Percy Jackson and the Olympians

So I haven't updated in awhile, but I recently finished reading the last book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and I watched the movie The Lightning Thief last week.  The books are definitely for kids, and I didn't think they were amazing or the best thing ever, but they were still enjoyable and kept me interested enough to read all five books.

The books focus on Percy Jackson, a demigod and son of Poseidon, who has all sorts of various adventures and quests and saves the world pretty much every summer.  Some of the adventures are a little ridiculous and it's amazing Percy manages to survive, but it's fantasy so it works out (besides, you can't kill off the title character).  And despite the ridiculousness (and predictability) of Percy's adventures, they're still exciting and fun to read about. Kind of like in Harry Potter - you know Harry's going to have a ridiculous adventure, do something nobody else could do, and somehow pull through and save the world - but you keep reading anyways.  Percy also has friends and acquaintances from his demigod summer camp that help, and I did like how these people actually play important parts instead of only functioning as supporting characters.

The most obnoxious thing about this series, for me anyways, is how dense some of the characters are.  Even though the books are totally predictable, the characters take eons to figure out anything.  For example: At the start of the series Percy finds out he's the son of a Greek god, but he doesn't know which Greek god is his father.  All we know is that his mom met his father by the sea and Percy. still goes there every summer with his mom.  Once Percy gets to the demigod summer camp he realizes he is able to control water and being in water heals him, but of course nobody (not even the camp leaders) has the slightest idea who Percy's dad could be until.... Poseidon (Gasp! I know you weren't expecting that!) sends a sign claiming Percy as his son. Percy also seems to know less about Greek mythology than anyone I've ever met, but I figure that at least can help introduce kids to the various aspects of the mythology.

The movie on the other hand... was just terrible. Almost unwatchable, I would say.  The movie basically takes a few exciting scenes from the book (and still totally changes those) and mixes them with more sex appeal, fast cars, and stupid humour that weren't anywhere in the book.  I don't have much more to say about the movie other than it was a waste of time and I was pretty disappointed. I mean, I almost always like books better than their movie counterparts, but this movie was terrible all on it's own and only vaguely followed the general idea of the book.

The Green Mile

Another book I've read this summer is "The Green Mile" by Stephen King. I'm a big Stephen King fan and I ha read various books of his before, but "The Green Mile" wasn't one that I had ever really looked into reading. I actually wanted to read the book because I saw a clip from the middle of the movie on TV at work and it looked pretty interesting.

"The Green Mile" was a great book, and different from many of the more horror-type books I had previously read by King. The characters were great and even though many of the characters were on death row for crimes, you could still feel sorry for them. At the same time there were some pretty despicable characters, and they weren't always the prisoners either. I would definitely recommend this book, even if you've read other Stephen King books and weren't a fan. Like I said, it's different from a lot of his other books that I've read and it's definitely not a horror novel. I haven't watched the full movie yet, but I'd like to since I've heard it's one of the better movie adaptations of a book.

Also, just on a quick side note: Sorry for the lack of italicized titles, no pictures, or any other odd formatting things - my computer is having issues so I'm currently using an iPad app to update my blogs.

Success!

Today I finally got the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series from the library!  I've already started reading it and I have the third book as well, so I'll be all set once I finish it.  I also saw that I'm at the top of the wait list for the sequel to In the Woods, although I'm sadly still a little ways down the wait list for the Julie Kagawa book.  But I'm making good progress and will hopefully escape the black hole of book series soon!  I'll also try to update this blog with more of my thoughts on books I've read sometime...

The Black Hole

Not too long ago I read The Lightning Thief, which is the first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series.  I borrowed the ebook from the library, and put the second book in the series on hold as soon as I got the first one.  Unfortunately, I am still waiting for the second book and I think it's been over two weeks now!

While waiting I decided to read In the Woods.  The book was pretty good, but I didn't realize it was part of a series.  Once again, I borrowed the ebook from the library and once again I am waiting on the hold list for the second book in the series.

With two books on the hold list I searched around for something else to read.  On Goodreads I found The Iron King and was able to get the ebook from the library as well.  Neither the Goodreads page nor the library page mentioned anything about the series but... you guessed it, The Iron King is the first book of a series.  I was lucky enough to get the second book the series, The Iron Daughter, from the library, but I am now on the hold list for the third book in the series.

