The Fault in Our Stars (2012)

Green's legions of fans — self-proclaimed geeks who’ve adopted the tag ''nerdfighters'' — will be pleased to know that the author’s unique brand of brainy, youthful humor shines in The Fault in Our Stars despite tackling illness and death. Sixteen-year-old Hazel ­Lancaster is no saintly terminal cancer patient. She relies on sarcasm to get her through mind-numbing support-group meetings until she meets Augustus Waters, who lost his right leg to osteosarcoma yet remains ''dead sexy.'' Hazel and Augustus realize they don't just have cancer in common; they also share a love for violent ­videogames and a nihilistic Dutch author. Their ensuing love story is as real as it is doomed, and the gut-busting laughs that come early in the novel make the luminous final pages all the more heartbreaking. A-