"I just want to matter."

This book was a mad complex of crazy ideas mixed with the whole boy meets girl thing. Read this...
..."Well, it's not as good a story if you dumped her. That's how I remember things, anyway. I remember stories. I connect the dots and then out of that comes a story. And the dots that don't fit into the story just slide away, maybe. Like when you spot a constellation. You look up and you don't see all the stars. All the stars just look like the big ****ing random mess that they are. But you want to see shapes; you want to see stories, so you pick them out of the sky. Hassan told me once you think like that, too--that you see connections everywhere--so you're a natural born storyteller, it turns out."
(pg. 202)
The title: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. At first I couldn't figure out why this book would be on my mega reading list, because from the summary it seems like a straightforward boy-gets-dumped-19-times-by-girls-who-all-have-the-same-name-slash-romantic-comedy story. You know, your average light read. But then you start reading and the whole book's this amazing story that relates to freakin' LIFE. Like, there's everything from why relationships fail to why we all basically want the same thing to people who matter and people who don't. A masterpiece of teen literature written by John Green.
That paragraph was probably a bit confusing, especially with the random quote right above. The only reason I tossed that in there is because I love that quote, and if you read the book you'll get it, but FYI that line was said by Colin's could-be-girlfriend, Lindsay.
So quick summary: Colin is a child prodigy who just got dumped by K-19. That is, Katherine #19. Yep, he's dated 19 girls named Katherine and he's somewhere around high-school age. After he gets dumped for the 19th time in a row by a Katherine, he starts working on a Theorem that supposedly can predict the length of any relationship and who will dump who. While composing this theory, his best friend, Hassan, drags him on a crazy roadtrip and somehow they end up in rural Tennessee meeting Lindsay, a girl who seems like one of the popular crowd but really has a lot more underneath the surface.
Lindsay's mother, Hollis, hires Colin and Hassan to do very little actual work and they get free room and board at Lindsay's house. This is when Colin has what I think of as a VERY premature midlife crisis and starts asking himself what he wants in life. His answer: "I just want to matter."
After a lot of thought, a few sitzpinklers, a secret cave, a string factory, a lot of swearing, and a feral-pig-hunting expedition, Colin comes to the conclusion that he is the second-most self-centered person on Earth.
You'll have to read to find out who's first. Remember how I said this looks like a romantic comedy at first sight? I'm trying to explain how it ISN'T right now, so that's why I left out that whole aspect of the story. But that part's just as good, SO READ THIS BOOK. I'm gonna recommend it to Cara and Dom tomorrow.
The only unbelievable part? The book describes Colin as a TOTAL NERD. One who had zero popularity. So how the heck can he get 19 girls with the same name before age 21? I mean, come on. I'm pretty dang nerdy too, so I know for a fact that this is not actually possible.
One last thing: while reading this book, DO NOT SKIP THE FOOTNOTES.