Thoughts on my list...

When I started this blog I had every intention of reading all of the books on the list that I found online of all of the books Rory Gilmore mention on Gilmore Girls. I have since come to the realization thanks to my birthday present (an awesome Nook that I absolutely LOVE) and Goodreads that there are so many other books I want to read. Additionally, half of the books on that list don't even sound interesting to me. So, I have decided to abandon the list. Not completely, there are still some awesome books on there that I want to read, I just don't plan to read ones like One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch or A Passage to India (which I have tried so hard to read and just cannot get into).

The moral of this story is that life is too short and there are too many books to read that I don't want to waste my time reading boring ones just to prove that I can read every book on some silly list. From now on I'll be reviewing books I feel like reading, which will probably be a lot of plays, Young Adult lit, books about education, every book in the Wizard of Oz series, as much Stephen King as is humanly possible, perhaps some classics, and some contemporary literature as well.

Just as a side note, while on this cross-country drive to Arizona, I have stayed in a hotel for the first time since reading The Shining and I have to say it was a little freaky when we were first walking down the hall to our room. I was afraid I might get attacked by a fire hose, but then realized that was quite absurd as I don't think those have been used in hotels in a very long time and our hotel was less than a year old.

I would love to get book recommendations from anyone who reads this blog, which for all I know might be no one at all, and if that is the case at least I'll be able to look back on all of the awesome books I've read!

"I want a schedule-keeping, waking-up-early, wallet-carrying, non-Velcro-shoe-wearing man.”

I will just start out by saying that Mindy Kaling and I could be best friends if we were ever given the opportunity. I loved her on The Office and I adore The Mindy Project -- I haven't missed an episode. As I soon as I started flipping the electronic pages of her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? on my Nook, I didn't want to stop. I found myself nodding in agreement with pretty much everything she said. She is so funny and the way she writes is so real. I would say that I related to her so well, but that would make my life seem much cooler than it really is.

Some of my favorite quotes include:

"This book will take you two days to read. Did you even see the cover? It's mostly pink. If you're reading this book every night for months, something is not right." 

This just gives the reader an idea of the mildly-snarky and completely hilarious comments to expect in this book.

"Teenage girls, please don’t worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful..."

So, so true! This is what I will tell my students when they are feeling self-conscious or even when they are starting to get a big head about "being a star." Sure, maybe I remember who the popular kids were in high school but not one person cares about that stuff now. Not anyone who matters to me anyways.

"I’m only marginally qualified to be giving advice at all. My body mass index is certainly not ideal, I frequently use my debit card to buy things that cost less than three dollars because I never have cash on me, and my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the Anthropologie Sale section. I’m kind of a mess.” 

Ummm, amen. Does anyone carry around cash anymore? Honestly, I'm scared that someone will steal my wallet so I don't ever have cash with me. Does that make me paranoid? Maybe. I have 26 dollars in my wallet right now because I returned something to CVS that I paid for with my debit card and they just gave me cash instead of putting it back on the card, but it has been quite a while since I've had that amount in my wallet. Also, my room is always a mess.

“It makes me cry because it means that fewer and fewer people are believing it's cool to want what I want, which is to be married and have kids and love each other in a monogamous, long-lasting relationship.” 

Thank you! It is so nice to know that there are people out there that still think marriage and having kids is important.


She also writes a chapter about a photo shoot she did for People magazine in which she arrived to find three dozen beautiful size zero dresses and one that would have been her size which was a navy blue dress that "looked like what Judi Dench might wear to the funeral she didn't care that much about." I love how honest she is about how she feels about her weight. She mentions several things about being a chubby child and being between "model skinny" and "super fat and fabulously owning her hugeness" as an adult. It was so refreshing to read about someone in Hollywood that is ok with being a normal-sized American woman. I believe all women (especially young women) need to hear things like this to let them know it's alright not to be teeny tiny and that you don't have to be a bean pole to be successful in life.

I am a crier. I don't know why, maybe I'm just an overly emotional person, but there are very few days that go by that something doesn't at least make me tear up a little bit. It can be a movie, a book, a song, or something as small as reminiscing on good (or not so good) times in my life. I've always been kind of embarrassed by it, but no longer because guess what? Mindy says she cries at least 5 times a week. This makes me feel a little more normal, or at least like there are other people in the world that are uber sensitive. 

