Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

     This novel by Suzanne Collins is truly one of my favorites.  Catching Fire was one of those books that you just do not want to put down.  I read Hunger Games around two years ago, and then I immediately moved on to this second book of the trilogy.  However, I only got up to around twenty to forty pages before I had to go to football camps in the Summer, so it was then put off up until a month or two ago.  Now I love the trilogy again and I will probably start reading the third book, Mockingjay. It is nearly impossible to discuss why this second book of the three is so amazing, but the story does not slow down at all throughout the entire novel.  At no point are there any over-analyzations in the main character’s interior monologue, as is with way too many books these days.  The main character, Katniss Everdeen, has so much on her plate.  Even during times when she is sleeping, she could be mentally debating whether or not to flee the government, kill all her friends to save them from a more devastating death then a syringe to the throat, or clawing the face off of someone who she once thought was someone she could trust.  Plus, after all of the pondering of ridiculously crazy situations that she finds herself in or that she might find herself in, everything goes topsy-turvy eventually, revealing a whole new plethora of possibilities for Suzanne Collins to write up for Mockingjay.  This trilogy is a must read for anyone and everyone.  The first book was amazing, the second even better, and the third I am expecting to top it all off like the cherry on an ice cream sundae.

The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti

     A while ago, I picked up a book called The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, which—although I did not end up finishing it—turned out to hold a fast-paced story.  I would have ended up finishing it if it was not for my high level of interest in the Hunger Games trilogy interfering.  I was reading both this novel and Catching Fire at the same time, let alone a couple other serious time-consumers the past couple of months, so it was difficult for me to find the time to read this book.  However, despite the fact that I did not finish this book, I can still claim that it is a pretty fine story.  (**Spoiler Alert**)  There is one thing that comes up into the story during the early parts that is sort of ridiculous.  Even though the main character is eventually rescued from being housed  as an orphan under heavy control, I could not help but to question why none of the orphan boys ever attempted to flee the place during the Spring (when they were allowed to temporarily go outside their confining walls of the orphanage to forage for berries.  The majority of the boys seemed to hate the situation that their childhoods were in up until the main character left, so why would they never attempt to leave?  The Spring is an especially perfect time of the year to flee, considering that there are two to three more seasons to make a new life for one’s self before winter arrives.