i am glad that you read ;)

i have just finished after the falls: coming of age in the sixties by catherine gildiner and i loved it - it's her follow to too close to the falls, which was the story of her childhood. gildiner writes openly and honestly, and it feels as if she's sharing her heart with the world. her sense of humor, her way of sharing, especially through tragedy is courageous and full of love.

So, I'll start with Maze Runner. A boy is dropped into a community of boys living within the center walls of a maze. The walls close at night and if anyone is left outside they will most likely be killed by creatures. Everyone has a role in the society, including maze runners. These are the boys that run through the maze, mapping and endlessly trying to find a way out. They have been living like this for years. After the boy is dropped a girl is dropped the next day, the only girl. The pattern has been altered. The supplies are stopped and the rules of the game are changed. Now they must find their way out of the maze or perish.

Moving on to the Scorch Trials. Ok ok I'll tell you, some of the boys and the girl made it out of the maze in the last book. They think they are safe but it turns out the people in control of the experiment they were in are trying to weed out the weaker ones. There begins a new trial! A desert, zombie like people who have some kind of infection, a rival gang of girl survivors, etc. etc. And our hero loses faith in what he loved most, and starts to realize that for some reason he is different from the others.
Not earth shattering, some problems in storyline riddled throughout but on the whole, pretty good. And I will be reading the third of what I hope is only a trilogy when it is published.

Next was a toughie. I spent at least two weeks reading Cloud Atlas. And I could write a paper on it. In fact, it was the type of book that begged for discussion. The book consists of six nested stories that range from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next. All stories but the last one get interrupted at some moment, and after "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After" concludes at the center of the book, the novel goes back in time, closing each story as the book progresses in terms of pages but regresses in terms of the historical period in which the action takes place. Eventually, readers end where they started, with Adam Ewing in the Pacific Ocean, circa 1850. So, each story written was a different genre. The first one reminiscent of say, Herman Melville, one read like a murder mystery, one like a sci-fi novel, one like some sort of philip k. dick post apocalyptic tale. The ease with which Mitchell switched from genre to genre was amazing. He changed perspective impeccably. The narrative was always different and always believable. I thought the writing was incredible. The problem with the book for me was that I don't like all of those genres - so while some flew by for me, others dragged along making me wish they would just end for the love of god. Also, at times it was a bit confusing working out how each story fit into the other, but once you figure out which one is the last one, everything falls into place. A slow at times but worthwhile read. Kinda a masterpiece in genre. And wholly unique.

Next I read Winters Bone by Woodrell. This was an excellent book. Extremely well-written and well-paced. If you ignore the comments on the cover about it being a thriller and a roller-coaster ride, you will be better served though - that description is not accurate. Anyhoo, the main character of the book is a girl, Ree, 15 or 16ish, who lives in the Ozarks and has been sort of shoved into the role of the caretaker. Her mom kinda lost her mind and just drifts and her daddy is a meth maker out on bail. The only thing is, he has disappeared. And the sheriff comes to tell Ree that her father put their house and property up as collateral for his bail. If he can't be found, then the family will have nowhere to go. In the surrounding countryside live all kinds of relatives of Ree, both close and distant, and as she starts to look for her daddy, she encounters hostility and silence and secrets. Great story. And what a fascinating character, so fierce even in uncertainty. She is one of the best heroines I have ever read. I loved this book. (But don't ever watch the movie, it sucks).

Next I read Let the Right One In. Weird genre. I was expecting horror and didn't get that but it was at times chilling. I don't know if I just went into it with the wrong expectations but it was a weird combination of a coming of age story, a murder mystery, a weird middle age men friendship thing, and a vampire tale. It was solid though and it slowly built up to scary but then kind of let you off. I liked it. I liked the boy who was bullied - his character was great. But some of the rest of the story lines and characters I wasn't so into. So a solid good read.

And then I read I Am Number Four. I enjoyed this a lot until the end, there were some battle scenes that were written in a confusing manner - didn't really paint the picture. There is a boy, who has a father figure care taker, but they are really aliens who came to earth when their planet was attacked in order to save their race but also to save earth from being attacked by the same baddies that destroyed their planet. There are nine children w/caretakers hidden around the world, constantly moving to escape detection from the bad guy aliens. If the bad guy aliens want to kill them they have to do it in the order of the number each child was assigned. When one of them dies, a circle is scarred around their ankle. Three have died and the main character is number four. It sounds ridiculous when I try to explain it but I enjoyed it. Looking forward to further books in what I am certain will be some sort of series. Why are there so many fewer stand alone books these days. Everything has to be some sort of Harry Potter.

Yay, I'm caught up!

And so begins a dedicated effort to catch up after a bit of indecisive book choosing and then some writing lag.
I guess it all started with Mockingjay. This is the third of a trilogy that I loved. I won't go into it too much because you may one day decide to read these books. They are addictive and speak a lot to society and governing bodies and corruption and corrupted symbols. This one was my least favorite but it did not take away from my high opinion of the trilogy. I wrote about Hunger Games and Catching Fire in previous posts. So I will just leave this one at that.