For fans of Bossypants by Tina Fey definitely give this book a try. Some critic wrote that Mindy is Tina Fey's "cooler younger sister" and I'd have to agree. This book is excellent. I recommend it to anyone and plan to use examples from it when I have to give pep talks to my female students. Thank you Mindy for writing such a down-to-earth and real book. I hope one day we can meet and become best friends.


 

Teenagers. Everything is so apocalyptic.

I remember seeing a preview for the film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures, within a few days, the book found its way into my cart at Target. I started the book on February 12 and finished it yesterday. So, it only took me about 4 1/2 months to read it!

That intro probably makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the book at all, but I actually really liked it. The first 250 pages were ROUGH. The authors kept hinting at a plot line, but it felt like it was never going to solidify. After reading the first 200 pages and struggling to decide whether or not to even keep reading it. So, I did what I never like to do and I Redboxed the movie. I hate to watch a movie before reading the book, but in this case I did it to see if the story was going to eventually get more interesting. After watching the movie, I decided to continue to read and after several more lackluster chapters, the story finally started to get good.

This book is very much like Twilight in the fact that the two "lovers" should never be together because one is mortal and the other is a supernatural being. This series, however is told from the male lead's perspective. He still gets sappy and says things like "I kissed her because I felt like I must. It was like breathing," and "Why did I think about her every second? Why was I so much happier the instant I saw her?" That lovey stuff is not written as often as it is in Twilight.

OK, I have to preface this with the fact that I am a crier. I cry in just about any movie or TV show that could possibly tug at your heartstrings. So, you've probably guessed that I cried while reading this book. Now I'm not talking about a Harry Potter cry, but there were some parts when Ethan was explaining what it was like to lose his mother and how hard it was for him and I did have some tears.

When I first started this book, I thought to myself that I probably wouldn't read the others but since I was already 200 pages in I had to finish the first one, but now I'm already 50 pages into the sequel! If you saw the movie but have not read the book, just know that even though the movie was alright (I'd give it a B-) the book was SO MUCH better. As I was reading the book, I found myself asking why they even felt the need to change certain things. It was kind of like The Lightning Thief movie, it was fine, but so different from the book when it really didn't need to be.

Here are my last words on this one: read it if you liked Twilight because I feel like it's kind of like it, but with a much cooler story. Witches > Vampires.

At the Edge of Chaos, Unexpected Outcomes Occur

Michael Crichton's The Lost World did not disappoint! I was worried because the movie was really lame. Not lame enough that I don't ever want to watch it again, but the movie pails in comparison to the book. The book was fabulous! I think I loved it even more than Jurassic Park.


My favorite character in both books is Ian Malcolm and he is pretty much the main character in The Lost World, so that's probably why I loved it so much. It was suspenseful and gruesome and chock full of dinos, which are my favorite creatures and I wish I could actually meet one. I guess the closest I'll get to meeting one is reading these books, so I'll keep them on my shelf to enjoy every couple of years!

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the movie. It's a little scientific, but less scientific than the first book. If you like dinosaurs, these two books are great and terrifying and overall two of my favorites out there!

Because We Weren't Like Other People. We Were Peculiar.

I just finished Ready Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and I have to say I really liked it. There are very few reviews on Goodreads that are praiseworthy. I think most people are generally disappointed because it isn't as creepy as its cover makes it out to be. I mean, this is a young adult novel, so I hope people aren't reading this and expecting Stephen King.

In the beginning, it's suspenseful and it's pretty eerie, after a certain point (which I won't divulge since I don't want spoilers here) it is really about a boy trying to solve this mystery about his grandfather and where he spent his childhood.

The book uses 50 vintage photographs to show these peculiar children and other scenes, which I thought was so interesting. At the end of the book there was an interview with the author and he said that he spent hours looking through photographs to decide which ones he would use and that probably over 100,000 vintage photos passed through his hands while he was deciding. That is amazing to me!

Also, the interviewer asked where he came up with the idea for his book. He told them that most of the time there is no way to trace back in his thoughts how he came up with his ideas, but that this book was different. He said that he really likes vintage photography and that he felt like the most interesting and many times creepy photos were ones of children. He found himself wondering who the children were, and that since he had no way of finding out, he decided to make up their life stories and create a novel about them. How neat is that??

