You really need to read The Fault in Our Stars!

I just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green...AMAZING! I'll write more about it later, but for now, you should go read it!

Also, here's the movie trailer.

Thoughts on Divergent Movie

On Sunday night, a group of friends and I went to see Divergent in theaters. There have been a lot of mixed feelings about the movie and some negative reviews, so I wanted to add my thoughts.

Caveat: I've read the book several times, so it was easy for me to fill in the blanks, so to speak, the movie left.

1. I've heard/read a lot of complaints about the excitement of the movie showing up only in the last third of the movie. Along the same lines, people have complained that in the majority of the movie you don't feel the urgency or importance of what the characters are doing in regards to the inevitable societal breakdown. MY RESPONSE: Divergent is about a girl in a dystopian society, not about a dystopian society! The trilogy follows the self-discovery and personal growth of Tris as she faces difficult circumstances. It's not about the catastrophic downfall of societal structure and the ensuing war. Yes, those are significant parts of the story, but the main theme is all Tris.
2. As with any adaptation, the movie does differ from the book in some ways, but I didn't feel like too many liberties were taken. My main complaint is the way Tris' mother dies in the movie. In the book, her mother obviously sacrificed herself to save Tris. She went out into the street knowing she wouldn't make it. In the movie, it just looks like she accidentally got shot and died, which cheapens her death and downplays her sacrifice. Maybe they wanted to change things up because her dad also dies sacrificing himself for her, but still, what true sacrifice means becomes a huge theme in the trilogy, and I think it's appropriate for Tris to have two shining examples of that even if they're similar.
3. As always, the book is better than the movie, and I think reading the book helps you appreciate the movie more. Ultimately, I enjoyed the movie a lot, and I think it's worth seeing.

Let me know what you think!

Final Divergent Trailer!

The final Divergent trailer is here! This could be awesome! The movie comes out March 21!



Also, I've just finished rereading the entire Divergent trilogy, and I plan to post some thoughts on it as soon as I have time. In the meantime, you should read the books!

Divergent Series Complete Box Set

In Preparation for Into the Still Blue...

You can get Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi on ebook at Amazon for $1.99 right now! It's the first book in the Under the Never Sky trilogy that follows the journey of Aria and Perry as they reluctantly pair up to survive and to save the ones they love from a planet ravaged by storms and considered a wasteland.



I really enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy (Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky) ), and I'm excited to read Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky) that will come out January 28th!

Throught the Ever Night

 Just FYI... Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky) by Veronica Rossi (in ebook format) is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon today!

The Fifth Wave

Today I just finished reading The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey, and I thought I'd share my thoughts and hopefully get some responses from others who have read the book.

The Fifth Wave is about an alien invasion of earth. The first "wave" of attack was an electromagnetic pulse that rendered anything electronic useless. The second was a massive tsunami that took out everyone who lived on any coast. The third was a deadly virus, and the fourth was assassins, aliens programmed to kill that had been inserted into humans before they were born and remained "asleep" until the right time. The fifth...you'll have to read the book. ;-) In the book we follow two particular human survivors and they're attempts to figure out what's going on and how to survive.

Good Things/Bad Things/In-between Things

• I have to say that I did not really get pulled into the book until "Nugget" appears about halfway in. There are a few reasons for that, and, having finished, I think they may have been necessary for the story, so I think I can let them go. First, initially, I thought Cassie was a guy. She just had a very masculine manner of speaking that threw me off and kind of annoyed me. I do believe now, however, that the tone was needed to reflect the incredible things she'd been through. Her character survived the first four waves, lost both her parents and her brother, and had to learn to survive on her own. She's a bit bitter, so she speaks harshly and sarcastically, but we see her change throughout the story, and by the end she is finally able to trust someone again. I appreciate the character development. Second, through the first half of the book we're (mostly) seeing Cassie's flashbacks as she travels alone. I got a little bored of her solitude; I'm not quite sure why. I think perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the primary flashbacks we see are moments after the first alien attack, so things are already a bit depressing, and Cassie's already started to learn to toughen up. I just didn't get much emotion from the flashbacks; I only saw a girl who had been hardened by her circumstances.

• The book has been compared to Ender's Game, but I didn't get the surprise factor from The Fifth Wave that I got from Ender's Game.

• I love the relationship between Zombie and Nugget. Nugget's presence in Zombie's squad is a kind of catalyst that brings Zombie back to life. Taking care of Nugget gave Zombie something to focus on besides just surviving, and his "rescue" of Nugget helps him make up for the promise he didn't keep to his sister.

• Evan is an interesting character. I would've liked to hear more of his thoughts. We see him struggle with his purpose because of the human life he had already lived. I think there were some complex thoughts going through his mind, and I wonder exactly what they were.

Overall, I like the book. It's definitely worth a re-read, and perhaps like with Mockingjay, I'll like it more the second time around.

Your comments are extremely welcome! I want to know what you think! :-)

Thoughts on The Book Thief

I recently read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. There's been a lot of buzz about this title due to the recent movie adaptation. I haven't seen the movie yet, but the book was really good. In The Book Thief the narrator, Death, follows and chronicles the story of a young German girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II. Liesel is sent to a small German town to live with foster parents after her mother decides she can no longer take care of Liesel and her brother Werner. Werner, sadly, dies on the journey to their new home, and Liesel is left alone with her new foster parents.

Thankfully, this isn't a story about an orphan being thrust into the care of cruel foster parents as so many stories are. (Why is that?) Liesel develops close relationships with her new mama and papa, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. Rosa isn't really the patient and nurturing type, and her relationship with Liesel is mostly devoid of open affection. In fact, her tone is often hostile and her speech filled with cursing. Although Rosa uses language toward Liesel that may be considered abusive, her affection for Liesel is expressed throughout the story.

The special relationship we see in the story is the bond between Leisel and Hans. Hans, quiet and patient, allows Leisel to warm up to her new situation in her own way and time while providing a kind presence, letting Leisel know that she is not alone. We see the sweet evolution in their relationship as Hans calms Leisel's nightmares, as they learn to read (stolen books) together, and as Leisel admires her father's music from his accordion, which she and Rosa cling to while Hans is at war.

The Nazi influence is shown as the children are sent through Nazi youth camps, men are called upon to serve in the military, and Jews are paraded through the streets while walking to concentration camps. It is quickly apparent that the Hubermanns are not supporters of the Nazi party, and they even take actions to oppose the Nazi treatment of Jews by taking in a Jewish man and trying to give bread and comfort to the Jews walking to their deaths.

The story provides an interesting view of WWII. I find that there are many many powerful stories told from the Jewish perspective during this time period, but this is the first time I've read a story from the view of resistant Germans. It was really interesting to consider the events through different lenses.

I've left tons of stuff out because I don't like to spoil books for others. You should read it! ;-)

What I Like Most

The first thing I noticed about The Book Thief was the beautiful writing. The phrasing is very poetic, which I just love. Also, as I mentioned before, I really enjoyed seeing the war through another perspective. I think we often forget how powerless many of the Germans were and how many of them were opposed to the Nazi party. They suffered their own kind of persecution, stripped of their freedoms and forced to go to war.

I cried buckets at the end of the book! I know I've really gotten into a story when I can't hold back my emotions in response to their circumstances. E.g. I punched the air a few times in HP5 when reading about Umbridge and jumped up and down when Neville kills the snake at the end of HP7. :-)  It makes the experience a journey to another world rather than just reading words on a page.