Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

I know, I'm a little slow. I just got around to reading these books and people have been talking about The Hunger Games for a couple years now. Well, I'm glad I waited because I read all three in less than a week and I really enjoyed reading them back to back.

Because I read them so close together, I honestly would probably get the plots confused and forget where one book ended and the other began, but here's a brief synopsis of the trilogy:

Katniss Everdeen is the main character, a 16 year old girl who lives in what is known as District 12. There are 12 districts in this fantasy country, supposedly where the United States is right now. The 12 districts basically feed the Capitol. Each district is responsible for a certain industry. District 12 mines coal. In order to keep the districts in line, every year the Capitol hosts "The Hunger Games": a gladiator-like competition where 2 kids from each district (24 total) are thrown in an arena and have to kill each other. The last survivor wins. Clearly the districts don't like participating in this, but have no ability to fight the Capitol, so they send their children each year to this awful spectacle.

I can't really tell you much more, otherwise I'll ruin it. But you can guess that Katniss is a participant in the Hunger Games in the first book, and if she's going to be in the next 2 books, you can bet she wins! Basically she ends up helping the rebels fight against the Capitol to stop their totalitarian control of the country. I LOVED the twist at the end of Mockingjay. I wasn't prepared for it at all and thought it brought a great conclusion to the series.

I wasn't dying over these books like some people are as of late. Apparently, I have read too much young adult fiction. These were just like "Among the Hidden", "The Giver" and even "Ender's Game". Clearly, teenagers really relate to these societies in which the citizens feel no control over the way everything is set up. Teenagers often get really upset at clearly morally wrong things. As an adult reading these books, I can't help but ask more questions like "are there no other countries in this world?". I think that's why they are written as young adult fiction, because adults would demand more explanation and you can keep it simple with young adults.

That being said, they are very well written, full of suspense, and entertaining to read. I highly recommend them. I am so mad to find out they are being made into a movie. Seriously?! Why can't a book just stay a book instead of becoming material for Hollywood? I'm sure they'll make it PG-13 because it needs to be available for the young adult audience, but they are so violent that it really should be R (if it were to be shown exactly how it is written). I think it's so sad that any popular book has to become a movie so the whole country can enjoy it. Why can't people just read the book to enjoy it? I still haven't seen any of the Twilight movies just to boycott the whole thing!

Brisingr

I finally read the 3rd book in the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini. Fantasy has to be my all time favorite genre, and I have enjoyed reading this series. I was too cheap to buy the hardback, and so I was waiting for it to come out in paperback. But my mom was returning it to my nephew Caleb, and I snagged it up before she had a chance. Originally there was only going to be 3 books in the series, but apparently the author had too much to say, so it became 4.

This book was a little like Harry Potter 5 for me, in that it seemed to be a bridge or segway between books. It was kind of anti-climatic. There was a lot explained in the book, but not a lot of action. It was definitely kind of slow in the middle, which is probably why it took me so long to finish. That being said, I really enjoyed it and look forward to the last one coming out. (I'm not going to hold my breath though, because I'm sure it'll be a while).

My favorite fantasy author of this kind is Terry Brooks. I think he's a lot less wordy and does just as good a job as painting a picture for you. Terry Brooks' books have druids and magic, elves and dwarves, just like Christopher Paolini, but I prefer them. If you like fantasy, try the Shannara series.

Now I'm on to another book. I think I might try the classic "Rebecca". We'll see!

The Twilight Saga Ends: Breaking Dawn

So I finally finished Breaking Dawn last night, the last of 4 books in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. If you haven't heard of these books before, I would question where you've been in the last couple years! I read the first 3 thinking that it was a trilogy and couldn't believe she ended it the way she did, until I found out it wasn't the end! This book has been much anticipated by Meyer's fans and I was frustrated it got released the week I went back to work!

If you have not read this series before, I highly recommend it. It's really a romance novel, but not the trashy kind. She is a fantastic author--very quick reading and she gives the characters such personalities that make them so believable. If you have not read Breaking Dawn yet, I would stop reading right now, because I will be giving some things away and you don't want to spoil it!

I don't know if it's just because I'm in a different place now, hormonal or feeling like throwing up every 5 minutes, but I don't think I liked this book as much as the others. There were a couple things I just couldn't get past, and so it bugged me the whole time. First of all, I just couldn't help but think "Is there really such love out there? Can anyone really love another as unconditionally as Bella and Edward?" I mean, I love my husband, but would I really go through all of that for him? Not sure. Maybe it just shows you how unloving I am. The first three books had gooshy romance in them too, and for some reason I bought it--so I think it's just me right now!