I think that would be an awesome project to use as a teacher. Give each student a vintage photo and have them create a character based on that photo. Who is this person? What is their life like? Do they have a good family life? Do they enjoy school? What do they do for fun? I mean, that is some serious character development work!

Anyways, if you like YA fiction and science-fiction-y, paranormal kind of stuff, I definitely recommend this to you. I read somewhere that this series was supposed to be the new Harry Potter. I don't know that I'd go THAT far, but I did really enjoy the book. ,

"Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters."

Let me start by saying I have never seen the film, "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson and I didn't know anything about the story before I started reading it. I think that is the best way to approach books that have been made into movies. 

Here's a basic plot summary: 

Jack Torrance is dismissed from his teaching position after physically harming a student. He has had trouble finding a new job because of this, and the fact that he is a raging alcoholic. A friend of his (a drinking buddy, in fact) gets him a job as the caretaker of The Overlook Hotel during its off-season. The hotel is in Colorado way on top of a mountain where snow abounds during the winter months. Jack takes his wife (Wendy) and has a 5-year-old son (Danny) along with him to the hotel. Danny has a special ability referred to as The Shining. Basically, he can read thoughts and he sometimes has visions of things (most of the time unpleasant) that could happen in the future. 
  
Before they even arrive, Danny has a "shine" that makes him worry about living at The Overlook, but he knows this is exactly what his Daddy needs to get back into the work force, so he doesn't say anything. However, when they get to The Overlook, it is obvious that something is very strange. Danny sees things and things happen to him that are unexplainable and it really starts to worry Wendy, so she begins to come up with ideas on how to get Danny to a safer place. Without giving too much away, that doesn't really go to well, because what The Overlook wants, The Overlook is going to have. 

This book is terrifying! I seriously only read it during daylight hours and I'm kind of having a hard time blogging about it right now my dark bedroom. But it was so good (so good). I don't know what Stephen King's deal is with the italics and parentheses, but I love it. 

This novel is reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." Just as Roderick and Madeline are connected to their home, Jack has a connection to The Overlook, rather The Overlook has a connection with whomever it chooses. The way that The Overlook progressively takes control of Jack Torrance shows King's superb, suspenseful writing skills. The way his character was tormented by his memories and goaded by hallucinations of past hotel patrons and staff added so much not only to his character development, but also to the story itself. Sometimes when there is a lot of back story, I find it uninteresting, but in this case, every detail that King shares about Jack's childhood or his past in general truly helped the reader to feel fully immersed in his world.

The end is of this book is especially suspenseful and there were countless moments when I just couldn't believe what was happening until it was resolved. I literally had continuous goosebumps for the final 150-200 pages. I'm sure my mother will think this is disturbing because all of his books are morbid and have killing and other scary things in them, but I believe I've found a new author I can list among my favorites. I loved Carrie and I loved The Shining even more!

"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."

Finished #334, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz today and I absolutely devoured it. I read a total of 135 pages today. I couldn't put it down, or rather, I didn't want to. I have been such a fan of the film since I was a little girl and I played Dorothy in my elementary school production of The Wizard of Oz, but I've never read the book before. Shame on me, I know, because I'm an English teacher. But, now I've rectified that huge mistake and I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

There wasn't anything I didn't like, but one thing that was a little odd to me is that Dorothy is a rather flat character. Judy Garland gave her so much more to love than was included in the novel. Not that I didn't like Dorothy, she was just a little bit boring, much more boring than the rest of her companions. Even Toto was more interesting than Dorothy in some chapters.

Things I liked:

1. I loved the way Baum used color in the novel. I liked that each place that Dorothy went had a specific color associated with it. I also really liked that the Emerald City wasn't really green. It was an interesting twist that I didn't really expect. It was just another thing that made the people of Oz believe that the Wizard was this great magician that he actually isn't.

2. The irony of each of the companions wanting something they already have (brains, a heart, and courage). Each of those characters already have the thing they seek. The Scarecrow is constantly coming up with ideas to help the group, the Tin Woodman is very caring (he even cried and consequently rusts himself when he accidentally steps on a small bug) and the Cowardly Lion was always willing to protect the group.

While I was reading this book, I was reminded of a lot of details from Wicked (the novel). I have just started reading Wicked again and I am really excited to see all of the connections between Baum's original Oz and the expanded Oz that Maguire created.

I can't wait to read this book to my kids! Everyone should read this book!

"I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is."

