Super awesome perfection, I can’ wait for the movie to come out, characters are exciting, sexy and heart-warming, not to mention dubious and unexpected. The main characters are beautifully developed while the others are mysterious yet interesting in their own way. The storyline is fun, and full of action and sex (who doesn’t like that?). The writing style is creative and flows in a remarkable way. Chon and Ben are loveable to a fault, even though they are as different as different can be, they represent the two male archetypes most women find attractive. O is inspiring and pitiable and the same time; a great read. 

Book 1: A Game of Thrones: A great introduction to the series. I absolutely fell in love with the style of writing. Each chapter concentrates on a different character and follows their story for a short amount of time. It is such an exciting and enchanting story, I am so addicted already.

Book 2: A Clash of Kings: Had to race to catch up with what they are showing on tv. You can feel the epic battle coming, and because we learned in the first book that no main character is immune to death, every chapter looms heavy and could be the last for that character. It is absolutely amazing!

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I have finished a book. Grad school has really shoved pleasure reading by the wayside. This book I have just finished is the fourth in the series by Tucker Max (since it is much shorter than the 3rd, which came out on the same day, I read them out of order). You can find access to the book through the authors site (http://www.tuckermax.com/books/sloppy-seconds). Tucker Max saved his least interesting stories for last, which is apparent in the book (he admits to it in the intro) but they are still a thousand times more funny and interesting than most of the things anyone else does. Tucker is once again crude, rude, and unbearable, and it was highly enjoyable. There is not much more you can really say about Max’s writing. It is what it is and some people love it and think he is amazing and some people hate it and think he is a complete jerk. Either way I bet both of those categories of people can’t stifle a laugh at some of his antics. 

I was right, apparently I was crazy the first time I read this and was anything less than thrilled. This book was just as exciting as the other two works of Vonnegut’s I have read. The story was exciting as it switched forward and backward in time. The  repetition of the “So it goes” mantra brings life as a whole into perspective and illuminates the standpoint of the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Once again, Vonnegut hit a home-run that makes me eager to read more. One of my favorite parts of the book was the grave epitaph “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” Highly recommended. 

         This book was certainly good, though maybe not worth all the hype it was given. While the story is entertaining… as most sexy murder mysteries are… I found it to be at times over done and confusing. The combination of too many family members with little action based involvement and two main denouement events made for a bit of confusion. However the characters were so enthralling, as was the mystery that it truly made up for the confusion. The movie was also well done and complimented the book well. 

         This book was highly entertaining for a number of reasons. The atmosphere of the Congo is a magical place and serves as the perfect backdrop to this larger than life story. We follow a family with four girls into the Congo as missionaries and see them leave a year and a half later utterly changes in ways that are hard to comprehend. Additionally, the end of the book provides you with the stories of the girls and how their time in the Congo influenced the rest of their lives. It was a very enjoyable book and my favorite quote was:

“Oh, mercy. If it catches you in the wrong frame of mind, the King James Bible can make you want to drink poison in no uncertain terms.”

          I recently bought a collection of novels by Dickens and wanted to start the holidays off right with a Christmas Carol. This novel is surprisingly small but just as adventurous and exciting as we remember from when we watched the 20 different movie versions as children. Dickens uses eloquently written imagery to show us the plight of all those around Scrooge while at the same time making the other characters so lovable in that as much as we know they should hate Scrooge, they almost always do not. My favorite quote was, ‎”It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour. “

What a great way to start out the Holiday and it is also available in many places free online if you do not have a copy but have two hours or so to spare. 

http://www.dickens-literature.com/A_Christmas_Carol/index.html

           It has been way too long since I have finished a book, grad school is a hungry beast. It was certainly wonderful to have this book be the one I kept coming back to, since it is so enjoyable. Vonnegut is a master not only of storytelling but of word flow and choice. I have absolutely fallen in love with his work, which is rare for me to say after only having read two of his books (I am not counting Slaughterhouse Five, I feel like I need to revisit it in a new frame of mind). His characters are always diverse and entertaining and he can even build a story when we have no one to root for. This book is full of great quotes but I will select just two…

” I asked him what my heritage was from his side of the family. I didn’t know then what sperm was, and so wouldn’t understand his answer for several years. “my boy,” he said, “you are descended from a long line of determined, resourceful, microscopic tadpoles-champions every one.”“

“Nobody nowadays, I must say, expects to be protected from anything, once he or she is more than nine months old. That’s how long hum childhood lasts nowadays.”

