Maze Runner

I know that I am sensitive to things but I really just can't continue on with this series. I totally got sucked into this book. It's such a page turner! I couldn't put it down and I read clear until like 4 in the morning to finish it and then I was so disappointed with the ending. I read the first two chapters of the next book because they were included in my book and I just got even more upset and decided I couldn't read the next one. It's about a group of boys who get dropped off into some unknown place and the only way out is a maze. Their memories have been erased and each month they get food and supplies and a "new boy." Everything is perfect and simulated. It kind of reminded me of "The Truman Show." You don't really know what's real and what isn't. There are some evil machines that will kill you if you are stuck out in the maze at night-called Grievers. What I liked about this book is that the boys built a community for themselves. Each boy had a specific job and role and they grew their own veggies and butchered their own livestock and so on and so forth. They had the "maze runners" who went out everyday trying to find a way through the maze. Well, the last two people to get put into the maze are kind of "special." One is a boy and the last...is a girl...the only one...who comes with a message. Basically it means that you have to figure out the maze or perish forever. Very adventurous and suspensfull and I found myself trying to figure out the maze along with them.

So the things I didn't like-it has a lot of violence and these are teenage boys. What is it with teenagers and violence in books?? The way that they figure out how to get out of the maze is totally dumb...all this hype and suspense and climatic things happen and then...really? That's how they get out and destroy the maze? Lame! Then you get to the very ending where you find out basically why they were put in the maze. Apparently the sun is too close to the earth and it's burning everything up and causing all kinds of diseases and destroying the world. These boys are the smartest, strongest, bravest-basically the best of the best. They are put into situations to see how they will figure things out and react and respond. The ones left standing will be considered the ones who will know how to solve this major problem with the world. So at the very end these adults who are controlling the environment for these teenage kids decide to have one of their own turn on them and kill a few of them so they can see what the reactions will be. I just don't get it. Then the kids get rescued but that's all a setup as well and all the rescuers get killed in the next book.

I DO NOT like having teenagers be the entertainment for the adults and that this entertainment is pure torture for the kids. I disliked it almost as much as I disliked Hunger Games for the same reason-too much violence involving teenagers who mostly don't want to be put in these situations.

My friend explained to me that this particular Genre is called "Dystopian" which is basically the opposite of "Utopian." Ok, so that makes total sense. Utopia is a perfect world where everything is total bliss. The opposite would be the world in total chaos. The worst case scenario of what could happen. I guess I don't like to think about that. I know the world isn't perfect but I hate to think that other people think the worst that can happen is that adults throw their own children into torture and watch them kill each other for fun. Maybe it's because I'm a mom and I'll have teenagers soon but really? Parents these days wouldn't want MORE for their children? They wouldn't fight to protect them? Even if it was a worse case scenario I don't think that I could let this happen. Maybe I'm thinking too much and reading between the lines too much. But I like to read for entertainment and to "get away" to new places and adventures...this book did not do that for me. I have no intentions of finishing the series especially because I talked with others who did like it and read them all and they told me it doesn't get any "better" as far as the violence is concerned and I will not let my children read this book!! So disappointed James Dashner. I expected greater things from you!

39 Clues

I haven't read them all yet but I am totally hooked on these! Yes I know these are for Juvenile readers but you learn so much in them! I started reading them because I thought my daughter might be interested in them but I wanted to know what they were about. Now I'm addicted and I love them!! I'm thinking about getting a map and then doing that push pin with yarn thing while we read the books so we can follow all the places around the world they go. Great read for boys and girls. Filled with action and suspense and they learn things to without even knowing it! I also like that each book is written by a different author. So it's kind of like that game you used to play when someone would start telling a story and then leave it in a cliff hanger spot and the next person would pick up from there and so on and so forth. Don't know if this is what they had in mind but I love the idea! Rick Riordan is one of the authors and I love all of his stuff anyway. If you haven't read them go get them...but be prepared to be sucked into the treasure hunt!

Righteous Warriors-The War Chapters

I love John Bytheway! He is so funny and I love that he writes specifically to teenagers because then I can understand it too. :) But I enjoyed him as a teenager too.

For Book Club this month we read one of his books about the war chapters in the Book of Mormon. I read this book several years ago and before I read this book I usually fell asleep during the "war chapters" or didn't really pay any attention to them. Now they are some of my favorite chapters. It is so interesting to me to see all the military tactics that are used but also see where the Lord helped his Righteous Warriors. And I love Capt. Moroni and Helaman as it is but to learn more about them and their character just increases that love.

I appreciated how he wrote this book. He talks about certain verses and discusses them. Often times he gives bullet points such as "Observation" or "Major Lesson" and it helps to break things down. Then at the end of the chapter he lists the lessons that are learned in the chapters he discussed. If you need a quick reference that is very helpful.