This one isn't on my list, but I've wanted to read it for a long time since I'm such a fan of the movie. Last month I read, well listened to, Forrest Gump. It was just as endearing as the movie if not more.

Things I liked:

1. First of all, the man that read it did a great job in the dramatization. His southern drawl was excellent and he read as if he were an "idiot," in his words, not mine.

2. I loved all of the extra adventures that were in the book that weren't in the movie. Forrest gets to be an astronaut and live with a tribe of cannibals and play harmonica in a band and he becomes a chess champion and an actor and a professional wrestler.

3. I liked that Jenny's son was NOT Forrest's baby, but that she named him Forrest Jr. since they were such close friends.

4. I like that Forrest ends up playing in a band after he becomes a successful businessman. He has made it in the world and realizes he was happier just playing his harmonica, so that's what he does.

Things I didn't like:

1. Mostly that he had a potty mouth. I was kind of expecting the Forrest from the movie when I read it, but the book Forrest was quite a bit more vulgar than the film one.

2. Also, this isn't something I didn't like about the book, but now that I've read it, I wish the movie would have been more accurate and I wish it would have followed the book a little more closely.

Overall, I loved it. If you are a fan of the film, you should read the book.

As he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became at least two inches longer.

I finished Pinocchio this morning and it was really enjoyable. It was an incredibly quick read, I started it on Sunday, and finished it this morning (which is a Wednesday).

Things I liked:

1. The lessons it teaches. The Disney movie teaches that you shouldn't lie, yes, but the book is always better than the movie, right? There were so many great lessons about hard work and trustworthiness. If I have little boys, I will definitely be reading this book to/with them.

2. The brevity of the chapters. I think the longest chapter was 4-5 pages long, most were only 2-3. Also, each chapter had a heading telling the reader what was going to happen, kind of like the scriptures have.

3. How loveable Pinocchio is. He tries so hard to be good, but he just struggles. I think he is a great representation of people in general, but especially young people who know they should do certain things and obey their parents, but they are overcome with the need to rebel or do what they want instead. In that way, we see, in the end that Pinocchio is changed into a "real boy" because he finally does what he is supposed to do, he works hard and cares for others. What an excellent moral.

Things I didn't like, well, thing I didn't like:

1. The illustrations in this specific edition were way creepy looking.

This is a delightful collection of stories about a loveable puppet and I would recommend it to anyone!

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs

The basic premise of this book is that the people on a small island off the coast of South Carolina "worship" Nevin Nollop, the author of the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." They have a statue in town that displays the sentence, a letter per tile. What happens is that the tiles start to fall down and as the letters fall, the government prohibits their use. The people on the island are no longer able to write, read, or speak the fallen letters, if they do, they are severely punished and made an example of in town. The story's main character is a young woman named Ella Minnow Pea, who, along with her family and friends, is trying to come up with a way to make the government see that they are being irrational and that they should reinstate the fallen letters.

Things I liked:

1. It is an epistolary novel (which means it is written solely in letters).

2. I learned so many new words, including the word epistolary, haha! I got to use my brain to figure out what some of the words meant.  I love his use of unusual words. A couple of my favorite words were piscivorous: which means feeding on fish (I figured this one out by dissecting the word, which I did often with other words while reading this novel) and aposiopesis which means suddenly breaking off when you are speaking (I just looked this one up because I didn't think my brain could even handle trying to figure that word out).

3. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't post details, but the ending was so good. The book was kind of boring, to be honest, but the ending was so cool. I got chills when I read it, and laughed out loud.

 Things I didn't like:

1. This book was not as exciting as I wanted it to be. The story was a little blah for me, I wanted to be invested in the characters more, but maybe the fact that it was written all in letters deterred me from being able to really get to know the characters, that and the fact that I didn't know anything about their lives prior to the letters falling, so I wasn't invested in the characters.

2. Towards the end when they had lost most of the alphabet, the characters wrote phonetically. I am fine with having to figure out some words phonetically, but I became a secondary teacher for a reason. When I was reading the correspondences in which the words were spelled out phonetically I just thought about my roommate from student teaching who taught first grade and how she constantly had to read phonetically to understand what her students were writing. In this novel, at first I kind of chuckled because I was having to read this way, but then it just became annoying.

Just an observation:

Very odd concept that the man, Nevin Nollop, who composed the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" is the higher being for the people on this island. They literally say that he is omniscient and omnipresent and that "his will be done." To me it seems ridiculous becauseof my own religious beliefs, but in this fictional land, they believe an author is a deity. Interesting.

