Tag: mockingjay

Top Ten Tuesday

Surprise Endings

Posted on by Dana

Top Ten Tuesday

Warning! Here be spoilers!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about the Book Endings that Left Me with My Mouth Hanging Open. The ends of each of the following books are discussed, so if you want to read them and want to be surprised, read no further: Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins; The Giver, Lois Lowry; Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier; Lord of the Flies, William Golding; Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell;  Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen; Possession, A.S. Byatt; The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield; The Ghost Writer, John Harwood, The Egyptologist, Arthur Phillips. Nota bene: I will be discussing the end of many of the Harry Potter books and why I didn’t find some of them as shocking as others seem to have found them.

Here is your last chance to stop reading if you don’t want the endings of those ten books spoiled.

I mean it.

For real.

Continue reading “Surprise Endings” →

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Booking Through Thursday: Life-Changing

Booking Through Thursday: Anticipation

Posted on by Dana

This week’s Booking Through Thursday prompt asks:

What’s the last book you were really EXCITED to read?

And, were you excited about it in advance? Or did the excitement bloom while you were reading it?

Are there any books you’re excited about right NOW?

I think the last book I was really excited to read was probably [amazon_link id=”0439023513″ target=”_blank” ]Mockingjay[/amazon_link] by Suzanne Collins (review), which I read last September (almost a year ago!). I had just finished the first two [amazon_link id=”0545265355″ target=”_blank” ]Hunger Games[/amazon_link] books, and I just couldn’t stop turning the pages. I suppose the last time I enjoyed a book so much might have been [amazon_link id=”0545139708″ target=”_blank” ]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows[/amazon_link]. I didn’t really have enough time to be excited about it in advance because by the time I became intrigued enough by Hunger Games to read it, the third novel had already been published. I bought it at the Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, and I remember carrying it around that day at the Decatur Book Festival, anticipating cracking it open when I went home later.

I am excited about some books coming out or in my to-read list. I really want to read [amazon_link id=”0312558171″ target=”_blank” ]The Ballad of Tom Dooley[/amazon_link] by Sharyn McCrumb. I’m also looking forward to the R.I.P. Challenge, when I plan to read Ransom Riggs’s [amazon_link id=”1594744769″ target=”_blank” ]Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children[/amazon_link]. I am excited for Katherine Howe’s next book (I read and reviewed [amazon_link id=”1401341330″ target=”_blank”]The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane[/amazon_link]). I follow her on Twitter, so I know she’s editing it right now. I’m also excited for the sequel to Deborah Harkness’s [amazon_link id=”0670022411″ target=”_blank” ]A Discovery of Witches[/amazon_link] (review). I’m also looking forward to [amazon_link id=”031262168X” target=”_blank” ]The Witch’s Daughter[/amazon_link] by Paula Brackston. It’s not a book, but I’m mad with anticipation over the unveiling of Pottermore. I managed to get a beta registration, and I’m waiting on tenterhooks for my welcome email saying I can officially get in the site.

photo credit: Lori Greig

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Booking Through Thursday: Cover

Mockingjay

Posted on by Dana

Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games)Mockingjay is the third and final book in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I can’t talk about this book without spoiling it for folks who aren’t finished with it yet, so please read on after the jump if you are finished. If not, come back later so we can talk about it.

Continue reading “Mockingjay” →

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R.I.P. Challenge V

R.I.P. Challenge V

Posted on by Dana

R.I.P. Challenge VMy favorite time of year! R.I.P. Time! Carl holds the R.I.P. (Readers Imbibing Peril) Challenge each year as fall descends in early September. The challenge ends each Halloween. The goal is to select a level of commitment, which Carl has dubbed Perils, and to read the required number of spooky books (and the definition of spooky is extremely broad).

Peril the First involves reading four books of any length that fit the challenge.

Peril the Second involves reading two books of any length that fit the challenge.

Peril the Third involves reading one book of any length that fits the challenge.

Short Story Peril involves reading any number of short stories that fit the challenge.

Peril on the Screen involves watching films or television that fit the challenge.

Almost everyone can find a way to participate! I always over-commit myself and wind up not finishing the challenge, and I am going to finish this year! To that end, I’m going to commit to Peril the Second. If I can manage to fit in two more books, I’ll just up the level as I can. Even though I’ve never finished the challenge, I have enjoyed it each time.

At this point, I am going to commit to reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins and The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. It’s YA dystopia and Salem witchcraft! Should be fun. If I read more, I’ll add them to the pile later on.

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Booking Through Thursday: Anticipation