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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Gil Adamson's "Help Me, Jacques Cousteau" is a great read, beautifully written. What more could you want?

You must read Gil Adamson's book, Help Me, Jacques Cousteau.  The book's chapters read like linked short stories in which Adamson's protagonist, Hazel, tells us about her life from childhood to early adulthood, and about her off-beat family.  This is a slim book which is fun to read, and it is impressive to see how much punch and plot Adamson gets from the lean use of well-chosen words.  Highly recommended.




 

Friday, March 18, 2011

Books into Movies: "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.

One of my favorite movies of the last year is Winter's Bone, which stars Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Ree in that movie, a young woman trying to hold her home and family together after her meth-dealing dad goes missing. Now, Lawrence has reportedly been selected to play the character of Katniss in the film adaptation of The Hunger Games.

I have to admit that I have not read The Hunger Games or its sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  My defense is that they are books geared for young adults (an age I no longer am) and in the science fiction genre (books I don't often read).  But I have read some of the reviews of The Hunger Games on Amazon, where the it has received almost 2,000 reader reviews and an almost 5-star rating, and I am intrigued.  The story's plot seems to sound like this:  In a future gone bad, can a 16-year old girl compete against a group of other teens and survive an annual fight-to-the-death contest televised to the masses?

Perhaps my summary doesn't capture the entire plot.  Still, from what I've read this book sounds like a good beach read.  It's going on my summer reading list.

If you've read The Hunger Games, please leave a comment below and let us know what you thought about it.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Getting Back in the Blogging Groove.

Haven't had much time to read or blog over the past several weeks.  Today I'm getting back in the groove and starting to read Swimming by Nicola Keegan.  And I will post shortly about the few books that I have squeezed in recently.