As an English teacher, I love words and have studied language in depth, so I had an easier time than other people might reading this book. If you are not a fan of big words or dictionaries, I don't recommend this book to you. But if you find words loveable, give it a try! 

(and i think i could i think i could yes i think i could)

Finished #32 Carrie by Stephen King last night. It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down.

Things I liked:

1. I know this sounds weird, but I liked the weirdness of her family. The story wouldn't have been nearly as interesting without her overly religious mother. Her relationship with her mother was so odd, too. I guess it was just like any teenager, one minute they love their parents the next their parents are ruining their life. But it was more than that with Carrie and Margaret White. Her mother was cruel to her because she believed that Carrie's conception was a sin and when she saw that Carrie had these special abilities, it just made it even worse, her mother believed she was of the Devil, and even planned on more than one occasion to kill her. There were many times in the book when an article would say that it would have been helpful if they could know more about Margaret White, and I wish there was more about her in the book. In the end we finally learn why she sees Carrie as such a huge sin, but it would be so interesting to learn more about her mental state. Carrie constantly thought ill of her mother, and of course she even killed her mother, but at the end, right before she died, she cried out for her mother, even after she had been abused her entire life. I think that is so interesting, maybe I should have studied psychology.

2. Miss Desjardins and the principal of the school both fought for Carrie. However, it took them a while to do it. I guess it took all of the girls in her gym class making fun of her for getting her period for the first time for them to do something about the fact that they had been teasing and abusing her since grade school. I especially thought when the principal went up against Chris Hargensen's father and said if they sued the school, the school would counter sue for abuse against another student. I think it took a lot of guts to do that, and I'm glad that he did. As an educator, it really made me think about what I would have done in a situation like this and I think both the principal and the gym teacher handled things as well as they could have, other than the fact that it took them so long to finally stand up to the girls that were bullying Carrie.

3. Sue and Tommy, well, at least they meant well. Sue is a character that I feel like high school students should know about. With all of the bully prevention programs that are going on in the world, people should know about Sue Snell. She is a good person, and she realized that when she decided to stoop to the level of her peers in the showers, she had made a huge mistake. I admire her for deciding not to continue bullying and for trying to make things right. Poor Tommy, poor, poor Tommy. Honestly, he was just trying to do something nice for his girlfriend and for this girl that had been picked on and abused her entire life. It's sad that he had to die, but I honestly can't really blame Carrie for wanting to take her revenge on everyone at the prom. Would I have killed them all? Of course not, but she was pretty mentally unstable, and had years of pent up anger, and had to make the book interesting, so I understand.

4. The very last "letter" in the book was so chilling. It made you worry that another child was going to end up like Carrie. Spooky

Things I didn't like:

1. The other students were so horrible to her. I couldn't even believe the way they treated her just because her mother was so religious. I'm so glad I was never persecuted the way she was for being religious in a different way than most people. It made me so sad to see the way she was treated.

2. The only other thing was there was too much sex.

Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them. It's just that scientists haven't found the answer yet.

Last night I finished #54, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. I was really excited about reading it because it has gotten such high praise by almost everyone I know and even most critics. This post contains SPOILERS.

Things I liked:

1. I felt like I was reading a book written from the perspective of a person with Asperger's Syndrome. Haddon's voice for Christopher was spot on. I loved his way of deciding whether it would be a good day or a bad day because of how many yellow or red cars he saw. Just little things like that.

2. All of the pictures and diagrams. I liked that the author allowed us to visualize many things the way that Christopher did instead of the way I would see it.

3. His mother chose her child over Mr. Shears the second time around. I'm glad they ended up being able to work out a way to all live in the same town and even though his parents weren't together anymore, he still had both of them close.

4. The way they showed that they loved each other. Christopher didn't like to be touched, so instead of giving a hug, they would put out their hands and spread their fingers and then just touch fingertips. I thought that was really touching that even though he didn't want hugs or kisses from his parents, they found a way to show their affection.

5. All of the British slang and words that I kind of had to figure out what they meant as I was reading. A lot of them I knew, but it was still fun to decipher a little bit.

Things I didn't like:

1. I found it to be a little bit flat. The story was interesting, but the pacing was too slow for me. I got bored and sometimes went a couple of days without reading it, which is how I can tell that I don't LOVE a book.

