Book list

[hope_calaris]

I decided to start a list of all the books I've read for no other reason than that I feel like it XD.

(Beware of book spoilers in the comments!)

Starting October 2o11

1. Or Is That Just Me by Richard Hammond -- Richard is approaching 4o and apparently that's reason enough to slide straight into a midlife crisis. It's quite funny, actually, to read about his body slowly falling apart (which really, is not that funny, but the way he writes about it is), his adorable akward attempts at acting and whatever else comes to his mind. Richard is the King of Randomness if you ask me.
2. As You Do by Richard Hammond -- It's mostly the stories behind the big Top Gear specials. The one with the famous love story between him and Oliver (a car) in Botswana, and the Polar Expedition. Not that I thought the Polar Expedition was easy in any way before, but reading about it made me realize how difficult it really was (and I felt really, really cold reading about it ^^).
3. On The Edge: My Story by Richard Hammond -- The story about his jet car crash and its fallout in 2oo6. Very touching and moving. And Mindy, Richard's wife, has earned my eternal admiration for her strength.
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- Tumblr is FULL with The Hunger Games and its fandom, and since I'd never heard of it before, I decided to give it a try (it's the same with twitter and tumblr, if I don't get the hype, I'll have to try it for myself). To be honest, I hated the first book. Not the writing or the characters, but the whole basic idea of sending teenagers into an arena to fight to the death. Completely and utterly disgusting, and I still don't get why there's such a huge fandom for it. These books shouldn't be advertised as YA in my opinion. I wouldn't want my imaginary 13 years old to read these. Anyway, there were some scenes (especially towards the end) when I could barely stand to keep reading.
5. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins -- I still kept reading, and voila! I liked this book so much more than the first one (contrary to popular fandom opinion as it seems). Apparently, I'm not a fand of gladiator fights to the death, but give me a rebellion and I'm all set.
6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins -- Collins still has problems with pacing and describing really boring details for a really long time, but otherwise I liked this book a lot. The characters get more depth (Finnick! ♥) and I really liked the ending. The high body count, however, was really unnecessary.
7. Mary Tudor: The First Queen by Linda Porter -- Highly informative and well written, I liked it a lot. It also shows a bias to portray Mary as a nicer woman than she's usually pictured by historians, which I also like because I'm in turn influenced by Sarah Bolger's acting in The Tudors which made me like Mary a great deal. Win-win all around.
8. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare -- I liked it better than the first part of the Infernal Devices Trilogy, so that's a good thing. I think the plot was a bit slow moving and not all that important to the overall arch, but it's the first time ever I couldn't decide which male character I wanted to see with the female protagonist. And I love Gideon and Sophie.