Books I've Read: November 2014

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  I read a paper copy of this one from the library.  This was supposedly a book that makes everyone cry, so I figured as a very hormonal pregnant woman I didn't stand a chance, but I read it anyways.  And I didn't cry.  So apparently I'm heartless.  It was an okay story, although some things were pretty predictable, but I didn't necessarily think it was anything too special.  That being said, I'll probably still rent the movie at some point, because I really want to see the crazy author dude.  He was my favorite character by far.

Say Goodbye To Survival Mode by Crystal Paine.  I read this on my Kindle.  I don't remember if I bought it on sale, or if it was a free one at some point.  I have way too many unread books on my Kindle.

This book has a lot of helpful tips about creating margin in your life, breathing room so you can not stress out/burn out, and a lot about setting your priorities and goals and then living toward those.  It's all good stuff in theory, but I don't think it's necessarily as easy to implement as it's presented in the book.  Still, it was good for me to actually formulate a list of my priorities, and to try to work towards things that line up with those.  I'm pretty sure I'll be in "survival mode" for the next several months anyways, but it will be good to revisit this book once I'm not there any more.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I had bought a paper copy of this one awhile back and finally got around to reading it.  I'm a sucker for books that say "for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent" because I liked those.  This one was actually a pretty good story, with lots of interesting characters and plot lines.  I got to the end and I was still really confused, but since it's the first in a trilogy, I'll allow it.  About the only thing I didn't like was the made up slang.  If you're going to have a character cuss, just do it.  "Shuck it" is just kind of dumb.  But hey, there's a movie out this year (did it come out already?), so something else for me to watch at some point!

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner.  Since I was intrigued by the first one, I immediately ordered the other two books in the trilogy from the library, and I was lucky enough to get them within a week.  Score!  The second book wasn't quite as exciting as the first one.  I didn't necessarily like the new characters, and until I get an explanation for the betrayal, I feel kind of like Thomas.  I accept it as part of the story, but I'm not happy about it.  I'm hoping the third book wraps everything up nicely, because this one just brought more questions about how this whole world works and the purpose for everything.

The Death Cure by James Dashner. This review will have spoilers, because I don't have a vague way to say things about this book.  So this book was full of more problems for Thomas and the other main characters. They have the worst luck.  I assumed since it was called "the death cure" that they would find a cure, especially since that was what they had been working on the whole trilogy.  And then the ending happened.  There's no cure, so this group of people escapes to some paradise and the rest of humanity will eventually kill each other off.  What?

So. The first book in the trilogy was action packed and I liked it.  It went downhill from there. Too bad, because this started out as a really well thought out dystopian world, which is better than most.

Book total for this month: 5 books read. Total this year: 28 books read. I may or may not have a books post next month. We'll see how the month goes...