Strauss-Gabel (the publisher) and I (the author) want to remove the candle for this re-released version, giving the book the cover it was originally intended to have. But on the other hand, I know a lot of people feel very strongly about the (not particularly compelling imho) metaphorical resonances of the snuffed out candle.
I realize this is a lot of hemming and hawing about the bottom inch of a book jacket, but this stuff is important to us. So, what—if anything—is your opinion? And why?
“It’s not life or death, the labyrinth.”
“Um, okay. So what is it?”
“Suffering,” she said. “Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That’s the problem. Bolívar was talking about the pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?”
” In other news, Happy Alaska Young Day. Looking for Alaska came out almost seven years ago, and today it is finding more readers than ever. I am so grateful I am to all of you who’ve read the book and shared it with the people you care about. By doing so, you’ve given Alaska a life I could never have imagined for it. Thanks.Now you can listen to me read the first chapter of The Fault in Our Stars without ever leaving the comforts of home tumblr. Who are we kidding? Tumblr is home.
happy birthday blog
Speaking of Looking for Alaska, happy first birthday to peopleraindrizzlehurricane, the tumblr devoted entirely to reblogging a single quote from Looking for Alaska. The astonishing variety and beauty of these quotes never ceases to amaze me, particularly since—true story—I almost cut it in the last revision. (My editor convinced me to keep it, and then convinced me to change one word. My original line was, “If people were precipitation, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”)
I turned 21 on Tuesday. As Emily and I trekked through the liquor store tonight looking for this particular booze, this popped in my head.
Believe me when I say it never crossed my mind that Looking for Alaska would inspire a new generation to drink terrible wine.
This video amuses me.
So many people have seen this video that I feel like I should make a semi-public statement about it. So:
When I was 20 or 21 or whenever this was filmed, I was an inveterate liar. (I am still a liar, but I’ve gotten better about not claiming fiction as fact.) The story as I tell it in the video above is true only in the broadest outlines: In real life, the prank was planned by my friends and I had a tiny role in the whole affair. It was a great prank, although not quite as great as I make it out to be in this story, and the true heroes of the prank’s legendary success were the men and women who planned it (not me) and of course the performer herself.
I put myself at the center of the story in this retelling because A. I was 20, and B. there was a girl listening, whose laughter you hear a few times, and I had a huge crush on her and thought she would like me if she believed I was behind this hilarious prank, and C. I’ve always kind of cared more about the quality of a story than accuracy.
On some level, I was probably already in the process of repurposing the actual events for fiction. (Those of you who’ve read Looking for Alaska will no doubt recognize the prank.) But anyway, I am always a little embarrassed to watch this video, not only because I was such a dumb ass, but also because my friends who actually did this are brilliant and hilarious pranksters who deserve acknowledgement. (Of course, I won’t name them, as they are now all successful women and men—doctors and financial planners and whatnot—who no doubt do not wish this particular video to appear amid their google results.)
Also: I WAS SO SKINNY.
Okay. That is all.
(Source: exteriorstreetday)
I love this. I want it in my house.
(Source: baltimores-firefiles)
Breaking up.
My now ex boyfriend, who knew we were going to break up, still let me barrow him my copy of Paper Towns, by John Green.
It’s been a month. He still has it.
I want it back and he will not answer my calls, texts, messages, etc.
If I have to make a road trip to get it back, I will be angry.
If it is damaged, I will be furious.
If he doesn’t respond soon, I might explode in anger.
This book is the only thing that ties me to him, and I want to move on.
THE BASTARD! What is his email address? I will take care of this injustice immediately!
Looking for Alaska: A New Afterword
A new edition of Looking for Alaska will be published soon (in publishing, “soon” means “several months from now”) and as part of the new edition, I am rewriting the backmatter for the book: Where there are now spoilery discussion questions, there will now be… something else.
I figured I should turn to you for advice. Is there anything you’d like to see at the end of Looking for Alaska? And what questions would you like for me to answer?
