Thirty-three reasons to read

 My 33 reasons for reading are ... 

1. To live more.

2. To stop time.
3. To know that we are alive.
4. To know that we are not alone.
5. To find out.
6. To learn.
7. To learn to think.
8. To discover the world.
9. For other worlds.
10. To meet the other.
11. To know ourselves.
12. To share a common heritage.
13. To create a world of their own.
14. To laugh.
15. To mourn.
16. To console.
17. To banish the blues.
18. To be what we are not.
19. Not to be who we are.
20. To doubt.
21. To deny.
22. To assert.
23.To escape the noise.
24. To combat the ugliness.
25. To shelter.
26. To evade.
27. To imagine.
28. To explore.
29. To play.
30. To have fun.
31. To dream.
32. To grow. 
33. To be HAPPY! .

So you expect to RUN out and grab a book and READ!!

Mockingjay - Saga Districts - by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire - The avobe

"Katniss Everdeen has survived games again, although nothing remains of their home. Gale has escaped. His family is safe. The Capitol has captured Peeta. District 13 is real. There are rebels. There are new leaders. Are in full revolution. The rescue plan to remove the sand Katniss cruel and disturbing allegiance of Twenty-five was not accidental, nor was time to take part of the revolution without knowing it.

District 13 has emerged from the shadows and wants to end the Capitol. It seems everyone has had something to do with the meticulous plan ... all but Katniss."

 Summary 

After her rescue by the rebels of District 13, Katniss is convinced to become "the Mockingjay": a symbol of the rebellion against the ruling Capitol. As part of a deal, she demands that the leader of District 13, President Coin, grant immunity to all of the victors of the Hunger Games. She also demands the right to kill President Snow, the leader of the Capitol, herself. Finally, the leaders of Thirteen decide to go rescue Peeta, after realizing the guilt Katniss feels is impeding her role in becoming "the Mockingjay." After the rescue it is discovered that Peeta has been brainwashed into believing Katniss is the enemy and tries to strangle her upon their reunion in District 13.

The rebels, including Katniss, take control of the districts and finally begin an assault on the Capitol itself. However, an assault on a "safe" Capitol neighborhood goes wrong, and Katniss and her team flee further into the Capitol. Everything will come out as expected?

 Genre 

Teen fiction.

 Inspiration and Development 

Collins has said that the main inspiration for the series came from the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. As a punishment for past problems, Athens was forced to sacrifice seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, who were then put in the Labyrinth and were killed by the Minotaur. After a while, Theseus, the son of the Athenian king, decided to put an end to the Minotaur and Minos' terror, so he volunteered to go. Collins has said that there are also many Roman references in the fictional nation of Panem. She describes the Hunger Games as "an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment". Collins also explains that the name Panem came from the Roman saying "Panem et Circenses" which means "Bread and Circuses" and refers to the strategy of Roman emperors for appeasing the masses by providing them with food and entertainment. Another inspiration for the series came from a time when Collins was channel-surfing on her television. One channel depicted young people in a reality competition, while another showed young people fighting in an actual war; Collins recalls that the two "[blurred] in a very unsettling way".

As with the previous books in the trilogy, Mockingjay contains 27 chapters, with nine chapters in each of the three parts. This structure, which Collins had previously used in her series The Underland Chronicles, came from Collins' playwriting background. This "three-act" structure is also apparent in the trilogy as a whole; Collins "knew from the beginning" that she was going to write a trilogy.

The cover and title information was revealed by Scholastic on February 11, 2010. The cover continues the previous books' ornithological theme. The novel's title, Mockingjay, comes from the hybrid birds that feature in the novels' storyline. Publishers Weekly describes the bird as "the hybrid birds that are an important symbol—of hope and rebellion—throughout the books". Collins likens Katniss to a Mockingjay because both "should never have existed".

