October Book list

[dantheman23.livejournal.com]

Ender’s Game [audio book]
by Orson Scott Card

Great book. I don’t know if I’d call it the Greatest Sci-Fi book of all-time, as it’s often proclaimed on various lists, but it’s certainly a great book (and wayyyy better than Stranger in a Strange Land, another book that ends up at the top of a lot of those lists). Blew through it very quickly (for an audio book). I know there’s a million sequels but I don’t know if I’m going to pursue them; I’ve heard mixed reviews on the sequels. The only nitpicky things I didn’t like were: the sister character and the ending. Now, I actually liked the sister character herself a lot. Other than Ender she was probably the most interesting character. But every time he book shifted to her the tone got really sappy and melodramatic. And her reader was really bad. So over-the-top it was just painful. “I paid a lot for those voice acting lessons and I’m putting them to use!!!” And the ending…why can’t writers leave well enough alone? It’s just like The Hunger Games where you’ve got this great, perfect ending and then they tack on this nonsense at the end. And with the same purpose in mind: leaving it open for sequels. But those are pretty minor quibbles and aren’t going to downgrade my rating. 5/5

Catching Fire
By Suzanne Collins

Speaking of The Hunger Games…The sequel wasn’t as good but it was still a very engaging read (I read it in two nights). Strange, I just realized I have nearly the same two complaints. Except in this one I thought there wasn’t enough of the sister character. It was really strange, actually. In the first book it was understandable that she wasn’t featured, but I thought she would really be a bigger presence this time. I don’t think she had a single “real” line (spoilers to explain what I mean by real : ) And it felt like the whole book was just a bridge to the next book, setting up the story for book three. In fact when I got done I was thinking maybe I wouldn’t bother with any more if she was going to string it out, but then I saw that it’s now called “The Hunger Games Trilogy”, so I can definitely read one more book. 4/5

Books read for October: 2 : (
Books read for 09: 45


Not a good month, but I didn't figure it would be:

(from September) My fewest books in a month since I started keeping track. October probably won't be much better!

I think this month will be better though. Some time off, a bit less school work, and a little more motivation to read books ought to do the trick.