Favorite Books and Current Reads

[Trifkin]

[Reynard-Miri]

For a second there, I thought Pump Six and Other Stories might be a Prachett book. Nope. T_T

[Maxine MagicFox]

nothing that interests

Also I find myself reading and absolutely enjoying the Sookie Stackhouse novels.


... I'm so ashamed of myself.

(not really spoilers)

[zamisk]

SPOILER ALERT

But I won't read that list because surprises.

[Starfe]

So I'm almost done reading Mockingjay. Am I alone in thinking that Katniss is not only the least interesting character in these books but also totally impossible to sympathize with? I just don't fucking feel bad for her, shes a shitty person. I know shes supposed to have been hardened by her years trying to support her family in The Seam, and that shes a teenager (with PTSD!) so she can't really be expected to have appropriate emotional responses about anything, but MY GOD.

[Maxine MagicFox]

o_O I thought Katniss and her emotional state was the only redeeming feature in the story. Otherwise, it was a solid C worthy book. I kinda wish that the author had taken some more time with the story and actually figured out what she wanted. The book felt just so underdeveloped and rushed.


As for Sookie Stackhouse... I got annoyed with the series and its constant threat of rape for the poor character. I know its vampires and a kinda sex thriller novel but... the rape thing was getting really REALLY old. I only made it to half of the third book.... go figure. oh well. I'll prolly pick it up again... there were a few redeeming qualities.


I picked up Shadow of Night from the library... ^_^ NOW THIS is how a vampire love story should be done. *drools* Already half way through the book. T-T It's going to end so soon, isn't it? ... Well.. I only half two weeks to read it. *sigh*

[Trifkin]

I felt the same way about Katniss. So many if her reactions were so... surprising might be the word, I guess. Unrelatable is definitely a good one. It didn't seem natural for her to look at someone crying and just be disgusted at how weak they were being. Meanie! Dx

[Starfe]

[zamisk]

I liked Suzanne Collin's earlier series growing up, it was better.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I dunno Starfe. I think you are missing some aspects of the book in there. That she has PTSD is just one aspect of her. I don't think it's being reestablished over and over so much as it's just part of the story. She HAS ptsd and these are the events that are happening around her. The story isn't about fleshing out characters. The characters have been developed as far as they are going to be. The book is about how

[Starfe]

Thats all well and good, but its all very boring and predictable to me. I'm not saying you're wrong or anything, and you've probably put more thought into it than I have. My opinions on this probably vary wildly from many other peoples because I don't typically read YA literature. I was looking for something easy and uncomplicated to read after I finished reading HP, since I don't have a lot of free time, and thought these would work. Unfortunately they're easier and less complicated than I had anticipated, and they suffer for that, in my eyes.

The first book, while the writing isn't as refined as the latter two (though maybe I just hate the first person present, and got used to it), had a more interesting and engaging plot, and actually had tension. There was something there that made me want to turn the pages. After that everything seemed to stagnate, and repeat, and maybe, as you said, thats intentional. By book 3 I found myself predicting everything before it would happen. Even if the details were obscured, the general action and outcome always seemed inevitable. And as you're saying, given the cyclical nature of the plot, it makes sense for those things to be inevitable, but it didn't make for interesting reading, at least not for me. I'm not saying I need to be surprised on every page, but the predictability made the tension almost non-existent. I turned pages out of a desire to finish it, rather than a desire to read it.

As for Panem as a character. I can totally see that, but I would have preferred much more detail about the country if that was to be the case. It kind of bothered me how so many districts just get a passing reference. This may just be my problem in general, if I see world building, I want some detailed world building. I guess the rushed nature of the series makes that difficult. Really its probably more about my attitude than the book itself.

Anyway. I may be totally wrong, this is just the feeling I got while reading the third book. I just felt really disappointed, and thought it might have worked better if it wasn't from Katniss' point of view, because I think she is super boring.

Also, I assumed the "Coin" thing was meant to mean "two sides of the same coin". The cyclical thing makes sense as well.

[Maxine MagicFox]

^_^ Oh that's fine. I can still understand the opinion of still being disappointed. Even with my thoughts and feelings and having enjoyed it a little more, I still feel like she would have done far better with the book if she had given herself 300 more pages. Even 100 more pages.

One of the things that I do like about the story is that


Also, I've always disagreed with the books rating as YA. Not that I don't think YA can appreciate it, but it does put a certain impression on it. Somehow it doesn't seem right that Hunger Games should sit on the same bookshelf not far from books like Percy Jackson. Our poor small library has the books propped up on the top of the shelf sitting in between a display of Peter Pan and Ranger's Apprentice.

[Trifkin]

Started reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. It is so good! Strongest first sentence/paragraph/page/chapter I've read in a long time.

[Kinokokao]

Ginn Hale has a new book out, The Rifter: Book One, The Shattered Glass.

Exciting <3

[Maxine MagicFox]

I have a book that I want to recommend to EVERYONE.



My sister picked this book in the library during the summer and have since tried to get me to read it. I have been too busy with others to pay attention. Then dad convinced me to purchase the book on the nook so he could read it.

Then not so long ago Rissa convinced me to purchase the second book for her in paper back form (she had begged for it for a few months). Wouldn't you know it, not even hardly a week later dad wanted it for the nook - finally convinced mom to get it since I'm like "T-T my money... just read the paperback!!" And just recently he finished off the third book. According to him the third book was a little worrisome but ended on a very good note and he can not WAIT for the fourth/prequel book to be released.

I finally sat down and plowed my way through the book. o_o OMG! What a treasure my sister found! I'm so sad I didn't read it sooner. I'm 10 pages away from finishing it and my head is reeling. WHAT THE HECK?!!

This book has definitely earned its place on my "Precious to Me" shelf on my good reads account.

There are ways that I want to say this book is perfect for Hunger Game fans but... it's NOTHING like Hunger Games. And it's far more demented. It's like the author read Hunger Games, put it down and said "Not fucked up enough. Let me show you how it's done."

It was enjoyable and I recommend everyone pick it up to read it.