Sorry!! Taking my time on a loooong book...

There haven't been any posts recently only because I am DEVOURING a very long and very awesome book: The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner.
A very very well-written book which takes the reader through the first years of Israel's statehood up until just a decade or two ago, spanning four different Prime Ministers.
I must give the author a ton of credit for writing in what seems to me to be a very fair and unbiased way, which must be incredibly hard to do when you're that close to the political powers that be.
All I know is, Avner has shed light on many historical happenings and opened my eyes to the "other" side, even when I thought my personal opinions were unshakeable.

Thanks Cow for this book :)

Mockingjay (The 3rd and final book in the Hunger Games series)

Congrats Suzanne Collins, you have done it again.
The third and last book in the series was also extremely moving. As the series goes on, it definitely gets more depressing, kind of like with Harry Potter. Not in a bad way, just in a "holy crap they're teenagers why are their lives filled with such baggage and that pile keeps growing?!" way...
I must say that I'm usually pretty good at guessing what's going to happen in books, whether they be mysteries, etc. But not with this one!!! Nothing was as simple as I thought it would be, and I was pleasantly surprised at all the major action changes, who ends up with  whom and how the series ends.
Keep reading!

Catching Fire (2nd book in Hunger Games series)

Alright Suzanne Collins, you've done it again. I admit it. I've been wowed. AGAIN.
This second installment in the series wasn't as mindblowing as the first, but not because the author got lazy; I really just think it's because now we're not totally shocked by the subject matter. We know it's gonna be freaking crazy and off the hook, so just more prepared this second time around.
The one thing that was markedly different in this book was that there were less new characters to introduce, so I feel like the readers didn't get to meet everyone in as much detail or have them explained in such rich detail since we'd already been over that in the first book.
Bottom line: if you started the series, FINISH IT!!! And if you haven't started it, clearly, you are no fun and have no personality. That must be it...
Enjoy!

The Hunger Games

My first review, in honor of Emily Cohen :)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Holy. Effing. Crap. This book is NOT PUT-DOWNABLE (now that I write a blog, I am officially allowed to make up words). A verrrry interesting book which reminded me a bit of Brave New World in that way that it sheds light on how our world will be when we utterly screw everything up. The action is real, the author doesn't leave any loose ends of "how is that possible???"- on the contrary, she does a phenomenal job of making sure all plotlines are covered.
It's not just the chapters that end on a cliffhanger- it feels like EVERY page does. Really riveting, and lifelike enough that after reading through some of the hunger scenes, I was acutely aware of every morsel of food in my kitchen. Meaning I scrupulously picked up each and every grain of rice which may have fallen that night making dinner. One of those books that stays with you.
MUST READ!

This past month...

I'll start with the books I've read this past month. I'm going to list them, and hopefully review one or two a day:

1) The Art of Racing in the Rain by

2) The Secret Daughter

3) Dream With No Name

4) The Help

5) Fiddler on the Subway

6) Naomi

7) The Hunger Games

8) Talking to the Enemy

9) The Outsiders

10) Flyboys

11) Peace Meals

12) Happy All the Time

13) The Hot Zone

14) The Nazi Officer's Wife

Disclaimer: Might be reviewed in any particular order

Welcome!

I got the idea for this blog from a friend, who we shall call Cow. Cow has ZERO idea that she contributed to me making this blog, but her inocuous comments: "wow, you read a lot" and "what do you think of XYZ book" gave me the idea just to create a blog where I can review recent book reads and get suggestions for new ones.

These will be short reviews, Dana-style. I will try not to give away too much action in the book, will just stick to my opinions and the writing style of the author.

That's really it.