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.