Second, I just could not believe Edward could get Bella pregnant. If you don't have blood pumping in your body, or oxygen, how can you have living sperm? It just didn't make sense to me. I know it's not supposed to be realistic, but come on. I just couldn't get past it!

And last, if they knew they had a month before the Volturi came to them, why didn't they go to the Volturi? I understand that the month gave them time to prepare, but it just seemed like they could have taken a flight and been there in a day, trying to clear everything up. Why did they stay and wait for the Volturi?

That being said, I really did like the conclusion of the saga. Everyone ends up being happy in the end. I love that Bella was suited to be a vampire and that her relationship with Jacob is resolved because of Renesmee. (By the way, any ideas on how to actually say that?) It doesn't make you feel so bad that she lost her "normal" human life because she was supposed to be a vampire all along.

Oh, and one last thing--reading how Bella's pregnancy went makes me feel not so bad about mine. At least the baby inside of me isn't inadvertantly trying to kill me! (Morning sickness still sucks though--I just threw up again about 5 minutes ago).

So those of you who have read it, I want to hear your comments! What did you think?

BOOKS I READ IN CABO

In May, Rusty and I went to Cabo San Lucas for a week's vacation. It was much needed at the end of the year and enabled me tons of time to read! We spent most of the week sitting on the beach or by the pool just reading! I thought I'd share some of the books I read while I was down there.

Here we are on Lover's Beach at the tip of the Baja California.

Marley and Me

This book by John Grogan is a must read for dog lovers! Even if you aren't a dog lover, you will enjoy this book. It's the first one I read on my trip and it's a very quick read. Grogan puts together a collection of vignettes about his crazy dog Marley. The subtitle of the book is "life and love with the world's worst dog". I can totally relate to him, having many trials with our dog Sandy. She is definitely like Marley in many ways, mostly in the way she won our hearts. At the end of the book Grogan talks about Marley's health declining and all the money they spent on helping him. Although Sandy's not old, we just spent a good chunk of change having her knee rebuilt. The things we do for our dogs! Be prepared though, it's a tear jerker. I was sitting by the pool next to Rusty while reading the saddest part of the book. I kept trying to wipe my eyes behind my sunglasses in an inconspicuous way, as to not draw attention to the fact I was crying! And some of you may have heard, this book is being made into a movie with Owen Wilson as John and Jennifer Anniston as his wife. It should be pretty funny!

Our Marley, Sandy on Christmas of last year.

Neverwhere

I picked this book up at the public library for $.50--I love the "Friends of the Library" where you can get used books really cheap! Anyway, it looked interesting to me and I had heard of the author, Neil Gaiman, because he wrote a children's book a few years ago called Coraline. I started reading Coraline but never finished it for some reason. Anyway, he is a science fiction/fantasy writer (right up my alley!). He's also British and the story is set in the underground of London (another plus! I actually had been to some of the places he talks about in the book). This is a very strange book. I really enjoyed it, but if there were one word to describe it it would be "dark". The protagonist, Richard, is just a normal guy, engaged to be married. While going on a date with his fiancee, he runs into a girl who appears to be hurt on the sidewalk. He takes her home and cares for her. This random act of kindness connects him to a different world that exists in the underground passages of London. The girl ends up being from a kind of royal family in this world and there are people trying to kill her. There's a lot more to the story, but you'll have to read it to see if Richard stays living in this "otherworld" or comes back to his normal life above ground! I thought it was very interesting and unlike any fantasy I had read before.

The Lightning Thief

This is a kid's book (young adult, actually). Written by Rick Riordan, it is the first in a series called "Percy Jackson The Olympians" series. I had heard about it from a colleague of mine because it deals with Greek mythology and that's part of the sixth grade curriculum. It's a very good book, and I would recommend it to kids who like fantasy. Rusty hates it when I read kids books, but I'm sorry, I think they're just as good as adult books sometimes! Riordan does a great job building believable characters in a somewhat believable world. It was written in 2005, and I can't help but wonder if he was inspired by J.K. Rowling in that way. Percy Jackson is a half-god (his father was a Greek god--I won't tell you who and spoil it). He doesn't know he is until he's about 12. Then he goes to a camp for half-gods like himself. They're trained by Chiron (the guy who trained Hercules). There's a lot of adventure in the book, even getting him to the camp is an ordeal. Because the setting is contemporary, you almost think that Percy could be a real person and you might have half-gods and characters from Greek mythology around you and you just don't recognize them!

I haven't read the other books in the series because I bought the 3rd book at our school's book fair, but I don't have the 2nd one yet! (And I cannot read a series out of order!)

I read another book, but I can't remember which and I need to go, so maybe later!

Another Fantasy Series...

