The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Hunger Games is one of those books you know you should ration, but you just can’t help it. Then when you’re done after only two days you’re mad at yourself. I loved this book! I want more! The good news is, I think it’s a series, or is going to be.
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a really cool book, and kind of different. It starts off in the 80s with this little girl, Kate, who is totally Harriet the Spy. Then it fast forwards 20 years to try to kind of figure out her disappearance. It’s a mystery, but it’s also a study in human nature and character. And it’s actually quite funny during the first part of the book when it’s following Kate, because she is a very self-assured and determined detective. She’s precocious but never obnoxious, and she’s a very enjoyable character to follow.
I really liked this book. I guess the only reason I didn’t give it five stars is that the explanation to the mystery didn’t totally click for me. It wasn’t like I thought it was dumb or a cop-out, I just felt that I needed a little more. Of what, I don’t know, but something.
I will definitely look for future books from this author.
I have a lot of stuff I don’t need, and I don’t have any room for said stuff. So there is now a growing collection on my dining room table of items that are going to the yard sale being held by Midsouth Pet Rescue in the perimeter mall. Allegedly this event is taking place this weekend, but who knows, really. All I know is that I can get rid of superfluous things while feeling like a good person because I am helping abandoned and surrendered animals.
Among my collection of items I’m donating:
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A cookbook called The Four Ingredient Cookbook. It has a delicious looking picture of phyllo stuffed with something on the cover. But oh, guess I didn’t take the time that all the units are in the METRIC system, so this cookbook is dead to me. I can’t get mixed up in all that.
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The Lost board game. I am not the only one who got sucked into this racket. It is in no way a Lost trivia game (which I would kick your ASS at by the way). It’s called Lost, but it should be called Survivor, because it’s really about strategy. It’s more of a Monopoly or Battleship type game. (Note: I never play either of those games, but you can infer from my comparing The Lost Game to them that in my mind they are boring and excruciating.)
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A drinking glass that has a picture of The Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz. OK, that’s a lie. I couldn’t bear to give it up. I used to always drink from it at my grandma’s house at dinnertime. Speaking of my dinnertime at my grandma’s house, to this day I associate Tom Brokaw with fried chicken. You can consider that a compliment, Tom, because MaMa’s fried chicken is ridonk. (I heard that on How I Met Your Mother and I’m running with it. Since I still fully believe that Charles made up "ridonkulous" I feel part ownership for all things ridonkulous-related.)
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Approximately 2% of the clothing that I don’t wear and will never wear again. Don’t worry, the other 98% of my clothes from 1999-2005 are safe under my bed and probably in my mom’s garage too. Because you just never know when the need will arise for stretchy black pants with glitter all over them, right?
Everyone knows how much I hate the dentist, right? I would rather go to the girly doctor, that’s how much. I hate the smells, and I hate the flossing and the gritty feeling of the weird toothpaste they use. I would actually rather get a tooth pulled or a cavity filled than just have a cleaning. At least when you get real stuff done you (A) get the laughing gas, (B) get to have a milkshake dinner, and (C) get to act pitiful like you just had surgery (Don’t even try to act like I’m the only one who does that).
But, ok, so you know what I hate so much I would rather be getting my teeth cleaned? Flying. In an airplane. Which is what I will be doing, if my nonrefundable plane ticket is any indication, in about 36 hours. Charles and I are going to Miami to visit his sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer and Jared, which we are very excited about. But my excitement about having a nice little vacation is taking a back seat right now to my fear of looming-closer-every-minute flying.
Speaking of Miami, I can’t BELIEVE Charles hasn’t been white-boy-rapping "Miami" by Will Smith at all times. When he and his family went to Miami last year, he would not shut UP with that song. Every time Miami was mentioned, there went Charles…"I’M GOIN’ TO MIAMI." So nobody mention it. Or it will start…and never end. Yeah, our ENTIRE honeymoon in San Francisco and Monterey, any time California was mentioned, Charles felt it was his special job to say Calee-FOIN-ya just like Arnold Schwarzenegger. So, that was fun.
Anyway, back to the very scary subject at hand! I need something to totally distract me from the sheer terror of the plane leaving the ground. Although that only takes like one minute, the whole 30 minutes of sitting on the plane waiting for boarding and all that is really stressful because you just KNOW what’s coming.
So does anyone know of any SUPER intense crossword puzzles or Mad Libs that will completely demand my full attention, like, as if lives depend on it, for 30 full minutes?
In an effort not to keep my reading public waiting any longer, I’ve decided to start my blog entries at #37. There is entirely too much pressure involved in trying to write My First Blog Ever, so if everyone could just act like this is yet another hilarious entry in the very well-established blog Brave Katie, that would really help me out.
I guess I should try to explain the whole Brave Katie thing. My blog mentor Erin, who created this super-cute design for me, came up with the idea for Brave Katie. We thought it fit because I tend to have a lot of stories that get more ridiculous and pitiful as they go on, wherein I am invariably the victim of some unthinkable injustice. But it’s the way that I soldier through these injustices that pretty much makes me an inspiration to you all.
The bad thing is, since this is a blog for all to see, I can’t tell a lot of those stories because I can’t just be airing grievances out on the internet–this isn’t Festivus, people! But I will do my best to continue to involve myself in general, not-to-be-blamed-passively-aggressively-on-the-internet-on-one-specific-person shenanigans and foolishness so that I have plenty of blog material.