My other favorite books of his are the "What I learned in High School" books. He wrote two of them and they are awesome! I've used them in lessons before because he has great quotes in there from other prophets and also great insight on things. He also has great talks on CD that I recommend. I think one is called "What are you Carrying in your Backpack?" and if I remember correctly this one talks about the Book of Mormon but more specifically about Jacob. If that's not the right one, oh well, whatever the one about Jacob is it's a great one! I love all of his stuff. I don't think I've read one or listened to one that wasn't good. He has a great talk specifically for mothers and the women of the church that I also enjoy.

If you haven't read or listened to any of John Bytheway's things then you are missing out! Go check him out (not literally-he's married!)

Gravity vs. The Girl

Gravity vs. The Girl by Riley Noehren was a pretty good book. I don't know why, but every time I read this book Gravity won...I would fall asleep or lose all of my energy! It wasn't a boring book by any means. I actually really liked it and I felt like I was really getting into it...but I fell asleep every time. I wasn't always laying down when I was reading it either. I don't know, quite the mystery.

Anyway, despite that it made my gravity increase, this book was very interesting. It's about a young woman who has a midlife crisis, essentially, when she turns 30. She's a big shot lawyer who, when the books begins, has been in her bed and in her pajamas for about a year eating mostly jell-o cups. She is then "haunted" by 4 ghosts of her past self: 6 year old, attorney, law student and high school. It's about her journey out of bed and out of her pajamas and how she deals with things to make the ghosts go away.

For me, this was a great perspective on life. Sometimes we think we've dealt with things but we find that those incidents creep up on us at some point in our lives and now that we're in a different place we can try to finally resolve them. This book was a little depressing to me because it was a little true to life for me. Not the attorney part or the ghost part, but the spending your life in bed and in pajamas part. I'm sad to admit it but the past nine months I have found myself just in a complete rut with absolutely no energy or motivation to do anything. I pull myself out of bed to take care of the necessary things for my children...but then I crawl right back in when I'm no longer needed. My house is atrocious, I only shower when it is absolutely necessary and because I'm too lazy to wash my make-up off when I actually do put it on I'm breaking out worse than I ever did in high school. So this book was kind of a wake-up call on just how pathetic I let myself become.

It has a great ending and I was really pleased with how the author wrapped things up. I hope my life has a happy ending as well. I haven't had any ghosts come to help me yet...if things get that bed I'll probably just think I'm dead!

Supernatural

I am totally loving these books! Kirsten White has such a great perspective on the whole supernatural thing and it is so refreshing. I love the main characters and the challenges they are faced with. Because they are "real life" issues mingles with that paranormal twist. Even though I don't put much stock into paranormal beliefs, this comes across as "believable" to me. If these things truly did exist I could totally see these trials and things coming to pass. It's just so funny and refreshingly clean that it's such a great recommendation for any age. I would even let my nine year old read it. It's a little beyond her comprehension but I don't have to worry about language, or details, or romance passages getting out of hand. I love this book and can't wait for the third one to come out!

Son of Neptune

This is the second book in Rick Riordan's series "The Heroes of Olympus" series. It had been quite awhile since I had read the first book and so I didn't remember what happened but that was ok. The characters in this book are very likeable and good ol' Percy Jackson is back. It picks up with Percy having amnesia of sorts. He has some fuzzy memories of a past life but can't seem to put them all together. Weird monsters are after him and he's not quite sure why. He finds himself at the Roman camp and learning about the Gods whom he calls by their Greek names. The Romans are a little skeptical of him because they can tell he's Greek and they don't get along with the Greeks very well. The war between the Gods is continuing and Percy and two of his new friends have to go on an impossible quest and make it back before the clock strikes midnight when all hell breaks loose and the world as we know it will be destroyed! Such great reading. I love the way Rick Riordan writes and the mythology that you learn along the way. It ended with such a great twist that I'm mad I have to wait until the fall for the third one to come out!! I very much liked this book!

Midnight at Austenland

Well Shannon Hale has done it again! I absolutely LOVED this book! It has everything in it: humor, murder, intrigue, romance, adventure, and just a hint of actual real life problems. I loved the characters in this book and even though I figured out the mystery it was still so much fun to read and follow. Once again we go to Austenland to escape life's drama and get into some "let's just pretend that we're in one of Jane Austen's books" drama. The chivalry, the culture, the fancy dresses. One thing I liked about this book is that the main characters all had a hard time sticking to their "script" and more of the life behind the actors came out. This heroine was just as hilarious and fantastic as the heroine in the original Austenland. And while I didn't identify with her as much as I had the last character, I still found a soft spot for her in my heart and just cheered her on the entire book. My favorite part that made my husband and I laugh out loud for three solid minutes and then continually chuckle to ourselves for weeks on end was the "...long note from the buttocks bassoon..." You'll have to read the book if you want to find out what it means. Who doesn't love a good Shannon Hale book anyway! Read it. I promise you won't be disappointed!