Reading Update

I hope everyone has been having a good week! Mine has been rather busy and hectic. One of those weeks where you really do have intentions of grocery shopping, but it just never happens, so you live on non-perishables. I'm hoping someone out there can relate. Maybe it's just me. Despite the busy week, J ended up surprising me with a necklace and flowers for Valentine's. He's so sweet to me!

I realize I haven't done any updates on books I've read in a while. I keep up with my "books" tab regularly, if anyone has been checking that out. I really do think I get addicted to fiction books when I read them and just can't put them down. My latest reading endeavor has been the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. I, unfortunately, started reading the series before the last book comes out, which means I have to wait until October for the conclusion. I should have known better. I don't typically start reading series until all of the books come out so I can read the series all at once. And I usually devour the books. For instance, I finished the first 2 Divergent series books (Divergent and Insurgent, approximately 1,000 pages total) in 8 days. While working extra hours, visiting my parents, exercising, and getting ~8 hours of sleep per night. Although, like I said, I did seem to neglect the grocery store. Oops. Anyway, if you enjoyed the Hunger Games series, I would definitely recommend the Divergent series. Though quite different stories, they seem to have some striking similarities, such as a strong 16- year old female protagonist and a futuristic dystopian society based in the United States.

 
I was surprised to discover that the author of the series is so young (24 years old). I hope the third and final book lives up to the first two in the series. I remember being quite disappointed with the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy.

I also finished up the Giver series back in November. The Giver is, largely, a novel for children. I remember reading the first book in elementary school, but I loved it. I did not realize that Lois Lowry made it into a series until quite recently. While none of the other books in the series (#2: Gathering Blue, #3: Messenger, #4: Son) quite live up to The Giver, I still enjoyed them.

Other than those series, I have, primarily, been re-reading some of my favorites, Harry Potter and the C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy. I also tried out the first book of the Percy Jackson series. It wasn't too bad for a children's book, but I found it a little too childish, reading it as an adult. I did think the interplay between modern society and ancient Greek mythology was quite creative, but the writing style wasn't my thing. I seem to remember the film doing poorly, as well. I recently joined Goodreads.com in hopes of finding more books I enjoy. I am hoping to branch out from the young adult books that often are my go-to books.

I'm also pretty excited about some of the movies that will be coming out this year, like Ender's Game, Catching Fire (Hunger Games 2), Star Trek 2, Iron Man 3, etc. Lots of good things to look forward to.

I'm still recovering from a cold, so the updates on the hutch are forthcoming.