Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Down the well wrote:

Heather B wrote:Mockingjay!

Yeah, Heather! You got it! I'll bet you're already done reading. I'm still slogging through.

Yes, my harassment paid off :D
And yes I'm finished. Hurry up so you can come discuss, too.

Just started reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

8/30 finished it. Wow. eerie and lovely writing and plotting

Paranormalcy!!!! Woo hoo!

I read Leviathan, The Hunger Games, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson in the last couple of days.

Leviathan was interesting, especially when you love steampunk as much as me. But sometimes I feel like SW skips over the possibility of wrestling with deep issues in his novel and just sticks to the surface. His books are nice for a good fluffy read.

Although I might be a little biased since I just finished The Hunger Games for the first time. I liked the book a lot. The concept was fascinating, but I was bothered by the last quarter or so of the novel. I thought the mutts were bizarre and came out of nowhere and were a convenient way to get rid of Cato. Also, I didn't like how Katniss still managed to retain some of her innocence during the novel. She managed to survive them with only one direct kill, and that was done in the heat of the moment. Her other kills were out of self-defense. Considering the nature of the competition, I thought that was very unrealistic. (Not that I wanted to see her transformed into a sociopath either.) Also, I didn't like how sponsors could drop in gifts. It felt like a Deus Ex Machina to me and an easy way to resolve Peeta's problems. But overall, I liked it.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson was my first time reading David Levithan's stuff. I've got mixed feelings about his style. But John Green's chapters just disappointed me. He has a great voice in his writing, but his novels always have some major similarities between them - to the point where Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska can start to feel like the same novel. I wish he'd break away from some of those similarities and stop creating the same characters.

mockingjay!!! (just finished)
the duff (just started)
white cat (halfsies)

THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES by Roberto Bolano

Angels: A History by David Albert Jones

And it is sorta dry in spots. But it does have a lot of information some of the other books don't have.

After working 125 hours in the last 2 weeks, I am finally getting to Mockingjay.

This summer has been so incredibly busy for me, filled with lots of travel and other activities, I suddenly realized I’ve hardly read at all this summer and miss it very much. I got talked into reading a STAR WARS novel, which I’m enjoying, and am still reading TINKERS by Paul Harding. In the meantime, I bought a lot of books this summer, and can’t wait to sit down and start reading them this Fall.

Read Brisingr by Christopher Paolini because I'm a sadist. Laughed the whole way through - then felt depressed because he's a bestselling author and my favorite authors aren't as famous as him, even though they deserve it more.

Jeffrey Somers' The Electric Church. Also, his blog, because it's funny.

Textbooks. Sadly. (Or not, depending on how you look at it.)

Book: Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier

Audio Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling.

Just finished Carole Maso's GHOST DANCE, which is not only a great book, but a fantastic first novel. Now I'm starting Robert Boswell's CENTURY'S SON.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - the prequel to the Mortal Instruments series.

After that one (which I'm still not sure I like) I will be starting Quillblade by Ben Chandler. Met him at a convention I've been at for the last week and he's very intelligent; I'm looking forward to how that comes across in his books.