East of Eden

This book has always looked overwhelming to me. It's not small, not short, and a literary classic (which may or may not mean it's cryptic and difficult to read). After I got through the first couple of overly descriptive chapters, I was hooked. I liked his characters and the way they were portrayed very much. He is able to let you get to know his characters so deeply - both what they are thinking, and how others perceive and deal with them. I think the thing that really got me the most was his exploration of the human character - it was so thoughtful and I think right on. I loved what I perceived to be one of his main themes - the nature of humans to have varying levels of light and dark in them, how that light or darkness may be created and inflamed, or may just exist - and ultimately how man's own free agency weaves through all of that. I really enjoyed his portrayal of what life might look like to people of all varying shades. He was not afraid to explore the darkest of the dark - a sociopathic character in whom the evil seemed to just exist, but also exploring those with mostly light in them - innocent and naive, and not entirely suited to the real world in all of its complexities. The rest of his characters were more in the middle, and easier to like and relate to. It covers a lot of life and a lot of history, and of course I love the 1890s as a time period generally (though of course it ends past the turn of the century). Some of the other themes and topics he discusses in his book seemed really weird or random, but by the end I could see the masterpiece he wove using some of those seemingly random discussions or themes as a later way to bring home the point. I just loved it, and found it worthy. And to any of you thinking you might to read it...timshel...but I think you should.

The Hunger Games Trilogy

I was lucky enough read these only once the whole trilogy was released. I devoured all three in about 2 weeks. I'd had friends try to explain the premise (as I have since), and it always comes out confusing and paltry compared to the actual story. Suzanne Collins does a wonderful job sucking you into this post-apocalyptic world with it's wilting dystopian society. The story of Hunger Games about knocked me over with its innovation...it is very clever and imaginative. Though it did made me think a wee bit of a kid version of The Running Man. I was also impressed at how Ms. Collins did not shy away from the violence and awfulness given the age of her target readers, but instead made them matter-of-fact, a tool for pulling you along. I also of course LOVED her main character - a very strong, smart, totally kick-ass girl, and yet one with significant faults. She is so unlike other leading love-sick female characters of recent fame, it was almost refreshing. Though that in itself makes it more ironic that she ends up in an entertaining love-triangle, another aspect of what keeps pulling you along.

The first two books were definitely the best, in my opinion. Her descriptions of the societies, the mix of just surviving with the futuristic aspects woven in was well done. Everything leading up to the Hunger Games was absolutely fascinating, then the Games themselves were enthralling - totally messed up of course, with the whole kids killing kids thing - but I think that's partly why it was so captivatin. Not to mention the other characters of the book you couldn't help but get attached to. You were just pulling for Katniss to win, and yet somehow figure out how to save everyone else you cared about. So well done.

The third book was very different...since I was able to read all three together in such a short amount of time I think it helped me see more of the continuity of the story, and I think maybe it had to be quite different by nature. And there were definitely things I loved (the parts in the Capital for instance), but it mostly seemed so sterile compared to the others. And it was missing characters that kind of helped make the first two a hit. I also thought the ending came pretty fast and wrapped up a little too neatly, but I still didn't mind it too much, it would be difficult to find a perfect ending to such a story. All in all, I still highly recommend!