Looking for Alaska
by John Green
★ Top 5 book of 2005 · #4 on Best Books of 2005
Miles "Pudge" Halter leaves his safe life for Culver Creek Boarding School, where he is swept up by the magnetic and self-destructive Alaska Young. The story is split around an event that changes everything afterward.
Best for: Teen and young adult readers who like emotional coming-of-age stories about first love
Looking for Alaska is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 2005, out of 52 2005 books that cleared our data bar.
What Looking for Alaska is about
Miles Halter, known as Pudge, is tired of a safe life at home that he describes as one big non-event. He collects famous last words, and he is hungry for what Rabelais called "the Great Perhaps." So he leaves for Culver Creek Boarding School, where the girl down the hall is Alaska Young: gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive and screwed up. She pulls Miles into her world and steals his heart. The story is divided into "Before" and "After," and nothing is ever the same once the dividing line is crossed. John Green's novel is a wry, emotional tale of first love and the pull between risk and safety. It suits teenagers and adult readers who enjoy a coming-of-age story with a melancholy edge.
Looking for Alaska on the Best Books of 2005
Looking for Alaska came out in 2005. Of the 52 books first published in 2005 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #4 on our Best Books of 2005 list.
Why it made the list: 1,783 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (129 ratings); 67 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 2005 list
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling, #2
- The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, #3
- Eldest Christopher Paolini, #5
- Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, #6
See all Best Books of 2005 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2004 Best Books of 2006.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 1,504 want to read it, 67 are reading it now and 212 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 129 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 94 | 55% |
| Reader love | 65 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 92 | 20% |
Questions about Looking for Alaska
When was Looking for Alaska published?
Looking for Alaska by John Green was first published in 2005.
Was Looking for Alaska one of the best books of 2005?
Looking for Alaska is #4 on BookWard's Best Books of 2005, out of 52 2005 books that cleared our data bar. 1,783 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (129 ratings); 67 are reading it right now.
Why is Looking for Alaska on the Best Books of 2005 list?
1,783 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (129 ratings); 67 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2005
- The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan, #1
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling, #2
- The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, #3
- Eldest Christopher Paolini, #5
- Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, #6
- Twilight Stephenie Meyer, #7
See the full Best Books of 2005, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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