Book #14 Week #12, Mockingjay (H.G. #3) by Suzanne Collins

If you have not read Mockingjay yet and if you are anything like me and won't even read the back cover of a sequel because you want to be totally surprised I suggest you stop reading now.

Mockingjay is a very intense book. In the beginning we learn that our beloved District 12 has been destroyed and not everyone was able to escape.  Those that did have been taken in by the mysterious District 13. But any illusions of District 13 being a hopeful, peaceful safe haven are quickly squashed. District 13 is an underground city and it is ran in a very military like order. The people of 12 were taken in as a means to increase the population of 13 rather than as an act of kindness and unity.

Also shocking while Katniss was rescued after the fall of the Quarter Quell, Peeta was captured by the Capitol. There are plans in the works to attempt a rescue and in the meanwhile, President Coin of 13 wants to use Katniss as the symbol of the revolution. Katniss struggles with this as she feels she has been used over and over again but finally gives in but with several conditions.

Things really take off from there. Katniss is being used in political campaign ads for the revolution while she is really itching to get in on the action and try to do some good. One of her conditions is that she'd be the one to kill President Snow who has been sending hidden messages to her and is using Peeta as a weapon against her. Katniss really struggles in this book. She suddenly feels untrusting of people she thought she knew so well. Relationships once set in stone now teeter on the brink of collapse.

I loved The Hunger Games series. Wonderful books with a strong female lead, who is not boy crazy and is trying to find out who she really is. And a quote:

"I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking."

Now for something different. I want to let out my real thoughts on the ending but don't want to spoil anything so you can venture forward at your own risk ...... ***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Book #13 Week #12, Catching Fire (H.G. #2) by Suzanne Collins

If you have not read Catching Fire yet and if you are anything like me and won't even read the back cover of a sequel because you want to be totally surprised I suggest you stop reading now.

Catching Fire starts off with Katniss doing what she does best: hunting. However this time she is alone, Katniss is now rich and Gale is working in the mines so she is hunting for his family.  Today is the day Katniss and Peeta start their victory tour through all the districts but first Katniss is visited by President Snow. Pres.  Snow basically tells her that due to her stunt with the berries at the end of the Hunger Games there is now potential uprisings in the districts. It is up to her to put out the flames by really selling her love story with Peeta or else she will face dire consequences.

Long story short Katniss and Peeta see some very unnerving things on their tour. They decide to have a public marriage proposal to try and calm the people but it doesn't work and soon Katniss realizes she does not have the power to put a stop to the unrest.

Next thing we know it is time for the Quarter Quell, the 75th Hunger Games. Each quell has new and special rules supposedly written on note cards sealed in an envelope during the 1st Hunger Games.  President Snow opens the envelope for the 75th games and the new rule is that the tributes must be chosen from the victor pool of each district.  Since district 12 only has three victors and the only female is Katniss, I bet you can guess who is going back into the arena.

All I will say is this: the 75th games are just as intense and interesting as Katniss' first go in the arena, maybe more so. There is some sort of hidden agenda at work that everyone except Katniss and Peeta seem to know about. Major alliances are made and the ending is a stunner.

I loved, loved, loved, this book! And a quote:

“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”

Book #12 Week #11, The Hunger Games #1 by Suzanne Collins

What? TWO number elevens? Yes that is right two books in one week. I finished The Red Garden on Friday afternoon and just the day before I was loaned a boxed set of The Hunger Games. This is another series I wasn't sure I wanted to read but I picked up book #1 on Friday night out of curiosity and planned only to read a chapter or two and save the rest for next week. But alas it couldn't be done! I flew through this book, it was just that good.

The Hunger Games is set in a future North America which has been destroyed and is now Panem. In the middle is the lavish Capitol surrounded by 12 districts. Each district has their specialty and our heroine sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen is from District 12, the coal mining district.  People are starving and ever since her father's death, five years before hand, Katniss has taken up hunting in the woods (which is illegal) to feed herself, her mom and her twelve year old sister Prim.

