No Easy Day by "Mark Owen"

My history research project is over Al Qaeda and the death of Osama bin Laden. You're probably thinking: What exactly does this have to do with your reading blog?

WELL LET ME TELL YOU.

You see, I have a book called No Easy Day about the mission that killed Osama bin Laden.

Needless to say, I decided to read it, mostly because I wanted to, but partially so I could have a valid excuse to read when I should be doing my homework. ("This is my homework, Mom!")

Anyways, I have a couple of things to say about this book, the first being, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ACRONYMS?

SEAL
CIA
DEVGRU
BUD/S
CQB
PT
SCUBA
JSOC
SAW
HAHO
OCD
EOT
GROM
AC
SOAR
EOD
HSAC
PKM
RPG
IED
RECCE
FOB
SHOT
SSE
EKIA
JOC
NATO
UBL
VIP
CPDD
NVG
IR
FRIES
QRF

And the list goes on.

I'll give you some time to take in the overwhelming amount of acronyms.

The next thing is something that I like. It was really easy to understand. No crazy big words, or crazy amount of characters. The author explains everything vary clearly and I never felt confused. It's also written in simple terms and you can tell the author did this purposefully so that the reader didn't feel in the dark about anything.

Anyways, you should try it out.

PLOT TWIST.

Rarely do I find myself gasping after reading a line in a book. But with Unremembered by Jessica Brody, gasping was a regular occurrence.

I don't think I ever even understood what a plot twist was until I read this book. Most books are just a little bit predictable, to the point where even if something unexpected occurs, it's not shocking. 

This plot twist was shocking. Like, gasping worthy.

So, what the heck is a plot twist? 

I think it's when an author leads you in one direction, and then suddenly takes a 180 degree turn and all the sudden you're facing a completely different direction and you are shocked.

In this book, Brody had me facing straight ahead. I just knew what was going to happen. 

But then, out of no where, one line changed everything.

I don't want to spoil the book, but I'll share this one line and explain how this line turned me 180 degrees.

"They are exactly the same. They are both written by my hand."

You probably just read that and you were like, "Yeah, great." BUT YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS.

(Spoiler Alert)

Quick Summary: Violet finds herself floating in the ocean, being the only survivor of a plane crash. She doesn't remember a thing from her past. She is placed with foster parents until her family claims her and her memory returns. But she keeps seeing this guy everywhere, and she feels like she knows him. Then she finds a note in the pocket of her clothes she was wearing on the plane. It says, "Trust him." She then writes out the words, "Trust him." in her own handwriting and...IT'S THE SAME HANDWRITING.

It probably doesn't sound that astonishing, but it was so astonishing. I had a mini heart attack.

Read this book. I want you to have a mini heart attack too.

Ender's Game and Late Nights Reading

I began reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott yesterday while biting into my afternoon apple and I was a little surprised. It's really good. Science Fiction isn't really my thing. I don't normally like to give summaries of books on here, but I just have to give you a little sneak peek:

Ender is a 6 year-old boy in a futuristic society, where aliens have invaded earth once and the humans won, but only because they had a great military leader. But that military leader has died now, and they need a new one just in case the aliens come back again. Current military leaders choose Ender and are determined to make him the best military leader of all time. 

Ender while being trained to be Earth's next leader in the 2013 movie.

I know, it sounds a little silly. Like, aliens? Really? But its fabulous. Its great. I can't even handle all its awesomeness, for the following reasons:

First, this author knows how to write. The plot advances perfectly and keeps the reader fully engaged. On Saturday night, I literally held my eyelids open at midnight because I just couldn't stop reading, even if I was half asleep. I've never been that intent on continuing to read past midnight before. I have a strict no-reading-past-midnight-no-matter-how-much-you-like-the-book rule. Turning the light off at 11:58 is a common occurence when reading a good book for me, but past midnight!?

I just couldn't stop.

And this kid is 6 years-old. I can count the number of books I've read with a main character this young on one hand. Actually one finger. (I've only one other book like that.) I think that's really interesting because most books are about people in an age that people remember being. The only thing I remember about being six is like making kool-aid popsicles and reading picture books sitting on my mom's lap.

 He demonstrates Ender's outstanding intelligence through depicting Ender's thought process in an advanced way. You almost forget that Ender is a six year-old. Orson Scott writes, "Then he settled down to the serious business of designing a security system on his own desk, since the safeguards built into the system were obviously inadequate." (52) I think he really demonstrates how intelligent Ender is even at six years-old, because he thinks that the system was "obviously inadequate." Scott's diction choice really creates a certain personality for Ender that demonstrates how unique he is, especially at Ender's young age.