And that is how I got sucked into the black hole of book series.  I did search around for more books to read, but for now I'm just reading some of the Dean Koontz books I haven't read and that I know are definitely not part of a series!  Hopefully some of my holds will come in from the library soon and I'll be able to escape from the black hole.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay

I finally gave in and read the Hunger Games series after hearing good things about it from several people and then, of course, all the hype over the movie.  I have yet to see the movie, but I really enjoyed the books - especially the first two.

The Hunger Games had a much different plot than many of the other young adult books I've read lately, which all seem to focus on the supernatural more or less.  It was nice to read something different and, in my opinion, fairly original (at least for young adult books).  The book had plenty of excitement, but also developed the characters really well so you actually knew and cared about them and they weren't just there to move the plot along.  At the end of The Hunger Games I wasn't really sure what Suzanne Collins would do to continue the story, but I was excited to find out.

I liked Catching Fire just as much as The Hunger Games, or maybe even a bit more.  I felt like there were more surprises, so it wasn't quite as predictable as the first book.  I also enjoyed how Collins followed the first book, with another Hunger Games for the champions, because I really wasn't expecting that.  I did wonder if maybe Prim would be chosen and Katniss would try to take her place once again, so I was surprised at how the plot actually worked out.

Mockingjay was also a fun read, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first two in the series.  The plot was fine, and I still read it as fast as I could to find out the ending, but I didn't like the characters as much. Katniss especially spent a little too much time moping around and complaining about everything and that was what annoyed me the most.  I thought Mockingjay was more predictable than Catching Fire, but I was still surprised at the end with Katniss and President Snow (I won't give it away though, for anyone who hasn't read the book yet).

I want to see the movie because I'm curious to see how they developed the characters.  In the book most of the character development took place through the characters' thoughts, so it will be interesting to see how that transfers to a movie format.

The Magicians

The first book I read this summer was The Magicians by Lev Grossman.  I had actually started reading it for a class during the spring, but didn't get around to finishing it and decided to read the whole thing again over the summer.  I've read a lot of reviews from people who did not like this book at all, but I actually enjoyed it.

The Magicians is often described as "Harry Potter for adults," which is somewhat true, at least on the surface.  The protagonist, Quentin, discovers he can use actual magic and gets accepted to a college to study magic.  Aside from that, the book is actually quite different from Harry Potter.  First of all, the characters in this book are very aware of the fantasy genre and even make references to Harry Potter and Tolkien several times.  This was my favorite part of the book, because most fantasy books (even the ones that take place in the real world/modern day) seem to have characters who have lived under a rock their entire lives and don't know the first thing about fantasy.  Quentin and his friends realize what's going on, and while still being excited to get accepted to a school for magic, aren't stupidly amazed that magic even exists.  Although their knowledge of fantasy does lead to a lot of disappointment.

Besides being very aware of the fantasy genre, this book also chooses not to follow the fantasy expectations - the fantastical world(s) in the book aren't the best thing ever and there really isn't a happy ending.  Quentin is an unhappy kid and at first he thinks going to a school for magic will make all his dreams come true.  Then he realizes that it's still school, he has to study all the time, there's a lot of hard work, exams to study for, and way too much alcohol with his friends.  After school Quentin doesn't really do anything other than get drunk all night and sleep all day, until he finds a way into Fillory (aka Narnia), the magical world from a series of children's books.  Quentin once again thinks all his dreams will come true as soon as he gets to Fillory.  Without giving too much of the plot away, Fillory basically sucks and Quentin is still miserable.  So if you're looking for a book to make you feel good, The Magicians is not it.

Despite being somewhat depressing and filled with apathetic characters who are drunk for large portions of the book, I still enjoyed The Magicians.  It's like a fantasy novel, but more believable.  The characters are from the real world and they recognize fantasy and magic when they see it.  The fantasy world might have magic, but it's still just a bunch of average people living average lives (with magic) and magic does not solve all their problems.  While this certainly isn't my favorite book (I do still love Tolkien), it's a very believable book and it was nice to read something with a fresh take on the fantasy genre - even if it is a downer.

Summer Reading!

I'm still in school, so I have the most time to read during the summer.  Each summer since 2003 I've kept a list of all the books I read during the summer break and the number of pages as well.  Summer is here again, and I still have the same notebook to keep track of the books I read.  Since I got out of school I've read nine books and I'll post some of them on here with my thoughts.