Reading Week in Review - Feeling Accomplished

I forgot I had some reading for work last week (very exciting stuff on grading and how to adapt it), so I didn't get as much free reading done as I want. And, even though I was home sick one day last week, I didn't feel like reading much that day. But, I still finally finished a book I've been taking too long on, so that made me feel rather accomplished. Didn't even buy new books this week - that is a rarity.

At work

Enclave by Ann Aguirre - This is the first in a trilogy. It would be good for you if you liked The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner series. It's dystopian and takes place underground. The world has been taken over by "freaks" (zombies), and everyone who is underground is very controlled (their job is picked for them, they don't get to chose who they marry, etc.). It's very fast paced, and very much a story of survival.

At home

Just finished Belzhar last night, so I haven't really started anything else yet.

Finished

The Program by Suzanne Young

I still can't decide whether I liked this book. It takes place in the present future, and suicide is now considered a sickness among teenagers. It's become such an epidemic that states have developed a "cure." The cure is drugging teens enough that they feel nothing. And remember much less than they did when they went in to the treatment. And that's what really bothers me. I don't like the idea of messing with memories. Good or bad - they're there for a reason. They give us an opportunity to remember and learn from our previous experiences. I don't like that they make everyone into "sheeple" and that they take away feelings. True, teenagers are a bit dramatic, but you shouldn't make them into non-beings, which is what these drugs do. Perhaps this book could be used a little more as a warning about all the drugs/treatments we pump into our bodies?

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

This was Wolitzer's first foray into YA lit. It was OK. Some of her ideas weren't as flushed out as in her previous books. It almost seemed like she thought she had to write less because she was writing for a younger audience, and I think the book suffered a bit because of that. Still, it's an interesting look into 

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

So much to say about this book that I honestly don't know where to begin - and I don't want to give it away. The easiest way to explain it is that it is an adult version of a mash-up of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia. I highly recommend this. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the trilogy. 

Up Next

Thanks to Belzhar, I'm going to push off Prince Lestat and go ahead and read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.