Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the sequel to a book I read that I very much liked, The Hunger Games. The first book in this trilogy was exciting and almost impossible to tear ones eyes away from. It's a book directed to young adults and definitely worth reading.

Catching Fire recently hit bookstores, and after a long wait I was thrilled to get the book out of the library. However, I have found myself unable to read it! I'm not sure why, but it is not holding my attention at all. Even with my cousins and siblings pushing the book at me, I cannot make myself read it. It's kind of sad, as The Hunger Games is one of the best books I have ever read.

Have any of you out there found series of books where you've been unable to read the following books?

Has anyone read Catching Fire? If so would you like to share some thoughts on the book?

Abhorsen

Abhorsen is the final book in a trilogy by Garth Nix. The series is of a darker nature than I usually read...however, I quite like all three books.

In this story, two separate worlds exist next to each other. One a normal, everyday place...nothing terribly unusual at all...save the wall that divides it from the other world. The other is a place of magic and necromancy...where the dead can be raised by evil sources unless carefully watched by one person. The Abhorsen, a guardian of the dead. Abhorsen is a title and position passed down through bloodlines, to those who are gifted in travelling in death.

In this book, the Abhorsen-in-waiting is on her way to defeat a great enemy, along with the help of her nephew. However this is one of the dead who will require more than one Abhorsen to stop it.

I really enjoyed this book. and have read the whole trilogy several times. It might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I do recommend it. Especially if you are looking for something different to read...I also think that young adult readers would enjoy this work. Garth Nix is an excellent author, who has created amazing new world worth exploring.

Quick Update

So, currently, I've been reading a lot of Children's Literature. You can expect several posts then, regarding literature for children very soon!

I know I don't post as often as I should...I just get so caught up in the books themselves, who wants to take time from reading to write?

Today however, why don't you try gathering your little children or siblings and read aloud a good story such as Mollie Whuppie or Where The Wild Things Are?

Summer Reading

So I have been reading alot lately...I just haven't written many reviews. So today, I just wanted to share with you the titles of the best books I've read so far this summer.

Starclimber--Kenneth Oppel
This is the final ook in a series. It follows the story of Matt Cruse and others, as they sail through the sky, all the way into space. Adults and children alike will enjoy this one!

My Fair Godmother
This story is a funny romance that tells the story of a fairy godmother who just can't get things right. Very entertaining!

On Wings of a Dragon--Cora Taylor
An interesting fantasy story, with dragons, kings and winged girls. Where good triumphs over evil. Different...and interesting.

More to follow!

Searching for delicious books is always a challenge...and finding time to read and write about those books is even harder.

Therefore, once again I'd like to invite anyone interested to send me thoughts on your favorite books. I'm always looking for more ooks, and as you may know, bookworms always love to hear the opinions of other bookworms!

You can email me at singingin.therain@yahoo.ca

Murder in the Mews

The first work by Agatha Christie that I have ever read...And I thoroughly enjoyed it! The book I read was a collection of mysteries, each one intriguing and fascinating. I loved the character of Hercule Poirot...

I won't say too much more...I wouldn't want to give anything away! However, I do strongly recommend this book if you enjoy murder mysteries. If you've ever read and enjoyed anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, you will certainly enjoy Murder in the Mews!

I give it a rating of four apples. Enjoy!

Twice Upon a Marigold

The sequel to Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris, this book is delightful. Kids will love it! In this story, evil Queen Olympia regains her memory and comes back to wreak havoc in her Kingdom. Meanwhile, newlyweds Christian and Marigold are having their own struggles. Of course, things manage to work out to a happily ever after, but not before some surprising twists in the story. This great read gets four apples.

The Sherwood Ring

This is a perfectly lovely story, written by Elizabeth Marie Pope.

The story starts off with Peggy Grahame, going to live with her uncle after her Father's death. Peggy is lonely, and her uncle drives off her one potential friend. Yet, Peggy is not as alone as she thinks. The house has secrets and history, and ghosts from the past visit Peggy. They tell stories of their past to Peggy, and with their help, Peggy finally finds happiness.

It really is a lovely story...a cute romance, with just the right amount of adventure. The characters are real and wonderful.

I would suggest this book to adults and children alike, and give it FIVE delicious apples.

books

So...someone told me that the people who created the following list think that most people will only have read 6 off the list. I thought that was interesting and decide to repost it....just for fun.

1). Emboldened is what I have read
2). Italicised are what I intend to read
3). Green are the books I love

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (I love 'The Prisoner of Azkaban")
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
The Bible
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
Tess of the D'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
Complete Works of Shakespeare - William Shakespeare
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch - George Elliot
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Emma - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Count of Monte Christo - Alexander Dumas
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett
Ulysses - James Joyce
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession - AS Byatt
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Charlotte's Web - EB White
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
Matilda - Roald Dahl
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
Still Life with Woodpecker - Tom Robbins
Possession - AS Byatt
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Expery
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Dune - Frank Herbert
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
The Three Musketeers - Alexander Dumas
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
The Iliad - Homer

Well...this devoted bookwoorm has definitely read more than 6!

Victory

Victory by Susan Cooper is an interesting book. Perhaps better for older readers, unlike her Dark is Rising Sequence.

This book is about two children, from different periods of time. Sam is a powder monkey aboard the HMS Victory...which just happens to be the ship on which Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson dies a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Molly is an English girl who has moved from London to the U.S. in 2006...she is a lonely and unhappy girl.

Somehow, two stories are linked as we shift through time to see them both struggle through their own battles.

Victory is a really good story....I really enjoyed it. I would give it a rating of Four Apples, and reccomend it for older readers, as there is a bit of language and violence. It is a touching story, and the ending is quite beautiful. It differs from Susan Coopers other works, but I find it well written and entertaining.