Read in October

These are the books I read during this month:

Quote of the Week #5

“Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.” 

Arnold Lobel

Quote of the Week #4

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” 

Oscar Wilde

Battle Royale

I have to admit, I decided to read this book because after reading The Hunger Games I saw a lot of comments referring to Battle Royale, saying how good it was and that the trilogy created by Suzanne Collins was just a rip-off. Needless to say, I was curious!

It’s impossible not to notice the similarities between them: they are both set in a society where teenagers have to participate in a “contest” where they are forced to fight each other to the death until only one of them remains; however, the similarities – at least, as far as I’m concerned – end here. One of the things that stood out to me and that really made a difference between the two stories was the fact that in Battle Royale all the participants knew each other! This might seem like a small detail but for me it wasn’t – imagine what it would be like to be forced to kill all your classmates in order to survive! In my opinion that added a lot more depth to the plot because we were able to understand a lot better the reasons that led the characters to act a certain way and how they decided who to trust or not.

Yes, the book is a lot more gory and brutal than the Hunger Games; we are provided with a lot more details about the way they kill each other - the modus operandi of some of them is actually a bit disturbing - but it suited the book and it added to its complexity.

On the down side, although the book started at a great pace, I think it ended up slowing down a little in some parts, but overall I liked how the plot developed. Also, there are a lot of Japanese names - some of them look the same - making it a bit more difficult to follow the character’s journey (at least in the beginning).

I actually feel I could say a lot more about this book but I don’t want to give away too much and spoil it to those who haven’t read it yet. Definitely worth checking out! (Especially if you’re looking for a book that doesn’t have an annoying love triangle or that focuses too much on a love story)

5 stars!

Quote of the Week #3

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” 

Oscar Wilde

Quote of the Week #2

" A room without books is like a body without a soul"

Marcus Tullius Cicero

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner is presented to us as a must-read for Hunger Games fans. It is a YA dystopian novel that tells us the story of a boy named Thomas who doesn’t have memories – except for is name – and is trapped inside a maze. There is a small community of other boys that, like him, were thrown into that maze and that have been trying to solve it in order to get out.

The premises of the book seemed appealing and the hype around it was so big that I was actually anxious to read it; so, when I bought it I dove right in! I have to admit, I don’t think it’s that extraordinary; I think the book is a little vague in some parts, it lacks answers - I wanted to know more and half of the answers provided seemed to fell short, they weren’t enough for me.  However, it is great to see a book that puts a group of boys as the main characters and that doesn’t dwell on a love story throughout the whole book – there’s definitely a deep connection between Thomas and Teresa but, so far, it hasn’t been said much about it.

Even though the book didn’t grab my attention from the beginning like I was hoping for, it’s entertaining – and a little apocalyptic towards the end -, and it leaves us with a lot of mystery for the next book. I’ll probably read the rest of the trilogy, hoping that I’ll get more answers; I know there’s also a prequel but I haven’t decided when to read it.