The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Just finished the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins---not too impressed. I found the first section interesting, when they were explaining how they were preparing the tributes for the games, but the actual part about the games was quite dull. Yes lots of people died, but you knew almost nothing about most of the characters that were killed so I didn't really care. Many of the tributes were only known as the male (or female) tribute from District #. After reading the book, I still felt I didn't know too much about Katniss and Peeta.

SPOILERS to follow:

I found the rule change that occurred halfway through the book (the one that allowed two tributes to live as long as they were both from the same district) a bit too convenient. Does Katniss really love Peeta? Nobody is sure, least of all Katniss, and nobody seems to really care as long as she pretends she does for the TV viewers. The awkward teenage love bits between the two of them were rather annoying to read. I guess I'm just not a fan of the YA genre. I have no issues with the dystopian themes in the book, those were the interesting parts for me, but I couldn't care less about the characters in this one. I don't think I'll read the others unless someone can convince me it is worth it.

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest By Stieg Larrsson

Just finished reading the third book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and I was quite impressed. Larsson still delivers nonstop action like in his first two books, and keeps you wondering all the way to the end. Though I am rather sad that this is the end of the book series since the author is dead---I wouldn't have minded another few adventures with Salander and Blomvkist. There really isn't too much I can say about the book without presenting some major spoilers, so I'd just recommend reading it :)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I just finished reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. It tells the story of the woman behind the HeLa cell line. These cells have been around for 60 years and have been used in hundreds of different studies. Quite a bit is known about the cells, but not too much was ever known about Henrietta Lacks or her family. It was interesting to learn about what happened to Henrietta's family because of the cells, and sad to know that they never benefited from the millions of dollars that the cells have been sold for over the years.

Rating: 5/5