Triple Threat: Hunger Games Trilogy Review!

I finally finished The Hunger Games trilogy.  As you'll read, I was totally blown away.  What an amazing series!!  Here are the links to the GoodReads blurbs for each of the books so you can find out what they are about.  It's a little long to put each synopsis here.

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay


The Hunger Games Trilogy Review

The Hunger Games:

I had no idea how this book would affect me before reading it. I could not predict that it would change my expectations of books I intend to read. Suzanne Collins has written a book that leaves me almost wordless. Almost.

I felt so connected to Katniss and her world; felt as if I was there with her in the arena, battling for my life. The descriptions of everything were so perfect, I could see what Katniss was seeing, what Peeta was feeling. The other tributes were so real I felt for them when they died. Though this is fiction, it felt as though the world of Panem could be a place that actually existed.

Now I know some of you might be asking yourselves, “Is this book really as good as you say, Charlie?” Well, I recommend to all of you to read it yourselves. Always be your own judge. But trust me, all the bajillion people who have read it and loved it can't be wrong.

So off I go to read Catching Fire, the second book. Hope it's as good as this one.

Catching Fire:

This book rocked me to the core! It was so emotionally charged I couldn't stop reading it for anything. I think I stopped once or twice to use the facilities, but other than that I couldn't stop turning my electronic pages.

After the first one, I didn't think a second book would keep pace. I was wrong! Catching Fire did that and more. With twists and turns that kept coming, I had no idea what to expect. I don't want to give anything away, but just know that Suzanne Collins did a fantastic job creating this world and all of it's intricacies.

Katniss's emotional journey was expertly crafted. Her inner fire leaped off the pages and kept me enraptured through the whole book. Peeta's steadfastness to stick through his love for Katniss was so heart wrenching, it was as if I could feel what he was going through. It is so refreshing to read a book with characters I can actually care about.

The only thing that frustrated me was Katniss's back and forth game with Peeta and Gale. But it is part of what kept the story interesting, so it's not that big of a deal.

Overall, this book was amazing, shocking, and moving. If I could personally thank Suzanne Collins for writing it, I would. It was so fun to read, and it has been a long time since I've read a book I couldn't put down, even forgoing food breaks. Maybe since The Hunger Games.

Again, you must read it for yourself. And I hope you do.

Now, I'm off to read the next book, Mockingjay. I bet it's friggin awesome!

Mockingjay:

Wow. Just wow. I can't believe how good this book was. I can't believe how much stuff happened, and I can't believe how it ended. Simply amazing. I don't want it to be over! I want to keep reading about Katniss, and Peeta, and Gale, and all the others. I actually cried while finishing up this book; the events were so moving.

I am completely blown away at how good this trilogy was. I am again wordless. I just sat here after finishing it, shocked. Thinking, how did Suzanne Collins do this? How did she make such magic? Everyone should read these books. They tell a fantastic story of love and war and how those conditions change people's lives.

 

I can't wait to read these again. I've never re-read a book before, but I reread the Hunger Games to prepare for the other two. And I'd do it again. 

Nook Color!!

The Nook Color has changed my world.  I thought when I got the first Nook, everything was different.  But this new Nook, well, it has shattered all that.  As soon as you turn the thing on it amazes.  It's bright, colorful, and you can touch the screen.  You have to touch the screen.  It begs you to touch the screen. 

You first have to go through a quick and easy setup process, which is made even easier if you already have the B&N account set up and all.  But after that is over, it's off to the exploring!  The first thing I did was personalize the background (I picked the white snow with paw prints and red ribbon - fitting for December).  There are only a few stock backgrounds, but there are many websites out there with free downloadable ones.  But you are supposed to be able to set your personal pictures as the background, I just haven't figured it out yet, I've been too busy reading! 

The next thing was picking out what books I was going to read first, then setting them on my home page (the main and biggest part you see here.)  I've picked out several that I need to finish and some more that I plan on starting.  It's a fantastic way to organize the books, because you can see them right there, staring at you, waiting to be read.  There are no lists to go through, just the bold covers of the books.  It's wonderful! 

