Our Reading Nook

Do you guys have any great books you've read lately?  Now that I don't have a book club, I'm feeling a little lost.

Okay, I just finished Ender's Game and I am wondering which book I should read next? Do I read Speaker for the Dead or Ender in Exile? I know the latter was written after the original series, but on Goodreads it lists it as the second book of the Ender series. What do you think?

Written by Pauline McLain, this book tells the love story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.  I would give it at least 4 stars. It is a historical fiction novel and reads as if the events and dialogs could have happened just the way written.  I was so intrigued that now I am interested in reading more about Hemingway and maybe reading some of his books as well. I know I've read The Old Man and the Sea but I can't remember much about it. I just ended up picking this book up off the new books rack at the library and ended up getting lucky. I would recommend it if you are looking for an interesting historical fiction to read and if you want to read any real reviews about it you'll just have to head to amazon since I don't have much time to get into the story right now or just go get it from the library already.

I read this book a few weeks ago before we left for Utah, so I may not remember exactly what I thought about it. The main character is a mother of two kids, an 8 year old and a 9 month old. The 8 year old has a birthmark on her face and therefore gets picked on and made fun of at school. The family moved to this new town so the daughter could start fresh and be at a new school with a no-bullying policy. At the beginning of the book, the mom goes to school to be a lunch mom one day to keep an eye on her daughter. She sees three girls sitting next to her daughter and one puts jelly on her face to make fun of her birthmark. As the daughter runs to the bathroom right next to the kitchen, the bell rings for the kids to go outside for recess. The mom goes over to the three other girls and starts talking to them about how teasing is just like bullying and that they need to be nice. The other lunch mom tells this mom that she shouldn't discipline and goes to tell a teacher outside about this other mom so the only people in the cafeteria are this mom and the three girls. All of a sudden there's a huge explosion in the kitchen and the mom gets knocked out. When she comes to there is fire and smoke and she realizes the kitchen just had an explosion. Two of the three girls are right next to her and the other one is running outside. The mom realizes her daughter is still in the bathroom right next to the kitchen that just exploded and has to decide whether she will run to her daughter, leaving these two girls there or if she'll take these two girls outside and leave her daughter. I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you what she did since this all happens in the first few chapters of the book. She ends up taking the two girls to the cafeteria door to a teacher that is ushering other kids outside and then runs back to the bathroom and breaks in to get her daughter out. They get her to the hospital and she's fine, but then the mom finds out that the girl who put jelly on her face ran back into the cafeteria and is now being rushed to the hospital in a coma. So, basically this story is about how this mom deals with how the other moms treat her thinking that she left this other girl to save her daughter. It's actually kind of infuriating and I wonder if people would really respond that way. The other moms really attack this mom for saving her daughter and really make it impossible for her to go anywhere, since they start yelling at her the second they see her. The story takes an interesting turn when the main character finds out there are factors to the explosion at this new school that seem like someone wanted to have it explode. Then it turns into kind of a murder mystery and gets a little silly. It was kind of interesting and an easy read, but it was a little unrealistic and the story got a little too complex about why the murderer wanted to cause the explosion. So, while I enjoyed it for what it was, I would probably only give it 2 1/2 stars since there are better books out there. Did I confuse everyone with my jumbled thoughts?

I read this book a month or so ago, but liked it and thought it would be one you would all enjoy. It reminds me a little of "The Hunger Games". It isn't quite as gripping, but still fun. The main character is a 17 year-old girl and the government controls everything, your occupation, who you marry, even when you die. The story is about her and dealing with being matched. I won't tell you much more, just give it a try. I think you will like it. It is also part of a series, but I think the next book won't be published until November of this year.

So the book is "Matched" by Allie Condie.

And does anyone have any great suggestions? I feel like I am dying for a great book, but haven't found one in a while.

Okay, girls. Are any of you still reading out there? I am trying to come up with a book for our book club next year (or I guess now it is this year!) and have no ideas. Anyone have any fabulous suggestions?

I finished Mockingjay a few weeks ago and just haven't posted about it. I actually liked it more than I thought I would since I heard a lot of people say they didn't really like it. I was a little confused at first because Collins kept referring to people from the Capitol that I didn't remember (it had been a few months since I read "Catching Fire" so I didn't remember all of the little details). I also found the part about what happened outside Pres. Snow's mansion confusing. It all moved so fast and I had to go back and read it a couple of times. I don't know if I really liked that Peeta seemed to come out of his negative reprogramming so quickly. At first it seemed like he'd never be the same and then a few chapters later, he is pretty much normal. But I'm glad she ended up with him instead of Gabe, although I think it was a little unreasonable that the reason she couldn't be with Gabe was that his weapon may or may not have been the one to kill Prim. That being said, I like the twist at the end and how she was able to change everything from just being the same. I thought Collins did a good job at planting doubt as to whether Pres. Coin would be better than Pres. Snow and I like that even thought Katniss hated Pres. Snow she could see that he was right about how things would just be the same. I like Hunger Games the best out of the three, but I'd have to go back and read the last two to decide which one I liked better. All in all, I wouldn't mind owning the whole trilogy someday.