Book Twenty-Three: FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT

First Grave on the Right, by Darynda Jones, 2011. This is the first book of the Charley Davidson series, which I intend to catch up on before the summer ends.


TTR: a day and a half.

Comments:

I love Darynda Jones' book for many reasons, among which are the fact that I've met Darynda and chatted with her at a couple of writer's events (we were even on the same panel for new writers at the Jack Williamson Lectureship in 2012). It love to support local authors, in part because it is probably karma of some sort. One day soon I'll be a published author looking for local support *crosses fingers*. But also because--YEAH--people from around here are awesome. They're my people. They should definitely succeed.

The setting is AWESOME. As a New Mexico girl, I am always happy to see New Mexico in books, movies, television, etc.

I also just love supernatural detective stories, and Darynda is great at writing them.

Book Nineteen: MOCKING JAY

Mocking Jay, by Suzanne Collins, 2010.

 


TTR:  A day or two.

Comments:

I liked this book, but I also had less than happy feelings about this book. Blerg. It was frustrating (and, as a writer, completely understandable). Katniss is (again, understandably) a very unlikeable character in this book. She's being churned, once more, through the system. She's being asked to make decisions that go against everything she ever knew or thought she believed. She makes decisions that (SPOILERS) I do not think she should make: namely, to reinstate the Hunger Games one last time. BAD KATNISS. Although, I'm also not sure if this "yes" vote on her part is just her plan to assassinate President Coin or what.

Sorry for the garbled response. Garbed feelings equals garbled review...

Book Eighteen: CATCHING FIRE

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins, 2009.
    

TTR:

A few days. I read this during finals week, and although it was great I was pretty burnt out.

Comments:

For some strange reason, this series reminds me greatly of Cormac McCarthy's The Road which (SPOILERS!) is about as pervasively hopeless in terms of world view.

In terms of the series as a whole, I think this was one of my favorite books. Although it feels somewhat abrupt and disorganized at the end, the characters in this book are much more relate-able than the characters in the first. Which is partly because Katniss is forced to move out of the narrow world-view she inhabits in the first book to see the humanity in people she would normally write off as sell outs or evil.

I liked it. *Shrug*

Some Books I Recently Bought

To tide you over until I start posting about actual books again, a picture of my newest acquisitions (at some point I will update this post to include a picture of the bookstore in which they were found, as well as a review of the bookstore: Books of Interest in Santa Fe).