So you're probably asking, what's the big deal, I can read on the Nook (or other E-reader) I already have - it does the same thing, sort of.  Well my advice to you is to keep reading.  This Nook is like a mini-Ipad.  Without the apps.  It surfs the internet with ease, although the only thing that does bug me is how tiny the words are when you are looking at a full page.  But you can easily zoom in and that problem is fixed.  I tweet, facebook, and blog (mostly read blogs) all from my Nook Color.  I can turn it sideways for better viewing, and it's almost as big as my netbook's screen. 

It's lightweight, easy to hold, though as you can see I do have a cover for it - makes me feel better about carrying it around.  This is one of the best Christmas presents ever, and would make any book reader squeeeee! with excitement. 

So to wrap up, simply put, this Nook Color rocks.  I don't have really any drawbacks to comment on.  It's user friendly, organized, colorful, and fun.  Better get to the store and get yourself one - they may just run out!

------Charlie------

NaNoWriMo Day 30

Well bloggers, it's been 30 days of NaNo craziness.  30 days of oblivion to anything but writing.  For me, 30 days of failure.  I only really wrote two days out of the 30, and only got 2,454 words written.  It's just a mess! 

They say success is found through failure, but I don't feel like I'll be successful with writing any time soon.  They also say that writing is a battle.  A battle against laziness, procrastination, and fear.  This year, I was afraid to use a "bad" idea for a story, so I procrastinated from writing anything, and then I just got lazy and wrote nothing.  All I did was think about writing this fantastic story.  But thinking doesn't get the job done.  The positive thing I learned for next year is how not to be lazy, not to procrastinate, not to fear my ideas.  I at least came up with a good idea finally, and will continue writing it now that the NaNo pressure is off.  It's almost the same thing that happened last year.  I only made 5,000 words during November, but in December I wrote 13,000 more words!  Still didn't meet the goal of finishing that novel.  But so I keep on learning stuff about myself.  I'm not very good at finishing.  Maybe that'll be my New Year's resolution: Finish What You Start.  We'll see I suppose.

Anyway,  I'd like to stop ranting now about all that.  I'd also like to get back into blogging.  This blogging once a month crap has got to stop!  I lost a few followers in all this mess, so I'd also like to quit doing that.  Not that followers are the only reason I blog, but they are so very nice and so very important to me.  I appreciate sooooo much all the support I have recieved from my followers. 

There I go again, off on a tangent.  This is supposed to be a writing and book blog, but some of my life gets thrown in here too.  I could only hope to one day be as big as some of the blogs I read out there.

Alright, I'm going to sign off, as I can't seem to stop blabbering.  Plus I've got to get to the reading of my current book:

The Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge

Gosh it's a fantastic book so far!!!  I recommend it.  I'll most likely be doing a review of it as well.  I do have one question:  How do you review a book that your audience might find offensive or inappropriate to them?  There are a few books I would love to review and recommend, but not sure how they will be taken, as they are pretty controversial.  Any help with this would be great!  Hope you all did better than I did in NaNoWriMo.  Talk soon!


----Charlie----

NaNoWriMo Day One!!

Good Morning!  It's time for me to start my NaNoWriMo story!  I fell asleep at like 1030 lastnight, so I didn't make it for the actual midnight kickoff.  But I'm all ready!

I've got my first cup of NaNo coffee....

My bunny slippers are ready...

And so is my keyboard!!

So off I go!  Good luck to all of you as well!!

So it's NaNoWriMo time...

Just in case you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, here's the link:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

For the rest of you....

AAAAAAHHHHH!!! IT'S TIME FOR NANOWRIMO!!!

I have approximately 9 hours until NaNoWriMo starts for me, and I'm still on the fence about my plot/story/characters/sanity.  :)

I'm not sure if I should write in the super power direction, or the witchcraft direction.  I've never done either, or even anything close.  But that's the fun of it!

I'm also supposed to attend a kick-off party tonight, at a place I've never been with a whole crowd of people I've never met.  AAAAHHH!!!  But it should be interesting.

As for blogging while NaNo-ing, I will absolutely be keeping you all up to date on my awesome skills!  HA! 

As for all of you doing NaNo, I wish you the best of luck, and hope you all have a blast!