I hope you consider giving Ender's Game a try, and I hope you end up holding your eyelids open at midnight so you can keep reading.

A little change in genres

Fiction is usually my genre. But recently I've been doing a little nonfiction reading with Quiet, The Tipping Point, and Forensics. Quiet and The Tipping Point are more persuasive pieces of writing, and Forensics was informative and more fact based.

I really enjoyed reading these books. Which sounds weird, because they don't have a climax or characters, but they do have something that fiction doesn't. 

The author is talking to YOU. And this is really cool because in fiction, the author is writing about another person, and the reader plays no part in the story. But in nonfiction, the author is specifically trying to persuade you, so they are deliberately trying to relate to you and make you understand.

In fiction, you are part of a third person party and aren't involved with the characters. The book doesn't call you to action or bring your attention to certain issues. Nonfiction is straight forward and is more interactive for the reader. It really pushes your thought process and causes some deep-thinking.

So I highly recommend taking a break from the fiction books we all love so dearly, and try something new: nonfiction. 

Allegiant.

So. I read Allegiant.

And we all know what happens at the end of Allegiant....

(Spoiler Alert)

TRIS DIES.

I'm sorry, I just need to beat up Veronica Roth right now.

Dear Miss Roth,

I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but um, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Who do you think you are that you can just kill Tris. Tris is unbeatable, strong, courageous...immortal... and you just let her get shot? It wasn't even a very spectacular death! She just got shot. By some random flat, static character. And does anyone really remember what Tris died for? Shouldn't she have died taking a bullet for Tobias while fighting for their life together or something like that? No, Tris just dies because she doesn't want like a hundred people to die? That is not a good enough reason for of all people, TRIS, to die.

That's all.

Sincerely,

Erin Drake


Okay. So. Let's just talk about Allegiant for a little bit.

It was good.

But it definetly wasn't spectacular or amazing or even great.

Just good.

I must say, I am very disappointed.

First of all, I didn't like Tobia's voice. I felt like he sounded too much like Tris, and I wasn't able to deferentiate between the two. If an author has two perspectives in a novel, the voices should be totally different. I also really didn't like how information was shoved down my throat after Tris escaped from the city. The whole idea of GP's and GD's was cool, I just didn't like how it was thrown in my face.

And lastly, I did not like the ending.

All I wanted was a nice harry-potter-style epilouge of Tris and Tobias living in a perfectly normal world twenty years in the future with three kids. That's all I wanted! But I guess books can't really completely satisfy you unless you write it yourself.

Books vs. Movies

It seems like the credits for every movie these days include the phrase, "Based on the novel by...".

 And that's great. I really like it when books turn into movies. I think it gives you a whole new view of the book from the perspective of the director.

 But something about the image I have in my head and the image on screen just clash. Maybe it's the setting that doesn't quite seem right, or maybe the tone of voice a character has while delivering my favorite line that just makes me cringe a little.

Let me explain what I mean, taking Veronica Roth's Divergent as an example.

So there's this place called "The Pit". If you've read the book you know what I'm talking about. It's like the gym for the Dauntless, where they have fights and learn to throw knives and enjoy lots of other safe activities (sarcasm).

"The Pit"

Anyways, Roth didn't go into a ton of detail about what this place looked like, so it was up to me, the reader, to conjure up an image of it in my head. And I took a while thinking up this particular background, and it was sweet.

But I can't remember what it looked like.

And its because of that dang movie! As soon as I saw what "The Pit" looked like in the movie, the image I had in my head disappeared! I can't even tell you how disappointed I am about this.

The same thing happened in the Hunger Games. I had a vivid image of what Katniss looked like, and then the next time I read The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence will replace my Katniss.

After discovering this, I've concluded that movies have deteriorated  my imagination. But of course I won't do anything about this, because we all love movies too much to stop watching them. That would be ridiculous.

First Impressions: The Husband's Secret

Based on a recommedation (thanks Ally) I began reading The Husband's Secret. *cue dramatic music*

The front flap is what first attracted me to this book. It reads, "Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that this letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive." *cue more dramatic music*

I think the cover and summary of a book are seriously important to my decision about whether or not I will read the book. I most definately judge a book by its cover (and front flap). The summary of a book should give just enough information to hook the reader, but not spoil anything. I think this summary is perfect because as the reader starts the book, they are waiting in agonizing suspense to see what this letter is about. Now, I'm on page 25, and I still haven't learned what's in the letter and I can't wait to go home and read to figure it out.