Audio Book Challenge: Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins - 2010

2011 Audio Book Challenge: Book # 4 (of 6)

Title: Mockingjay (Hunger Games # 3)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Year: 2010

Read By: Carolyn McCormick

Publisher: Scholastic

Date Read: 03-23-2011

Overall: * * * * * (5/5)

GoodReads Blurb: Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

My Review: Mockingjay is very different from the first two Hunger Games books. The first two books involve the actual games and are a bit more fast-paced. Mockingjay takes the games out of the arena and puts Katniss and the other characters into the war that begins to rage between the rebels and the capitol. For this reason there are many periods of recovery for Katniss as she endures numerous injuries and emotional problems due to the war.

I think this book is a really good depiction of a war. It is not a happy book, there is not as much humor as the previous two, and it feels very real. There are wins and losses, friends die, and everyone's strength is tested.

Listening to this book was harder than the first two. It just felt much more sad to be listening to all of the battles and attacks, the deaths, even the rescues made me want to cry because McCormick does a great job adding touches of emotion while reading the story. I've grown quite attached to McCormick since the first book.

To Purchase: Print version: Amazon, B&N. Audio Book version: Amazon, B&N

Currently listening to: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (read by Jim Dale)

I listened to this as part of the 2011 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner

Books Read in 2011: 29 (of 100)

Audio Book Challenge Review: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins - 2009

2011 Audio Book Challenge: Book # 3 (of 6)

Title: Catching Fire (Hunger Games # 2)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Year: 2009

Read By: Carolyn McCormick

Publisher: Scholastic

Date Read: 2-13-2011

Overall: * * * * (4/5) (based on audio book version)

GoodReads Blurb: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol. Catching Fire maintains the adrenaline rush of Suzanne Collins's series launch.

My Review: I really like the audio book versions of the Hunger Games books now. Though I kept having weird sound problems with this book, not sure if it was the mp3, the ipod, or my headphones. Sometimes it sounded like there was a crazy echo and that Carolyn McCormick was part robot. Weird.

I still love this story, and I love Peeta more and more as the books go on and as I reread them. I think I've said before that when I first read The Hunger Games (book 1) I really didn't like Peeta. I thought he was cocky and a jerk. Then when I read Catching Fire for the first time, I fell in love with Peeta. Now when I reread them, I don't have that hatred for Peeta in the first book, I guess because now I understand where he is coming from a lot better than when I first read it.

Listening to these books feels a bit more depressing than reading them though, because the full effect of hearing someone describe everything that happens in the arena is just more intense, in my opinion. I am excited to start listening to Mockingjay soon, but I want to make sure I have a few good big chunks of time so it doesn't take me as long as the first two books did.

To Purchase: Print version | Audio Book version

Currently Reading: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, Ten Miles Past Normal (ARC) by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Warning: A large number of book reviews will be posted later today and tomorrow.

I listened to this book as part of the 2011 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner.

Books Read in 2011: 21

Audio Book Challenge Review: The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins - 2008

2011 Audio Book Challenge: Book # 2 (of 6)

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Year: 2008

Read By: Carolyn McCormick

Publisher: Scholastic

Date Read: 2-4-2011

Overall: * * * * (4/5, based on audio book)

GoodReads Blurb: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My Review: I really enjoyed listening to this book. I love The Hunger Games trilogy in print format, and I've been wanting to reread all 3, so I figured I could incorporate that into the audio book challenge I am participating in. At first, I was turned off by the reader's voice, because she sounds a lot older than Katniss, but after a few chapters I was used to it and her voice was actually very soothing.

There were many times that tears came to my eyes while listening to this book, because some of the sad or shocking parts seem even more real when they are read out loud. I wish the reader had given some more emphasis to Katniss's sarcastic inner voice, because I always found Katniss to be very funny, and I felt like McCormick didn't get that tone of voice the way I had wanted it to be.

A downfall of listening to this story was that I would have to stop listening when I parked my car and sometimes that would be in the middle of a suspenseful or action-packed part of the story, which made listening kind of a choppy experience. I am glad that the same woman does the other books in trilogy, because now that I am used to her voice, I really like it and I wouldn't want to have to get used to another voice.

To Purchase: Print version or Audio Book version

Currently Reading: Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph

Currently Listening To: Catching Fire (Hunger Games # 2) by Suzanne Collins (read by Carolyn McCormick)

Books Read in 2011: 17

I listened to this audio book as part of the 2011 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner

Caught Fire

I stayed up late last night reading Catching Fire from start to finish. I started it at midnight, which was probably a poor choice on my part, and didn't finish it until the dark night sky was replaced with the soft blue-gray of early morning. I tried to put it down and fall asleep a few times, I really did, but each time I couldn't fall asleep because I just needed to know what was going to happen to Katniss and the other characters.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I won't go into details, but I am so incredibly intrigued by the last two pages of the book. The last sentence alone had me staying up even past when I'd finished to try and work it out in my head.

I really like how Katniss has developed as a person, and I love that she lets us in on all the turmoil inside of her and the guilt she feels no matter what decisions she makes. I feel like her character grew a lot throughout the two books.

I still love Gale and now I even really like Peeta, since he obviously cares for Katniss more than even she knew. I can't wait til the next book comes out, I need to know where Katniss and the others are now and what happened in District 12 and the other Districts during the Quarter Quell Games. I NEED TO KNOW!!

Sorry for the outburst, but really, these books have got me hooked and have crawled into my brain. No two books have surprised me and shocked me and completely turned me around more than The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I love reading them, and then I am in a state of distress when they are done because I want so badly to know what happens to Katniss, Gale, Prim, Peeta, and even Haymitch.

If you haven't read these two books, they will seriously change your life if you give them a try. They're well-written, adventurous, terrifying, and very different from any book I've ever read. You'll enjoy them.

Catching Fire

After dropping off this months rent I went to Barnes & Noble to get "Catching Fire", the sequel to "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. I am SO excited to read this book! It's hard to put it on hold while I finish "Redwall", but I know it is worth waiting for. "The Hunger Games" is fantastic and well-written and unique. I didn't used to like stories that took place in the future, because they all seemed so unrealistic, but "The Hungers Games" is so captivating that it definitely changed my mind about reading similar books.
While I was at Barnes & Noble I also picked up a couple of the books on my "To Buy" list. I got "The Miles Between" by Mary Pearson, "After the Moment" by Garret Freymann-Weyr, and the first "Pretty Little Liars" book by Sara Shepard. But obviously, they have to go on hold for a while so I can catch up to the other 5 million books on my lists.
After stopping in at B&N I went through the Drive-Thru Panera (So awesome!) because I really just wanted one of their lemonades. Their lemonades are amazing, I don't even know why! I'm trying to savior it and make it last, but that's a battle fought in vain.
Now, time to get back to "Redwall," because the sooner I finish it, the sooner I can dive into "Catching Fire" and see what's going on in the world of Katniss and Peeta! I also have to figure out what's wrong with my desktop computer, it's being a bit feisty and I have to go put it in its place.