The Los Angeles Times’s annual Festival of Books was this weekend. Readers of nonfiction informational texts and those of us who prefer books that are less likely to bore one to death were united by one thing: our great appreciation for the written word.

There was something beautiful at the festival. Maybe it was the intangible excitement that filled the air with a sort of electric buzz. Maybe it was the shouts that filled USC’s campus with joy when the beloved Mr. Green made his way to the table where he would spend the next five hours signing his books for thousands of adoring fans. Or maybe it was the simple idea of the Festival, of a weekend devoted to the century-old practice of absorbing and growing from words. A weekend free from the modern technology that so often holds my generation back from experiencing the best parts of everything, from traveling to the smallest corners of this world, of living to the fullest.

I’m sure there were thousands of fabulous, wonderful, incredible authors at the Festival, but there were a couple who I really wanted to see. The first was John Green. (Hear those screams? Yeah, those are John’s fans. Including me. What can I say? He’s awesome.) John Green is, for those of you who haven’t heard of him (GET OFF THE INTERNET AND HIT UP YOUR NEAREST PUBLIC LIBRARY OR VROMAN’S. OKAY? OKAY.), an awesome dude. He’s basically the ultimate example of swag; he’s a YouTuber, he’s a great writer, and he’s also chill. So, of course, as the fangirl I am, I just had to see John Green. But, also of course, we were a little late about the whole pesky planning thing and couldn’t get tickets to hear him talk. But that’s okay. Because I still went. With my friend Caitlin (another St. Philip’s student). We waited in line for three hours for him to sign our books. Also, to speak to him for the six seconds it took him to scribble his name in the covers of our copies of Looking for Alaska (very very very good). My six second of John went something like this:

ME: [mouth agape as I hand him my book] Hi.

JOHN GREEN: Hi.

ME: I love your books.

JOHN GREEN: Thank you. Thank you for reading them. [hands me my book]

If those six seconds don’t help you to understand why John Green is so awesome, then you may as well give up on this fandom.

Anyway, those three hours? Definitely worth the wait.

On Sunday I went back to the Festival of Books. This time, it was for Veronica Roth, twenty-five years old, and author of the Divergent trilogy (again, if you haven’t yet read these, please do). Also, awesome role model and witty interviewee. I got to the Festival early on Sunday, and a really nice guy gave me, my mom, and Kate (another friend, as well as falcon!) tickets for free because he couldn’t use them. Shoutout to him. You rock, random guy!!

Veronica Roth’s interviewer’s first question was about the differences between the Divergent book and its movie counterpart, the totally necessary bits of the story the moviemakers so conveniently forgot. How did Ms. Roth feel about these glaring omissions? Was she aware the movie would so completely makeover her literary child? An overeager fan in the second row, ripe with the thrill of being a mere ten feet from Veronica, and caught in the heat of the moment, stood and shouted, “Uriah!” For those of you who haven’t read Divergent yet (You really should read it! Like, right now.) Uriah is this funny, nice, cool guy friend of the main character Tris. He’s not a hugely big part, but he’s got a few important scenes. Anyway, the movie people? They left him out. This was a gigantic disappointment for all the people who were hoping that the movie would be even slightly like the book (yep, I was one of you). Anyway, when the fan shouted “Uriah!” Veronica and her interviewer both just laughed. The interviewer was just like, “No, I meant the Dauntless cake.” (Not worth explaining. PLEASE READ THE BOOK NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T YET.) So then there was this collective laugh that, like, rippled across the audience. And the whole interview was basically like that. Really, really good. Veronica Roth has a ton of really cool ideas about family, feminism, and asking questions. I don’t want to spoil anything, in case you ever see her talk, but let me just say, if you ever get the opportunity to see her, take it.

So, yeah. That was my third year going to the Los Angeles Festival of Books. It’s always really fun. Even if you’re not crazy about reading. Just try going. Also, please check out John and Veronica. They’re awesome. Anyway, yay reading!