As frustrated as I become with Sparks, I just keep coming back and reading all of his books. I think the problem is this… I love the first 90% of all of his books… and then comes the death. The unnecessary killing of characters. Sparks has literally created a new genre of love story, where someone in the love connection must die, which is severely uncool. I would love to say more on the matter. Suffice it to say that sparks is a great writer who created two characters reminiscent of those from the notebook… but then apparently hated them and had to ruin a good thing. 

        I understand that not everyone understands or enjoys these books. However, I refuse to write off someone who stays on the NYT bestsellers list to that long and has a new genre inspired by him, “fratire.” When you approach this type of writing with an open mind and a sense of humor, you will be handsomely rewarded with laughing out-loud, literally like a crazy person. It is the type of laughing that you know is for a cheap joke but you just cannot help it. Max approaches this second book with a bit of humility, not a lot but for him it seems like a transformation. The realization that he is not the only person who can have alternative motives and that he can be used and played like the next person is great. Besides, how can you not appreciate a man screaming through a bullhorn at a group of people camping out for DUKE basketball tickets… “TENT CITY, YOUR PITIFUL ASSAULT HAS BEEN REPELLED! I AM YOUR CONQUERER AND YOU ARE ALL MY SUBJECTS! BOW BEFORE ME!!”

        This book is co-authored by my great-pop-pop, G. Hunter Sykes, which explains why my dad found this signed first edition from 1927 in his closet. This book is a short collection of poems about WWI. My favorite lines are…

“I found him at dawn, as the Vosges purple mist
Rose up from the valleys and pearly heights kissed
Sleeping his sleep, with that smile on his face
That goes with his breed, no matter the race.
He was my bunkie, my pal, he was somehow my all.
Some others who read this may somehow recall
What it is you feel, when your side-kick’s gone West,
You just lose that something, that goes with the best.”

After reading all of the Salinger available… I have searched and searched for years for a new favorite author, and this has potential. Thought I have read one other Vonnegut books before, The Slaughter House Five, perhaps I was in the wrong frame of mind. This book blew away all the expectations I had, it was truly perfect. I owe a great thanks to my friend for turning me on to this book, because I think it was written jut for me. Vonnegut ‘s sarcasm is cutting and his view of religion in the book opens the reader up to a discussion of the true use of it in the world today. I look forward to much more Vonnegut in the future in hopes that he can be the next great literary voice in my life because Vonnegut said it best…

“Sir, how does a man die when he’s deprived of the consolations of literature?” “In one of two ways,” he said, “putrescence of the heart or atrophy of the nervous system.” “Neither one very pleasant, I expect,” I suggested. “No,” said Castle the elder. “For the love of God, both of you, please keep writing!”

      I have absolutely no qualms about identifying this as King’s worst book I have read to date. It would be bad enough that the book lacks a conclusion or any synthesis… but the author actually acknowledges that a story which lacks a conclusion is not desirable and is terrible to read. I am all for keeping a little mystery in a story, but when intricate details are provided but never even supposed to be guessed at, I am left in a very frustrated place. Avoid if you can. 

          Steinbeck is steadily climbing the ranks as one of my favorite authors with every new book of his I read. This book is quite short but packed into it are relatable developed characters and a storyline that is all at once inspiring, haunting, chilling and exciting. It certainly reflects the idea that sometimes what we view as the most positive turn of events we can imagine may just twist our lives into something terrifying we could never have imagined. The end is earth shattering in true Steinbeck style; I absolutely cannot wait to read more of his work. 

You know you have read a good series when the ending leaves you wanting more and wishing it was not over yet. This, the last book in the Hunger Games series was by far the worst (not even on the level with the other two) and yet the highly developed characters and story-line left me enthralled nevertheless. The love triangle became a bit ridiculous at times and the death of two characters that were quite lovable (don’t worry I won’t say which) were hard knocks to the story. However, the chronicles of the overthrow of the capital and the rise of the mockingjay were so interesting it left you rooting for the “good guys” until the very end. I highly suggest this series to my friends for enjoyable light reading.