Book Reviews/ Insights

"It is with utmost trust that we receive the tales of those who would give them to us." - anita shreve

The books that I have read thus far this year...
"The Hunger Games Trilogy" by Suzanne Collins

"Suffer" by E.E. Borton

"50 Shades Trilogy" by E. L. James

"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks

"The Weight of Water" by Anita Shreve

And while I should refrain from talking about them as a whole because I don't think that would be fair to each one, I will say that they were all good!  At the time, each served it's own purpose of feeding my imagination and sufficing with my own emotions so that they each became an effective litany of memory all placed upon the bookshelf within my mind.  I remember each one well enough to present opinions and/or insights based on emotional connectivity and overall likeness.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I went in to this series with high hopes.  I was aware that the first movie was coming out and I had little enough interest (and effective praise from my friends) to purchase the books and delve into the world of the Hunger Games.  It was easy enough to get engrossed in.  I was immediately interested in the whole process of their society and the stark difference between the Capital and the 12 Districts.  And so I read.  To me, the books were well written... there was a lot of emotion and imagination written into the pages and I had very little trouble imagining the scene.  Yes, the children were going to fight to their deaths.  Yes, the chemistry between Katniss and Peeta was intriguing enough to make me worry for their safety, for the sake of the relationship.  Yes, the hunger games were brutal, if not poetic.  All that is all well and good.  But what I didn't account for was my outright questioning of the Collin's intentions by the end of the third book.  I found myself asking why would Collins want the series to end this way?  What are her reasoning's for the heartache?  I think I hold so much trust that authors have the audience's best interest at heart that I am confused when it ends badly... especially when it didn't necessarily need to.  Like I said, I started off with high hopes, but by the end of the third book, I was depressed.  7/10

"Suffer" by E.E. Borton

This was supposed to be a light read.  One of my friends knows the author and I came into the book with the sole purpose of giving it a shot and seeing how they wrote.  I was pleasantly surprised!  It reads much like a show on the USA Network would play out.  It's a story of revenge told from the victim's point of view set in South Florida... images of Burn Notice flash through my mind as we speak.  And I actually think that my predisposed interest in these shows had given me a nice starting point when it came to this book.  The book in itself is quite graphic.  But it needs to be.  The acts warrant the retribution and as the outsider watching everything unfold, it helps the reader get involved in the story.  All in all, I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't high literature, but it was a nice read.  7/10

"50 Shades Trilogy" by E. L. James

I loved these books!  I was extremely leery of entering into them because of all of the controversy.  Even the back covers don't do a good job (in my opinion) of adequately explaining the true nature of the books, but I dove in anyways.  And I haven't looked back.  The books are fabulous!  The amount of emotion that James was able to convey is beyond explanation!  The story is good, the sex is good, and the ending is what is was supposed to be.  This is the first series I have re-read and will do so again in the near future, and time and time again, I'm sure.  Oh, and I have also really enjoyed exploring the music mentioned in the books, casting my top picks for the characters to play in the upcoming theatrical version, and having more appreciation for the playfulness of my husband.  10/10

"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks

I started reading this right after '50 Shades', and as a result, I found myself trying to dig up the same emotional response.  I just don't think it's that sort of book though...  This is the first Sparks novel I have ever read, and even though I have seen some of his movie adaptations, I wasn't sure how this was going to play out.  I was, however, pleased!  The story was good from the beginning.  I was drawn in, if first out of curiosity, and then continued to read because I was intrigued and it was good, if only mildly "fluffy".  In the end, it was a nice easy read that kept my attention and left me wanting to see the movie (like as soon as it comes out on dvd...!).  8/10

"The Weight of Water" by Anita Shreve

I happened upon this book by chance... it was in the freebie pile at my work and I picked it up because the back cover compelled me enough to read it.  And so I did.  I have to say, compared to my last reads, this one was much more heavy.  I had a bit of trouble navigating between the past and present stories, as they were presented, but can now look back and see that they mirrored each other enough to explain their play.  All in all, it was a good read.  I love a book that has some good life quotes, and for that it gets extra points, but the main plot took a while to get developed.  I guess there was a lot of back story, which is all well and good, but by the end of the book, I sort of felt like the climax had been skimmed over and we had to use the epilogue (of sorts) to figure out what had happened.  Overall, the book was quite melancholy and somber.  I felt sorry for a lot of the characters, as familiar and normal as they may have been, and would have liked to have had more from them.  But apparently there's another book for that: "The Last Time They Met".  I'll have to look into it.  8/10