The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I had planned on rereading The Hunger Games before checking out the movie next month.  However, between being sick and getting a new iPhone (my first smart phone ever!) I sort of fell into a reading rut.  I just couldn't get inspired to pick up a book.  So I did what I do when this happens ....I picked up a book that I have already read and loved!! In this case three books since once you read the first one you have to keep on reading.

I am pretty sure just about everyone has read these books by now, but if you haven't read them I can't promise no spoilers!  Nor would I really call this a review, but more of some observations made on my second go round of reading this series.

1. Let's start with Cinna. He is one of my favorite characters and his fate in Catching Fire has always irked me.  It bothered even more this time and I came to the conclusion it's because I now have the image of Lenny Kravitz in my mind as Cinna and man oh man do I love me some Lenny Kravitz.

2. The biggest problem I encounter with reading YA is remembering the characters are usually just that ...young.  There are moments I want to reach into the book and smack Katniss.  I have to remind myself she is just a teenager and well ....teenagers sometimes do need smacking.

3. Something, other than Prim, bothers me about the way the story ends.  Yet I can't quite put a finger on what that is.  Hmmmm, yea I can .....I liked Gale.

4. I loved that my son and I both read this series.  Yes, I convinced my video game obsessed son to read a book.  We will be going to see the movie together.  We can't wait!!!

5. I'm curious as to how Haymitch will be portrayed in the movie.  Let's face it despite some of his redeeming qualities ...he is also a rude drunk.  Will it be toned down for the movie I wonder.

Now it is time to get back to reading the book I couldn't get myself to pick up and read .....hopefully now the odds will be in my favor of completing said task.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca is my first book completed for The Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Sarah Reads too Much and was my selection the classic mystery/crime/horror category.  I have discovered that my expectations of a classic or almost always wrong.  This of course happens with more modern literature as well, but just not to the same extent.  Books I expected to love leave me looking for a box of nails to chew as I think that would be more enjoyable then finishing the book ...I am pretty sure this first occurred when I took on Henry James for the first time.  Books I expect to find tedious and boring end up shocking those nails right out of me.  Such is the case with Rebecca .....

The biggest compliment to this book isn't the mystery of what happened to her, but how the the author portrays Rebecca ....you believe her to be this beautiful, amazing and kind spirit ....but **Spoiler Alert** it turns out it she was a cruel and heartless woman.  The transformation of character never seems out of place.  The mystery of how Rebecca died isn't as exciting and is rather predictable in this day and age, but I doubt it was as predictable in 1938.  I found myself yelling at the book and rolling my eyes at the new Mrs de Winter ..."why are you listening to Mrs. Danvers and making that dress for the costume ball!"  The true mystery is about who Rebecca really was and that is crafted perfectly through the eyes of the new Mrs. de Winter.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

First let me confess to this, I haven’t read a Stephen King novel since The Shining scared the kittens out of me in high school.  We won’t discuss how many years ago it was that the word “redrum” had me sleeping with my eyes open, but it was the first and last time I read a Stephen King novel.  So, how is it I couldn’t wait for this book to be released? That the only thing that kept me from running out to buy it the day it was released was the knowledge that either a loving boyfriend or mother would buy it for me for Christmas.  Yes, I was that excited to read 11/22/63 and I’m happy to report that my second venture into a Stephen King novel did not disappoint me (or scare the kittens out of me).

The premise of the book is intriguing even if not quite original in it's concept of time travel.  What if you were able to go back in time and save JFK?  How does that change the future as we know it.  Will it also save Martin Luther King …..will it keep American troops out of Vietnam ….heck, will it keep the Beatles from breaking up?  I won’t tell you how Stephen King envisions that future, but it gives one’s mind plenty to think about.  Our hero in waiting, Jake/George, is living in the past for five years as he waits for time to catch up to that fateful day.  The question is not just what will he change if he can stop Lee Harvey Oswald and save JFK, but how much is he changing every day just by being there in a place and time where he doesn’t belong.  The question is what happens if forced to choose between a life he has fallen in love with and a future he is supposed to change.

This is only the second book I have read in 2012 and I have this feeling it will be the book I can't stop talking about!! It is already the book I am recommending to anyone who will listen ....even those who don't want to listen!