Every year for the past seventy-three years the Capitol has held the Hunger Games. One boy and one girl are chosen in random drawing from each district to compete in a fight-to-the-death battle. Despite it being her first year of eligibility and her name is only on one of thousands of slips of paper, Prim is picked as the female tribute from District 12. A panicked Katniss steps up an volunteers to take Prim's place.

Loved this book, full of suspense and excitement. It gives us a strong female lead who is not boy crazy and has flaws. But the book is not without love, Katniss has her admirers but she does not have a lot of time to really think about what she wants, who would when their whole life centers on trying just to survive? Seriously I cannot stop talking about and recommending The Hunger Games. Here is hoping the movie does the book justice!

“Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.”

Book #11 Week #11, The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman takes us through 300 years of history in the town of Blackwell, Massachusetts. I found it to be a good, easy read. The book starts off with the founding of the town and the brutal winter that almost destroys the first settlers.  Almost every chapter brings us forward in time and focuses on different characters. This worried me at first but it worked out very well. Alice Hoffman manages to make each short story interesting and full of wonder, mystery, longing or love and sometimes all of the above.

Though the town changes and grows over the years, two things always remain: The tree of life and the red garden behind the founder's house where everything always grows red. I enjoyed The Red Garden it isn't a must read but if you have the time, give it a shot. However I am interested in reading more selections from Alice Hoffman as I found her to be an excellent writer and a wonderful story teller.

Book #10 Week #10, Ask The Dust by John Fante

This week's book was a blast from the past, the way way past Ask The Dust by John Fante. This novel was a bit short for my liking at only 165 page but those short pages were wonderful! Much like Fahrenheit 451 I found the detail of simple moments a little overwhelming at times but it works.

Ask the Dust is a novel about young writer named Arturo Bandini set in 1930's Los Angeles. Arturo is a transplant to California, broke and facing eviction from the hotel he calls home. At times I thought Arturo was crazy, he goes back and forth from thinking so highly of himself to loathing and despair, but it becomes evident that he is just trying to find his way and what young person doesn't imagine they are the best at everything?

As if Arturo doesn't have enough problems he suddenly finds himself in love with a Mexican waitress he barely knows named Camilla. The two make for one destructive pair, Camilla is a bit wreckless and Arturo is down right racist at times (which made me want to smack a fictional character but he manages to explain his thoughts and regrets on the subject). Arturo is chasing dreams, not only the dream of being a great writer but also the dream of an unrequited love.

By the end the tale of Arturo Bandini really won me over. The ending left a lot to the imagination but it worked well in Ask the Dust. And here are two of my favorite quotes one funny and one serious:

"Bandini on the bed, put himself there with an air of casualness, like a man who knew how to sit on a bed."

"Sick in my soul I tried to face the ordeal of seeking forgiveness. From whom? What God, what Christ? They were myths I once believed and now they were beliefs I felt were myths." 

BTW in my google search I have learned there is a movie version of Ask the Dust staring Colin Farrell and  Salma Hayek. It has some iffy reviews, I wonder if I can find it.

Book #9 Week #9, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is a book I have been wanting to read for quite sometime. The "wife" is Clare and the "time traveler" is Henry. Henry has a defect in his DNA which causes him to travel through time at random. Although he has no control over his travels Henry mostly finds himself in the past visiting Clare throughout her childhood. In fact the first time she meets Henry he is 36 and she is 6 but in reality she is only eight years younger than he is.

I'm going to be honest here and try not to give too much away. I hate a love-hate relationship with The Time Traveler's Wife. I loved how the story was told from both points of view, I hated how this could be a little confusing if I was not paying a lot of attention to dates or who was "talking" at the moment. I loved how the story follows their journey completely, I hated how sometimes it seems like much was lost in trying to fit so much in one book. I HATED the ending, I NEEDED more, so many questions I had.

The story was great but I wanted to hear more of the happy times, seems like there was a lot of focus on the hard times, maybe it's just seemed that way to me I'd love to hear other opinions on that. I also wanted to hear more about Henry and Clare's relationships with other characters of the book. It felt like after they were married the story just rushed by. That's about all I can say without going into serious detail so I leave you with my favorite quote:

“Time is priceless, but it’s Free. You can't own it, you can use it. You can spend it. But you can't keep it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”