2. The way his father handled just about everything. He hit Christopher, he took his "book" and hid it from him, he killed the neighbor's dog, and, oh yeah, he told him his mother was dead. Sorry Ed Boone, but don't expect any father of the year awards anytime soon. Now, his son does have special circumstances, but I'm just gonna put it out there that when your kid feels like they need to have an open Swiss Army knife in their pocket because they are afraid of you, you did something wrong.

Overall, I liked it OK. It wasn't one that I want to read again, but it was good. I don't know that I would recommend it because of it's HEAVY use of the Lord's name in vain and the F-bomb, but if you are interested in knowing how the mind of a child with Asperger's Syndrome works, you should definitely give it a read.

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

Just finished #228. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I really liked it. That means I've read 45 of the books now!

I went into reading this book not knowing anything about it other than what I saw on the preview for the movie, which really isn't much. The only thing the preview tells us is that this kid is in high school and he's probably not the most popular guy around.

It was a really easy read first of all, I think I read it in a total of 3 sittings. It probably took me between 5-6 hours. It was one of those books that you sit down to read and time passes but you don't realize how quickly. One night I read for two hours and it felt like 5 minutes. That is most likely due to the formatting of the novel. The entire book is letters from Charlie, a 15-year old guy who is really scared to start his freshman year of high school because his best friend killed himself and he doesn't have anyone else. He makes friends with some seniors that are in a "rougher" crowd, but absolutely loves them and they feel the same way about him. Basically, these letters are chronicling his freshman year and all of the experiences he has with his new friends.

Things I liked:

1. Charlie's whole entire world felt so realistic. There were so many details of his life that teenagers would be able to relate to. Personally, I didn't really relate to the character, because I didn't have the experiences he did, but I thought about how many of the students I saw at Mesa High could definitely relate.

2. I liked that at the end, Charlie was alright. He tells the reader not to worry about him, that even if he doesn't always feel good, eventually, he'll be fine again. 

3. That his friends Patrick and Sam really loved him for who he was. He didn't have to change to impress them. Even though he did change because he was with them, they never forced him to do anything.

and my favorite...

4. He loved his English teacher and all of the books that he assigned him to read. I like that his teacher was there for him. I want to be that kind of teacher.

The things I didn't like:

1. I know that it was all part of his journey, but I hated that he started drinking and smoking and doing drugs. It's just the teacher in me, but I thought it was so sad to see such a bright person go down that path. It was hard to see what it did to him as well. When he woke up from his LSD trip, that was just really scary. I know it happens to real kids in high school, I just hate that it does. 

2. His aunt. All through the book you think that she is this cool awesome lady that he really looks up to and loves because she always gets him two separate presents even though he was born on Christmas, but in the end, she is most likely the reason for his mental instability. I felt so horrible for Charlie, not only because he was sexually abused by his aunt, but because he still idolized her. He didn't know how to deal with what she did because he was so young. It was just heart breaking. 

Now I just need to see the movie. I like reading the book before seeing the movie because I like being surprised in books. Plus, then I can see if I agree or disagree with the way the characters and experiences were portrayed, which is fun for me. I just don't know how I feel about Emma Watson playing Sam. I kept trying to picture it, but it was hard. But, we'll see!

"You love me. Real or not real?"

I'll begin this post by saying that I haven't really ever been a HUGE fan of The Hunger Games series. I liked them fine, but I wasn't just itching to read the next one as soon as it came out. I began reading Mockingjay a few months after it came out and I couldn't get past the first chapter. I put the book down and told myself I'd try again later. Roughly two years later, I picked it up again. I got a little farther, I think I finished Part One, but when it was due at the library, I wasn't sad, and I returned it. So, last week, I was in the library and saw the audiobook and thought, I am GOING to finish it this time. It's going to happen. It happened today. I don't know that I've ever been more ready for a book to be over. DON'T READ FROM HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

Things I didn't like:

1. I just felt so bad for Katniss, well really for all of the characters. It was like she/they could NEVER catch a break. It was just one thing after another and every time she turned around another one of her friends was dead. Firstly, I just wanted her suffering to end. Secondly, I was just getting sick of all of the depression. It was UNENDING.

