2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green.

Pages: 198 pages

Length: 1 month (September)

Participants: Elaine, Beth

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

This is still on hold from the library, but I just realized it's available on Spotify! Starting it today.

I really enjoyed this one. It's an incredibly frustrating read to learn that this is completely treatable disease and yet still the world's #1 infectious disease killer. Aside from that, Green uses a number of techniques--statistics, history, personal perspective, case studies, etc--to tell the story of this ruthless killer and its impact on human beings through time.

I have to say that I had the same reaction as Green initially: "Is that still a thing?" It is.

Some of the quotes that hit me the hardest:

“What's different now from 1804 or 1904 is that tuberculosis is curable, and has been since the mid-1950s. We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world.”

“And so we have entered a strange era of human history: A preventable, curable infectious disease remains our deadliest. That's the world we are currently choosing.”

“People who are treated as less than fully human by the social order are more susceptible to tuberculosis but it’s not because of their moral codes or choices or genetics, it’s because they are treated as less than fully human by the social order.”

“We cannot address TB only with vaccines and medications. We cannot address it only with comprehensive STP programs. We must also address the root cause of tuberculosis, which is injustice. In a world where everyone can eat, and access healthcare, and be treated humanely, tuberculosis has no chance. Ultimately, we are the cause.

We must also be the cure.”

I am still waiting on my hold. Looking like I should have it sometime in early October so I am still planning on reading and reporting back.