One of my 24 Before 24 goals is to read at least 14 books. It seems like I’m on track for that goal, although I haven’t been strictly following this list of 14 Books to Read in 2014. So far I’ve knocked two of them off the list and read another that had been sitting on my bookshelf forever, but I hadn’t planned on reading any time soon.
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The dystopian novel about a teenage girl who doesn’t fit in and ends up a hero seemed to be right up my alley from the sound of it. But truth is, it just wasn’t for me. My two sisters, aunt and friends liked it. My mom and one of my other friends didn’t. The book is written well and it’s impressive for a first novel. I’m impressed by anyone who has written a book. It kept me interested, but I didn’t like the characters very much and the violence bothered me. This isn’t to say it wasn’t good, just not something I was into.
Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by
After reading Divergent, I wanted to read something I knew I would enjoy. Memoirs are my favorite types of books, and this one was just as good as any other I’ve read. The author treats each chapter like a short story almost. Not all memoirs are like that and I appreciated her way of story telling. I laughed, cried and learned a little more about the human experience from another person’s perspective.
Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch
I have mixed feelings about this book. As I said before, I’m impressed by anyone who has written a book. I never have and I would like to. Men and Dogs is one of those books that was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t recommend. It’s filled with drama and suspense, which is good in theory. The flawed characters were interesting and relatable. I loved some chapters and didn’t like others. Maybe I was expecting too much out of the characters. They made strange choices and weren’t always likeable, but they’re human beings. We’re all like that.
What have you been reading lately? Anthing you would recommend?
Modern Notebook 
I’ve been debating whether to give Divergent a shot… everyone keeps telling me that because I loved The Hunger Games (violence in fiction doesn’t really bother me) that I’ll love it – but honestly I’m not so sure… Stealing Buddha’s Dinner does look really lovely though. I may have to check that out.
You might like it. Who is to say? As I said, about half the people I know liked it and went on to read the rest of the series. The others didn’t. Maybe more than half liked it actually.