A couple weeks ago it was our anniversary. We went to Chipotle for dinner and then, of course, the bookstore afterwards! It was a used bookstore and I found lots of neat things there. One that really excited me was the last book in a series about King Arthur. I had read the first 3 books when I was either in high school or college. At the time, I had to go to used bookstores to find them because they were not easily found and as far as I knew there was no Amazon.com yet! I really enjoyed reading the first 3 and thought that there were only 3 books in the series. I never gave it another thought until I found this one.

The book is titled "The Wicked Day" by Mary Stewart. Mary Stewart is a Scottish author and wrote this book in 1983. The first book in the series "The Crystal Cave" was written in 1970. The second and third are "The Hollow Hills" and "The Last Enchantment". Not all of the books are about King Arthur. In fact, the first one is all about Merlin: how he was born, how he got his powers, etc. I really don't remember a lot of details about the first 3 books because I read them so long ago. I was tempted to read them over before reading the 4th, but decided I had too many other books I hadn't read yet this summer, so I didn't want to waste time reading ones I already had. It worked out ok--I don't think I needed to in order to understand the story.

This story (The Wicked Day) is mostly about King Arthur's illegitimate child, Mordred. He was conceived when Arthur's half sister Morgause tempted Arthur to sleep with her (he didn't know he was related to her at the time). The baby was raised by foster parents and doesn't come to Morgause's court until he's 10. The illegitimate kid wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that Guenivere, Arthur's wife, was barren and didn't give him any heirs. There's tons more to the story, but in the end Arthur and Mordred fight for the title of High King. I won't ruin the end for you.

Mary Stewart obviously used some factual information to give basis to her story, but most of it is literary license. It doesn't really matter to me because no one really knows much about King Arthur anyway. It's a typical medieval story: incest, adultery, murder, greed, magic, you know! This series is by far the best Arthur story I've read. There are lots out there, but these just have fantastic plots, great descriptive language and interesting characters. It's definitely no "Sword and the Stone" (one of my favorite Disney movies).

Unlike the Narnia series, this is not for kids! But if you're interested in fantasy and a little historical fiction, I highly recommend this series. If you don't want to read the entire 4 books, read the first one "The Crystal Cave". It's excellent. Thanks Mom for the suggestion so many years ago that is entertaining me still!

My Latest Read: The Chronicles of Narnia

A few weeks ago, I took my niece Hannah to see Prince Caspian. (Rusty didn't want to see it). It was a great movie and I thought they did an excellent job with it. I had seen the first one (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) when it came out with my class at the time. I had read the book to my students during school and then arranged to meet them at the movie theaters to see it together. Amazingly, before that year, I had never read any of the Narnia books. I know, who goes through childhood not having read them? Especially the kind of reader I was. I know we had the books at home, but for some reason they just didn't appeal to me.

So after seeing Prince Caspian with Hannah, I thought, "I should read the whole series". So I began! I read The Magician's Nephew, which describes how Narnia becomes connected with our world in the first place. (The magician's nephew is the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The Professor actually brings the White Witch accidentally with him to Narnia. He, and the people traveling with him, witness the birth of Narnia.

This series was written by a Christian author who disguises Christian idealogy in his stories. The first book is about the Creation. The second is about Christ's sacrifice. The third book (The Horse and His Boy) is about a journey home, life I guess? The fourth, Prince Caspian, is another about good vs. evil. And the fifth, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about finding where God lives. I haven't read the last two yet.

Ok, here's my opinion. I think they are great kids books. And the Christian ideology is not obvious. I had to point out the connection to Hannah because she didn't get it on her own. They're good stories with a good message in each of them. I don't know if it's because I'm reading them as an adult or what, but I found the language to be lacking. I don't think C.S. Lewis was all that great in his descriptions of characters, setting or plot. They're very simply written. For kids, this is a good thing! It's also a good thing for the movie makers, because they can imbellish the story and make it even better. (For example, I thought Prince Caspian the movie was better than the book. And I never think the movie is better than the book!)

All in all, I'd recommend the series as one kids should read, and maybe families should read together. There are a lot of discussion abilities in each book. For example, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a character gets turned into a dragon by mistake. The dragon has to shed his skin, and Eustace doesn't know how to do it, so he gently takes off a layer. Aslan (God) tells him to do it again. He does it about 5 times before Aslan finally goes to Eustace and does it for him. He digs his lion claws deep into the skin and pulls it off. It's painful at first, but Eustace feels so much better afterwards. So, what do you think this is referring to? What was C.S. Lewis trying to share by this scene? I won't give it away, but I'll let you think about it!

Let me know if you've read these books and your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

Nancy