Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I’ve been traveling the past two weekends. Philadelphia and Wichita, Kansas. Explains my lack of blogging. But I have been reading. I’m in the middle of 5 different books now so there should be plenty of reviews coming. The most recent book I finished was Mockingjay, which is the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy.

First I should start by reminding you what I thought about the second novel, Catching Fire. I mentioned that the ending gave too much away. I never really felt the urge to read Mockingjay to figure out how the series ended. Others told me this was the worst of the series, and I agree.

There’s a lot of build-up in this book. Without giving too much away, Katniss becomes the Mockingjay. What’s a Mockingjay? You’ll have to read to find out. There are a ton of events in this story, with plenty of twists and turns. My issue is Katniss is constantly blacking out or being euthanized to sleep. For instance, there will be planning and action beginning then all of a sudden Katniss blacks out. Whatever happened is described in a page or two. It’s a bit disheartening, especially compared to the first two books. The storyline tries to play on emotion rather than action.

My opinion is there’s a steady decline in each book of the series. The first book was awesome, the second still pretty good, and this last one I could do without. Still, it’s a good story and the reader will want to know what happens in the end. It just moves slowly, especially given all the action and suspense in the first two books.

My rating for Mockingjay: 3 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Breaking Night by Liz Murray

As I read the beginning of the book, my first impression was the author is wack. There is no way anyone could remember day by day encounters as a 5 year old (conversations are in quotes). But then again, most kids don’t have drug junkies as parents, live in a beaten down apartment with a broken shower, have a father in jail, not go to school, a mother institutionalized, be molested, and eat toothpaste and chapstick for dinner. Then to top it all off, your mom is dying because she has AIDS. My attitude changed as I heard more stories of how dire Liz Murray's circumstances were.

This is a tragedy. It really is. You cannot help but feel sorry for Liz Murray. I knew she eventually made it to Harvard, but as I kept reading, I couldn’t see how she would get there. She hardly went to school, was running with a crowd who didn’t care about school, and eventually was homeless on the streets. The adjectives and descriptive style made the story all the more heartbreaking.

There was one point in the book that I thought she was exactly right. When a social worker told her to “get her life together”, she asks herself, “who could explain what they meant? What was she talking about? If an education and a job were so important, then why didn’t my parents have either? ‘Get your life together.’ What did that even look like? Was I supposed to make sense of that myself?”

A majority of the book focuses on her struggles growing up. It quickly covers when she finally made it to high school. She was 17 years old, entering high school with 1 credit (she needed 40 to graduate). How the heck did she get into Harvard – never mind how could she afford it. You’ll need to read the book to figure that out. Something made her wake up and realize she could change her life and give herself options. As for the part of how she could afford it, it almost seems too good to be true. The most opportune thing happened and she capitalized. I am little hesitant to admit this but it made my eyes water reading how it all went down. It is truly amazing and gratifying.

My rating for Breaking Night: 5 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. I feel this is a great book for book clubs. There are many points where you can stop and reflect. I strongly recommend it.

Year in Review: 2011

When I began blogging this summer, I didn’t really know how this would turn out. I wasn't sure I could keep up the pace of reading one book a week. For the most part, I will commend myself and say I've done a decent job. I have reviewed 23 books this year, with an average rating of 3.6. I also had 752 page views! I think that is pretty darn impressive. Here are some books I enjoyed this year:

The Top 5

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

In the Plex by Steven Levy

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Honorable Mention

Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind

Going forward, here are some goals for the blog in 2012:

No spoilers. When I first started, I was careless letting things slip. I’ve tried to focus on keeping the suspense when writing reviews for the past few months. I want others to enjoy the book!

Consistency. I blogged at random times on Sundays. Sometimes I missed a week. There will be a post every week – if I don’t have a book to review, I will post a reading-related topic. All reviews will be posted at 12pm (noon) on Sundays. No later. No earlier.

Focus. When I get asked what I review, I say everything. I want to try to focus on what really interests me: biographies, memoirs, stories based on true events, and some business/management related books. I will continue to read books that are recommended no matter their topic, and every once in a while I will read a good fiction book.

More previews. I will try to pay attention if an author has a book coming out soon and let people know. As soon as a book is released, I will try to review it the next week.
Mobile. My blog is now able to be viewed on mobile phones. Same content and almost the same format. Check it out. 

Lastly, I want to share that I gave away 13 books this past Christmas as gifts to some very special friends. I had a limited amount of books to give out and couldn't give to all of my friends...I only gave a book that I thought would be of interest. I wasn't giving away books randomly. Some thought this was a crazy, silly idea and laughed at me, but I think it’s actually a really good idea.

I look forward to 2012! I wonder if I will be able to review 50 books this year!?!?!