Confession

So, I guess I have to edit my goal.  Instead of reading 5 books a month, I'm going to read on AVERAGE 5 books a month.  I got a little behind in March.  Hopefully I can make it up in the coming months.  


My goal is still 60 books this year.


Just not 5 a month.  


I guess I have another confession to make.  I'm writing this in September.  So I am a tad behind by blogging.  Okay ... really behind.  I promise I did read the last 5 months.  Maybe not all the books I needed to make up my lack, but I have made some good head way.  


So as my third confession ... I did not write these posts in the months I said I wrote them.  It is just organizationally more appealing to me to do it this way.  So ... onto my back-log of posts.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

So ... let's start this story back a little bit.  How I heard about Hunger Games is kind of funny.  A few of my friends started writing book blogs a couple of years ago, and this was one that kept popping up.  I was intrigued because it is a youth book, but dealing with adult themes.  So move forward a couple of months.  My mother comes to me with a coupon for this book, saying that she had heard me talking about it.  So I bought it ... on sale.  And I read it ... in a day.  It isn't a deep book language wise, so it was a fairly easy read.

So when the end of March came around for my reading goal, and I had only read 2 books, I picked up an easy read.  The Hunger Games.  I'm glad I read it again because I found I like the story even more after reading it again.  It was an original interpretation of the distopia civilization.  I'm excited for the movie to come out, though slightly worried about the violence.  Because in the book it is written in such a way that it isn't overly violent, but I fear it will not translate well to the movie.

It reminds me a lot about Lord of the Flies, and the lowest common denominator in a population.  I do not know if I agree with the Hobbian idea that if you strip everything away, man is naturally evil.  In many of the creative manifestations of this idea, the artist uses the individual to negate the idea.  There are a lot of examples of this ... including the movie I just watched last night - Contagion.

My final feelings about the book - I liked it, a unique story and I am excited to see it as a movie and hope that it stands up to my expectation.

Final Score: 5 out of 5 stars

Emma - Jane Austen

I finally finished it. I have had this book on my self for years, and I have always wanted to read it because Emma and Mr. Knightley are my favorite literary couple. I have started reading it multiple times, but got stuck half way through it, put it down and then don't pick it up for a year and start all over again. [I have a habit of doing this]

I really enjoyed the book. I don't know why, but ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to find my Mr. Knightley. Someone that was always there, and someone that I always had feelings for, but those feelings you don't quite understand until something happens. I don't know how to describe it. But I love the relationship between Emma and Mr. Knightley, because it isn't one of "love at first sight" but it isn't one like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Emma and Mr. Knightley are simply friends who have always cared for one another, and that feeling grows and matures into love. It seems to me that that kind of love is strongest. Neither Mr. Knightley or Emma are perfect, and in the novel those faults and mistakes are amplified, but still even after their arguments and shortcomings, because that love came from genuine friendship, it can survive. Now I am not bashing the Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth way of doing things, because to tell you the truth my other favorite literary couple is Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing which follows the same pattern.

There are parts of me that yearn for Emma's time. I think I would have enjoyed a society where woman are encouraged to study drawing, music, language, writing, and were able to go to parties and balls. On the other hand, I quite enjoy the freedom of choice that I now have that would not have existed back then. It's a mixed bag to say the least.

Final Score: 4 out of 5 stars

The Giver - Lois Lowry

This book is such an amazing story. I remember reading this book in high school. It is a short book, but when you read it, the Distopia that it creates almost seems real. I also remember that for a master's class, my mother wrote a play off of this book. We went to the reading of it. It is amazing the feeling that those words carry.

Sometimes I feel as if I am in such a world like Jonas. Where everything has to be the same - especially in the way my life is "supposed" to turn out. [ie - go to BYU, get married, and have a kid before the age of 21] But my life is not like that, and so sometimes [meaning- all the time] I feel outside looking in. I can relate to that feeling of Jonas' when he cannot understand the choices he sees around him because he knows something more. And when he has to save Gabe, it is a touching moment when Jonas sacrifices himself and all that he knows for a better world - one that he isn't even sure exists. I love this book because it is a book of hope.

Though this time, I read more than just the story. In my copy of the book there is a "bonus" section, with some questions you can ask at a book club. One of the questions asks at the end of the book, if Jonas and Gabe are dying or not. It is a hard question to answer, and it made me look at the end of the book a couple of times. I hope that they aren't dying, but are truly reaching a home full of love. But on the other hand, another part of me can see this as an end to their journey and that the home that they might be going to can only be achieved through death. Either way though I still find it an ending full of hope - either way Jonas and Gabe are going to a place full of love, and are finding peace at the end of their journey. I don't think you have to decide whether or not they are dying at the end of the book. Because I think in either scenario, they are at peace and that is what matters.

This is one of my favorite books, and is one that I probably read frequently. It's short so it doesn't take long to read, nor is it dense. But it brings to mind a lot of questions - something that is always a plus for me.

Final Score: 5 out of 5 stars