I'm always keeping an eye out for a good book recommendation, a fresh source for something new to read, even though I have stacks of borrowed and purchased books I've yet to get to. Whatever, it's a compulsion, so when I was reading a column about Mumford & Sons and saw that they have a book club on their blog I had to check it out, and I thought I'd share the link with you. I haven't read either book reported, not reviewed, on but what Marcus wrote made me fall in love with him just a little bit. I wish my 'reports' sounded half as well thought out and intelligent. A musician and a reader, I think it's too good to be true. If you find me listening to Sigh No More reading The Pearl in the not so distant future, don't be surprised.
And how apropos that there is an acoustic bookshop session of The Cave for your listening enjoyment.
So at the start of the new year when I was filled with ambition I decide that, among other things, I would post my monthly recreational reads. The thing is, when I tackled all my other resolutions, reading what I should, and attempting to do more of what I should, I realized I didn't have as much time for reading the extra stuff, funny how that works. (I won't lie, I'm pretty sure my addiction to Tiny Tower may also have affected the extracurricular reading as well) So....aside from book club stuff I only read two other books this month, both of them dystopian set YA .
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
"It kills you when you have it and when you don't."
The basic premise is, love is a disease. Scientists have found the "cure", and it's not optional. Set in Portland, Maine, Lena is ninety-five days from the "cure" and if you can't see the writing on the wall here, I can't help you. I got sucked in pretty fast, my only issue with this book is that you know where it's going but it sure seems to take a long time getting there. Sometimes I wanted to reach in the book and smack the waffling protagonist. Overall I enjoyed this book enough that while I was reading it I was hooked enough that my house suffered. I think that's the book rating system I should use, loads of laundry skipped or dishes left in the sink.
Of course, turns out this book is number one in a trilogy, and optioned by FOX to be a movie. The second book Pandemonium comes out February 28th and there's a short story told from the perspective of Lena's friend Hana, also due out February 28th. I'm in.
Here's the book trailer the author has on her site.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
So I haven't exhausted all I have to say about this book but I'll spare you all. I re-read this book this month for movie prep and will just add that multiple readings has not dampened my enthusiasm for this series. Instead of beating a dead horse here though, I will simply gift you with the new trailer.
And let me say that I am so excited for this movie and overall love the look of it enough to overlook the obvious movie/book discrepancy with the Mockingjay pin.
Something I have always known about myself is that I am a huge procrastinator. Which contributed to the fact that this post has only taken me two months or more to do. Then another two weeks to actually sit down and figure out how to log into my account and do it. I manage to get things done, eventually. I can't really figure out why this is, but I found common personality trait in Isherwood. First of all I found myself one night trying to fall asleep and I realized that Ish was a person with great ideas but had a hard time putting them into action. I don't know if my ideas are great, but I do have a lot of them that I never get around to. I think this was Ish's problem. He was aware of this personality flaw. This didn't make for a good leader when the time called for one. I found the beginning of Earth Abides very interesting with all of Ish's interesting thoughts and contemplations on how things were going to turn out and how he went about exploring. As the book continued the ideas fell a bit flat. I think this was largely due to his lack of implementation. The ideas were there, the beliefs were there and even a few people, but no one was ready to take responsibility and make it happen. Ish was the leader, but really only by default. And he didn't make a great leader in my opinion. I know they had been through this huge world changing catastrophe but they were beginning to make a new start. I found it hard to see why the old timers didn't enforce certain beliefs that they felt so strongly about. For example continuing with school and reading. Ish went on and on about how sacred the Library was, but if no one could read anything in it they would never be able to benefit. He may not have been able to convince the entire community but at least with his own children I think he could have made it more of a priority. People make their kids do things they don't want to all the time. How would that be any different. I think the relationship Ish had with his family, even with Em, was definitely tainted. He seemed to just be there because they were the best he could come across, not so much out of love for them. I'm sure everyone was different because of the circumstances but Ish seemed to live a life that he gave up on. He was just living. I definitely think he could have made more of an effort to live a full life no matter how different it would be from what he had known. With his hammer in hand he held on to the past so much but didn't pass it on to future generations. He left them to figure it out on their own. Which may not be the end of the world considering how the last one ended.
