Book #78 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

One of my freshmen has been begging me to read this book for months. Last week, she finally just brought it to me and said keep it until you get it read. Turns out I had just finished up book #77 the night before, so I decided to honor her request and read it. I see why this book impacted her so greatly and why she has read it 3 times. While the book was sitting on my desk last week, I had a lot of students comment on how they had read it. After finishing it, I see why it is right up there with the Harry Potter series on these kids' favorites list. This book was a futuristic look into a civilization broken into 12 districts and ruled by the all-powerful Capitol. In order to "keep the peace" (more like stomp on the little guy), the Capitol requires each district to send one boy and one girl between ages 12-19 to the Capitol each year for the Hunger Games. The 24 children enter an arena where not only do they face the dangers of surviving in the wild, but they also must kill each other to be the last man standing. The winner takes all. The other 23 are sent home in body bags. And what is despicable about the entire thing is that it is all televised (mandatory to watch) and betted on. This is a fascinating book that haunted my dreams and left me desperate for the heroine and yet deeply saddened as these children had to murder each other. This book gives a different perspective to the implications of war, poverty, and human nature. I always want to send a special shout out to an author that gets kids READING!!!! Way to go Suzanne Collins.

Book #66 - The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

This book is fantastic. 600 pages of pure adventure, intrigue, and suspense. One of my coworkers told me she didn't like it as much as the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", but I thought it was even better. I loved how intricate the plot was and how many layers were twisted into the story. Stieg Larsson was a phenomenal talent, and I am very saddened that he did not live to write more books. He obviously wanted to be a loud voice against violence, rape, and assault on women. It is an integral portion of both of his books I've read. If his book is true to the culture of Sweden, then women are less valuable to men than their personal belongings, cars, and motorcycles. Like I said after the first book, this will be a blockbuster in the movie theater.

Book #31 - Blind Side by Catherine Coulter

Don't confuse this one with "The Blind Side" which is now a major motion picture. This is last year's book by Catherine Coulter in her FBI series. I got hooked on this series back in college when my mom's best friend Fran gave me a copy of "The Eleventh Hour." I enjoyed it so much that I caught up on the whole series. This is one of the authors I follow for new books and purchase immediately. When this one came out in paperback, I immediately went to Amazon to order. Just to be sure I hadn't read it, I was reading the synopsis and reviews on Amazon. Interestingly, this book got shredded by the reviewers. As I started the book, I immediately got wrapped into the suspense and action. I thought the reviewer was crazy. However, I have to admit I was very disappointed in the last 50 or so pages. There was tons of buildup but then a very big letdown that the story had no depth. It was kind of like a bad made-for-TV-movie. I stuck with it to the end, and I have to agree with the reviewers, I was disappointed in the level of this work compared to her other books. Almost as though she tried to cram a mediocre book in just because she knew her avid followers would read it anyway. If this is the first book you read by Catherine Coulter, please try another because I did not feel it was telling of her work. On a side note, she does do her homework...it is fact that the Tennessee training center for police officers is in Donelson, TN...just across the street from where I work!

Book #19 - The Testament by Eric Van Lustbader

My brother AJ gave me this book almost two years ago. Don't ask me why it took me so long to read it, but it got buried at the bottom of my stack of books. Even more random is that I picked this book that was literally at the bottom of a stack of 20. He told me when he gave it to me that it was great. Classic story of Good versus Evil. One ancient religious group has "secrets that will shake the Christian world to their foundation." They are trying to protect this information from the bad guys that are seeking world domination with these "secrets". Very interesting mix of action and intrigue. Like Da Vinci Code, the main character of this book is great with ciphers and like Sophie from Da Vinci Code, he has been trained to be the Keeper of the secrets from a young age without knowing. What is incredible about this book is that there are several layers of deception and it takes the reader forever to figure out who is the bad guy and who is the good guy. This book had a great ending and the world remains safe for all. In regards to whether I believe an ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ would make Christianity crumble, I don't believe it would. I figure if a gospel that demonstrated that Jesus was more man than God-like would be destroyed by the Vatican before anyone would ever see it. Even if by chance, it would be released and authenticated, I seriously doubt modern Christians would accept it.