My Recent Reading List

Lately, I have finally been able to get some fun reading in.  Since winter break, I have finished not one, not two, but THREE books, none of which were required by school.  Oh, and did I mention that the combined number of pages happened to be somewhere around 1,200?!  I take this to be a huge accomplishment because "fun" reading can only really take place after I read my Honors English novel, my AP Human Geography textbook, and occasionally my Honors Bio textbook.  The point is, my fun reading has gone way down this year, which is really unfortunate for me.  Well, here are the three AWESOME books.  I don't know if the sci-fi/fantasy genre is your type, but I would at least take more than a glimpse at them, because you would be really missing out on some great adventures.

How did I spend New Year's Eve? Reading, of course.

I didn't light fireworks.

I wasn't celebrating with friends. 

I even missed the ball dropping in Times Square.

Instead my New Year's Eve consisted of a movie and three hours of reading.  Not that I'm complaining.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

It began (around 7:30) with Tom Hanks starring as Forrest Gump in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump (didn't see that one comin', did ya☺).  I, for one, was really impressed.  I had no idea what the movie was going to be about, and when I asked my parents, they gave me nothing.  So I came in with low expectations and I was pretty happy with it.  Although it wasn't the action-packed, special effects filled film that peaks my interest the most, but it definitely had a lot of emotion along with a very good plot line.  Forrest Gump is just the kind of character that amazes you with how he takes everything, good and bad.  I also liked how it had a happy and complete ending.  For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy and watch it.

We finished the movie just after 10 o'clock (keep in mind this is mountain time).  We switched to the CNN channel, but it was too late.  Unfortunately, the ball had already dropped in New York.  Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin were joking around with partying people in the background.  I was a little disappointed; I've enjoyed counting down and watching the festivities of New York in the past.  Oh well, I guess there's always next year.

The previous night (Dec 30), I had gotten a book from the local library that I had been waiting on the edge of my seat for.  I had started it the morning of New Year's Eve, but I wasn't satisfied only reading a few pages.  For the next few hours after watching Forrest Gump, I stayed up reading, while the rest of my family went to bed.  Being that it was New Year's Eve, there were many bursts of fireworks in the neighborhood and my dog would occasionally jump up without warning and run to a window barking.  These were unpleasant interruptions to say the least.  Anyway, I think it was about 1 or 1:30 in the morning when I found a reasonable part in the novel to stop and go to bed.  Maybe I'm too much of a bookworm...

Yep, that concludes my epic (not really) New Year's Eve Tale.  Until next time,

"Life's a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

-Mrs. Gump

Book Withdrawal

The brain shrivels up from lack of fantasy and a world one’s never dreamed of, people and places of wonder.  The fingers itch to graze the imprinted grooves that run along the spine and to gently turn untouched sheets of paper.  The eyes yearn to gaze among individual black symbols, variously strung together to make words, which come alive and leap off the crisp, white parchment, to tell a story.  The ears strain, listening for the unique rustle of pages.  The heart grows cold from lack of joy and sorrow, rage and love, sensationally described in these tales.

The House of Hades book cover.
Image curtesy of Wiki

That is how I portray book withdrawal, what it feels like to not read the books I so desperately want to.

For example, The House of Hades by Rick Riordan is one novel that I have been wanting to read since it came out on October 8.  This book is the fourth installment in one of my favorite series.  I never was into the whole Greek Gods thing until I started reading these books; now I love learning about major gods, minor gods, and old Greek stories.  I don’t know if it’s the subject of mythology, the author’s acumen in writing or a combination of both, but I sure do love the novels.  The sad part about this is that The House of Hades came out on October 8th, here it is November 16, and I’m only halfway through it (I started it a week ago).  To put it simply, I DIDN’T READ THIS AWESOME NEW BOOK UNTIL A WHOLE MONTH AFTER IT CAME OUT!  I guess I’ve just been so busy with school and soccer that I’ve had to put off the free choice reading.  It’s quite sad really, but now that I’m getting into the book, I’m struggling to make time to read now because I don’t want to set it down.

Some of you may be thinking “So what? How is that such a big deal?”  However, the past two years I have gotten the new book in the series near, if not on, the release date, then I proceeded to finishing an approximately five hundred page book within a week.  So yeah, I’m a pretty fast reader when I want to be, but this year, school takes a lot more work.  Don’t get me wrong, I love learning about biology, matrices, new vocabulary, and how to find the theme of a novel, but it can be draining.  My precious, free choice reading has been minimized greatly.  I can only hope that as the year goes on, I can manage and organize my time to fit in more reading.

Now, about the book.  I am really enjoying it so far (no surprise).  There is a lot of action/adventure along with a good amount of humor.  A sprinkle of romance and a bunch of heart-pounding obstacles.  Over the series, it’s awesome to see development in each of the characters.

Find The House of Hades on Amazon and Barnes and Noble