-----Charlie-----

    

Read-a-Thon Final Update

I finished my second book at 1135pm, Impulse by Ellen Hopkins.  What an amazing book.  Just reminds me again how Ellen Hopkins is my favorite author.  Anyway, here is the update info:



Title of book(s) read since last update: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins



Number of books read since you started: 2


Pages read since last update: 268


Running total of pages read since you started: 982


Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1hr 30min


Running total of time spent reading since you started: 7hrs 15min

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Wish I had spent more time reading, I could've gotten one more book in.  But, I have to get up at 5 am to go volunteer at an animal shelter, or I'd read until 6 am.  Oh well, there's always next time!  I had so much fun, even though I was a bum and didn't participate in any challenges.  I should take some time and go visit other's blogs.  Soon it's bed time!  Thank you all for the lovely comments and I hope the last few hours are productive and fun!!  Keep your eyes open!





P.S. One last fun pic before I go!

Read-a-Thon Hour 16

Well here it is, hour 16, and I'm still in my second book.  But I'm having fun!  It's a great book so far.  Here's my update info!

Title of book(s) read since last update: still reading Impulse by Ellen Hopkins



Number of books read since you started: 1.5


Pages read since last update: 270


Running total of pages read since you started: 714


Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1hr 40mins (I took a long nap in there)


Running total of time spent reading since you started: 5hrs 45mins


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Hope you all are enjoying your reading!!!  Thanks for all the lovely comments!!!  Happy Reading!

---Charlie---

P.S. Watch out for cookie stealing bunnies!!

Read-a-Thon 12 Hour Update and Survey

Before I get to the survey answers, here's a little bun for the break!

Mid-Event Survey:


1. What are you reading right now?  Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

2. How many books have you read so far? Just one, and 84 pages into my second.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?  Wish I had one picked out.....I'm just looking forward to reading.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?  No special arrangements, I thankfully don't have anything to do today besides read.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?  Eating took an hour and a half, so that was a bit frustrating.  Now I'm all tired so I'm going to allow myself a 1 hour nap.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?  How many people are doing it!  It's awesome to think that I'm sharing this with hundreds of people!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?  Not really, I think it's pretty darn awesome as it is!

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?  As a reader I would prepare a little better.  As it was I only found out a few days beforehand that I would be participating.  Plus I would have started earlier, because now I probably won't reach the 12 hour goal I had set for myself.

9. Are you getting tired yet?  LOL YES.  I only got 4 hours of sleep today, so I'm a bit bushed.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?  Tips...tips....Well I usually have a hard time reading if I'm not in the mood for reading, but this time around I told myself, "Just READ.  Enjoy it and get through some books."  So JUST READ.  And take notes for later.  And pick good books, and have a lot of snacks!  :)
 
 
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So 12 hours have gone by, and I've only read 3 hours and 40 minutes.  But that's better than nothing.  I've finished a book and am 84 pages into another one.  But, I can only read for like 6 more hours, as I've got to be up at 5 am tomorrow.  Either way, I'm enjoying myself, and that's what counts.  Happy Reading all, see you in the next update!
 

Read-a-Thon Hour 9 (My Hour 3)

Well hello again!  I'm checking in after finishing my first book for the Read-a-Thon!!  I finished It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. 


My next book will be:

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins (my favorite author, btw)

Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.


The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want—except his family’s love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother’s child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.




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And now the update info:

Title of book(s) read since last update: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Number of books read since you started: 1

Pages read since last update: 318

Running total of pages read since you started: 318

Amount of time spent reading since last update: 2hrs 55mins

Running total of time spent reading since you started: 2hrs 55mins


Happy Reading!!

Read-a-thon Hour 6 (My Hour 1)

Hello fellow readers!  I'm participating in Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-Thon today, but am a little behind schedule.  It started at 6 am (my time zone), and now it's 11 am.  I went out for a birthday party lastnight and didn't get in bed until 6 am!!  So now it's now, and now I'm starting the reading!

Here's my first book:

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life—which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job—Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That’s when things start to get crazy.

At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he’s just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping—until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it’s definitely a funny story.

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So off I go to begin reading!  Happy reading all!!