2. I hate that she watched Prim die. That was just cruel.

3. That she didn't seem happy in the end. After it was all over, she still seemed depressed. But I guess who could be happy after watching their sister die because of a bomb created by your best friend, who also abandoned you. Not to mention that her mom couldn't stand to be in their home because of all of the memories, so they decided it would be best for her to stay and help in a hospital leaving Katniss with no family in that same place that her mom couldn't handle because of all of the memories. Even though her new life had begun, she still didn't seem happy, which was really sad.

Things I did like:

1. That Katniss created relationships with people she didn't think she ever would have. Joanna and Finnick are two really good examples. I'm glad she got to know them and even kind of create friendships with them. Plus, I liked her relationship with Haymitch more in this book than I remember liking it in the other two books. I guess I just liked Haymitch more in this one.

2. That she believed Snow at the end. I don't know why she did, but I'm glad she did. I don't know that I would have after everything that had gone down between the two of them. Also, I'm glad he died, too.

3. THAT SHE ENDED UP WITH PEETA!!! I've been Team Peeta from the very beginning. I just didn't really care for Gale at all. I think it's because Peeta has more of the characteristics of a person I would want to be with. Gale just seemed blah to me. However, I liked him more in this book than in the others.

So, there it is. My full opinion of the last installment of The Hunger Games. I will have to say I am very interested to see how they plan to recreate some of the things in the book for the movie. I just recently saw The Hunger Games movie for the first time and so as I was listening to this book, I kind of tried to picture the people from the movie in my head. All I can say is Jennifer Lawrence has her work cut out for her and I hope the odds are ever in her favor.

Gatsby...what Gatsby?

This blog post has spoilers about The Great Gatsby, so if you are currently reading it, plan to read it, plan to see the movie, or just don't want to hear about the ending of the book, please do not continue reading!!! 

Just finished reading #116 on the list, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby. So that means 44 books down and 295 to go! I really liked the book overall.

I enjoyed that the narration was told from the point of view of the rather shy next door neighbor instead of Gatsby himself. I do wish, however, that Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker would have ended up together in the end. I was a little sad when he called her up and she said she was engaged to someone else. I guess it was for the best because he wanted to get outta West Egg anyways.

Of all of the female characters, I feel most sorry for Daisy, and that's saying something I guess because one of the other women gets hit by a car. I hate that she ends up staying with Tom at the end. I mean, let me just put it out there that I pretty much loathe Tom Buchanan. He is such a dog. He had a girl on the side, but as soon as he found out some other man wanted Daisy (and that she wanted him, too), well he just wasn't going to have that. Ugh, what a pig. Anyways, I just felt bad for Daisy, because she really did love Gatsby, but she had to move on with her life, and maybe she didn't love Tom as much as she loved Gatsby, but she didn't know if he would ever come back into her life. So, she settled I guess, which is sad. Then, Gatsby shows up again, and she wants to be with him, but she's married and it's a whole big huge mess, and I just feel bad for her. Although, I guess being married doesn't really stop her, but her husband is a cheater, so I guess she doesn't feel too bad about it. Her choice between Gatsby and Tom is a huge conflict in the novel.

Then there is Gatsby.  Oh how I enjoyed the mystery that was Jay Gatsby. I wish I could go to a party thrown by Jay Gatsby. I'm not really a big party goer, but let me tell ya, I'd be at Gatsby's house in a hot second if I was invited. If I was Daisy, I would have easily fallen in love with him as well. I guess I may have been more apt to fall in love with him because he was Leonardo Dicaprio in my head as I was reading. His death was so tragic, or I guess I should say his funeral was. Hundreds of people would come to his parties, and not one of them would come to his funeral. That is depressing. We don't really ever find out exactly what Gatsby does to acquire his fortune, but we can make a pretty good assumption that it isn't favorable, or even legal. Some people said of his death that he got what was coming to him, how sad is that? These are people that came to his house and were entertained by him frequently, and they have such cruel things to say. It's just sad that people really think that way.

This book is easily one I could over and over again. It's definitely staying on my book shelf. Fitzgerald has a way with words that just made me want to keep reading. I didn't want to put the book down. It was one of those books that you stay up until 3 am reading because you want to know what is going to happen next in the lives of these characters that you have come to develop in your mind. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories of the Jazz Age, although, anyone reading this has probably already read it because I told you there would be spoilers. Anyways, I love that time period, the 1920's are so interesting to me, and I really felt like I was there when I was reading this novel. Loved it.

The end.