Summer Reads

I can't believe how long I've been away from my blog! I moved from Ottawa to Toronto in July -- apparently living in temporary accommodation with two dogs and a cat paired with numerous farewell get-togethers took away from blogging time; and so too did setting up a new home, job and life in another city. Now that I've got the excuses out of the way, let's get down to business...

I'm falling way behind on my annual target of 45 books (sitting at 14 books, I'm at ~30% completion when we're almost 70% through the year, eek!), so I figure it would be best to just do a quick catch-up on three of the books I read over the summer, instead of a the more detailed musings I've posted in the past. I've linked the book titles to Goodreads so you can see what the novels are about if you're interested.

These three novels were all decent reads, but that's about it. There was nothing particularly awe inspiring about any of them, but they were still enjoyable. I rated all of them as "I liked it" or 3/5 stars on Goodreads.

         

Without a doubt, I prefer True Blood over the Sookie Stackhouse novels (Pam, Lafayette and Russell Edgington are such awesome characters on the TV show, and what's not to like about Alexander Skasgard, Joe Manganiello and Kevin Alejandro), but it's interesting to read the inspiration behind it all. Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 12) was a fun easy read and Sookie wasn't as annoying as I've found her in previous novels.

The Pakistani Bride: A Novel was a somewhat disturbing read. It had parts in it that were difficult to swallow, and allowed the reader to see from the perspective of a hill-tribe male -- how he was raised in his hill-tribe home and then how he had to conform to the rules and norms of a city like Lahore, where he adopted a young girl whose parents were killed, then took her back to his village to be married. The novel showcases how much culture/nature/nurture/environment/etc. can affect a person's choices. There are many grey areas when it comes to right and wrong, but all I can say is that I'm thankful that I live in a society whose prescribed fundamental rights and wrongs are in line with those of my own. I don't think Sidhwa condones the behaviour of these tribal men, but she writes from their point of view without judgement, which allows the reader to reflect on what is happening and draw their own conclusions.

Greek mythology has always fascinated me, so I was curious to see how The Song of Achilles: A Novel would play out, particularly as it is told from the point of view of a 'nobody' who means the world to the famous Achilles. I'm all for a bit of romance thrown in the mix, but I thought Miller dragged out the first half of the novel more than she needed to. All in all the book was a good read, and if it weren't for the long-winded introduction to prove how deep their love for each other was, I would have rated this higher.

I also finally read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay this summer. I didn't think the trilogy was going to live up to its hype, but I was wrong. Those books were amazing! If you're like I was and think the Hunger Games trilogy will be comparable to the Twilight trilogy (i.e. okay, but really just a self-indulgent, fluffy, guilty pleasure read with no real spine) it's truly leaps and bounds above it. Reminiscent to how I felt reading the Harry Potter novels -- I highly recommend the series to anyone.