Recent Reads

Well, here's a peek into another part of my life that summer allows me to enjoy:  reading!  I absolutely love to read.  There are very few things that are better than sitting on the beach all day reading a good book.

However, there is a disclaimer to this post and any future posts that talk about books I read.  I don't read a lot of adult books.  I could say that I just came out of two years of high school where I wanted to read teen books to relate to my students more, but that would really just be an excuse.  I really like teen fiction.  I get caught up in a good "fantasy" story.

See, here's my opinion.  If I'm going to spend a considerable amount of time reading a book, then I want it to be about something that I can't flip on the tv and see on the news.  Most of the books I read take place in fictional worlds, and I love that about them.  There is a plethora of sources I could get information from that involve our own world, so I like my reading to be more creative, more unique.

It's not like I'm trying to convince you to like the books I like, but I just want you to know why I like them.  Also, though I am very secure in knowing what I like in a book, I will say that I have read and liked some books that I am a bit embarrassed about.  I tend to read books that are very popular, and therefore, I sometimes come off as a 15 year old girl in my taste.  Oh well, that's who I am, but it is sometimes embarrassing talking to adults and confirming that I have, in fact, read the Twilight series, and I did actually like them.  Ya know, especially when I'm supposed to be an adult.  (Just between you and me, I'm just waiting for the day when word gets out that I'm an "imposter adult", because I never did really grow up in some areas.)  : )

Anyway, here are some books I've read recently and enjoyed.  Not that you'd like them, unless you are actually a 15 year old girl!  Lol.  Just kidding, I'm pretty sure a lot of grown-ups secretly still like teen books!  Just FYI though, I can't guarantee that you'll like any of these books; they're just my personal preferences.

• The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner - I really liked these three books that are quite popular right now.  I'm on a post-apocalyptic kick, and these were an interesting take on trying to remake the world after the end has come.  It starts out with a bunch of teenage boys dropped into the middle of a maze with no adult supervision, and they must survive.  The books evolve a lot from the original scene and scenario, and I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next, who was really on which side, and which characters I should trust.  These three novels were action packed and suspenseful.
• Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth - These two books burst onto the scene just after The Hunger Games (another series I love) and have been making waves.  There is a movie being made and the highly-anticipated third book comes out later this year.  These are another post-apocalyptic set of books where the surviving population is set in highly separate factions.  The main character, Tris, seems to be going about her life semi-normally until things start happening and the world begins to change.  They're really great and just the perfect blend of action, suspense, romance, etc. for me.
• The Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore - If you pay close attention to movies, you may have heard of one called "I am Number Four" that came out a couple of years ago.  The movie was based on the first book in The Lorien Legacies.  The series is really hard to explain mainly because it involves two separate races of aliens hiding on Earth and trying to kill each other.  (Trust me, I do know how ridiculous that last sentence just sounded.)  But they're really interesting if you're into aliens and superpowers and stuff.  (Wow, I'm just going to move on... I'm sounding more convincing by the minute!)

So, those are a few of my recent reads.  However, just in case you were wondering, here's a photo of my book case so you can see some of my favorite reads!  (The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are my all-time favorite.  And here's proof:  I own seven different copies of the series in all different formats.)  As you can tell, I'm also obsessed with hardbacks... if it's not a hardback, I basically don't buy it.