What I'm Reading Monday - A Slow Down

I knew the slow down of finished books would come - and it did. This is even two weeks worth because with the screwy week at school last week, I forgot to do a post. But, this time, there won't be a ton because I forgot.

At school

The Unbecoming of Mara Dwyer by Michelle Hodkin: I am going to be starting this is during SSR today, so I don't know much about it yet. Lindsey L. told me I had to read it, so I decided I might as well. I will be doing a book talk on this one when I finish it. This is a trilogy, and I do have the second book, but the third has yet to come out.

At home

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker: This has been on my to-read list for quite a while. I'm only a little bit into it, but it is another apocalyptic novel. Unlike Life as We Knew it (talked about below), the weather and moon isn't causing the issues, instead the Earth has slowed down. Days are now 25 hours and 30-some minutes long. This creates all sorts of issues - weird daylight hours, lowered gravity, animals acting weird, etc.

Winter's Tale by Mark Halprin - In all honestly, I haven't touched this since I first talked about it.

Finished

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - I really liked this one. So much so that I got the next two in the series soon after (but haven't read them). It did creep me out a little because an asteroid could hit the moon or other things could greatly change our weather patterns. It made me a little more uncomfortable than some other dystopian/apocalyptic books.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith - This was the book that I was REALLY excited about when I pre-ordered it. It sounded like it would be a great, high-interest book. There was just too much going on with it. If it had stuck with either the sci-fi storyline or the coming-of-age storyline or the apocalyptic storyline - I could have handle it. But all three was just too much.

Hostage Three by Nick Lake - Cassidy H. brought me her copy to read, and I REALLY liked it. This book follows Amy, a spoiled rich girl, on an extended yacht trip (that she wasn't excited about going on). Things go horribly wrong when they get to Somalia, though. Their yacht is taken over by Somali pirates, and her name becomes Hostage Three. The book centers around how she deals with it, and it also gives an update on her life three months after the ordeal.

Asylum by Madeleine Roux - I picked this book up because it looked a lot like Miss Peregrine, and because so many of you liked that one and are always asking me for something like it, I thought I should grab it. Besides having weird, old photos (and there really aren't that many) in it, it really isn't much like Miss Peregrine. This book is more of a thriller/murder mystery that takes place while gifted kids are at a summer camp in an abandoned asylum, which was the site of some grisly experiments.

Next up

This is a little harder this week since I've just started the two I'm reading now. But, Origin by Jessica Khoury and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain are the front runners.