 Review 

"I thought that after The Hunger Games and In Flames, Mockingjay not be more painful. I could not be more wrong.
How I can describe Mockingjay? It rocked! This book is the definitive test of this trilogy is much more complex than it seems. Mockingjay is quite different from the above, there is no love story games or so, but finally gives us the society that places the story. They have replaced most other romantic scenes full of action and, in most of the book, the love stories of the characters are tinged with a darker, even painful.
Here we will not see as Katniss manages to survive, or we will see that Katniss as independent and strong as before. Now, adults send and Katniss and other characters become a sort of puppet of the resistance leaders, who only care about as useful.
Thus, we are introduced to good sometimes not so good, some bad and sometimes not so bad. They are realistic characters, regardless of which side they are, will be able to do anything to achieve their goals. That was one of the things that caught my attention in this book.
This book is so realistic that scary, its complex and human characters, any society that seems perfect but the bottom line is frightening, the way it seems inevitable act differently on whichever side you are ...
The finish is incredible, do not say you agree, but is consistent with the development of the plot. It could have been otherwise, but then failed to respect the essence of the book as well as it has done to this end.
In short: Mockingjay is the perfect ending for this trilogy. It is unlike the previous ones and has a lot more action than these, but it is much darker. Reflects quite well the complexity of history and has an end consistent with the development of the book.
I loved, but I have to admit I did suffer a lot"

The Hunger Games - The first of the series

Catching Fire - Saga Districts - by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games - The first of the series

"Sparks fly.
The flames spread.
The Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds Katniss has won The Hunger Games. It's a miracle that she and her fellow District 12, Peeta Mellark, still alive. Katniss should feel relieved, even happy, since, after all, has returned with his family and his lifelong friend, Gale. However, nothing is as she would like. Gale and Peeta keep the distances he has turned his back completely. Also it is rumored that there is a rebellion against the Capitol, a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped to burn to."

  Summary 

In The Hunger Games, teenagers Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark emerged as victors of the 74th Hunger Games—a compulsory, nationally broadcast, gladiator-style fight to the death against 22 other teens.  However, the fact that both of them emerged as victors is an unprecedented embarrassment to the Capitol, the oppressive regime that rules the nation of Panem and stages the annual Hunger Games.  Katniss outsmarted the Capitol by feigning love for Peeta, and—when only the two of them were left alive in the arena—threatening to eat a handful of poisonous berries simultaneously with Peeta, such that both of them would die (think Romeo and Juliet).  Unable to stomach no Hunger Games victor, the Capital momentarily buckled and allowed both to win.

Picking up the story in Catching Fire, Katniss’s victory has changed her life.  She now lives in a mansion in the “Victor’s Village” of District 12, and has more money than she will ever need: her days of poverty and hunger are over.  However, despite her new wealth, all is not well.  As a victor, Katniss must now be involved with the violent Hunger Games (which she would rather forget) indefinitely.  Most immediately, she must participate in a Victory Tour, visiting the Districts and families of the other Hunger Games contestants—“tributes”—who were killed in the arena, some of them at her hand.  Then, she, Peeta, and Haymitch Abernathy—the alcoholic victor of the 50th Hunger Games, who mentored Katniss and Peeta during their time in the arena—will be required to act as mentors to the District 12 tributes at the 75th Hunger Games.  That round of the Games has been deemed a “Quarter Quell,” i.e., an especially brutal version of the Games to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

In addition to the distasteful requirement that Katniss continue to be involved in the Hunger Games, she, her family, and her friends are in personal danger.  Apparently Katniss’s rebellious act with the berries has stirred the possibility of insurrection in the Districts: if a 16-year-old girl can defy the Capitol and survive, why not entire Districts? President Snow—the cruel dictator of Panem—has personally threatened Katniss that unless she can pacify the Districts on the Victory Tour, she and those close to her will be in danger.  The only way for her to obey this order is to continue feigning love for Peeta on the Victory Tour, and thereby to convince the restless Districts that the berries represented desperate love for Peeta and not rebellion.  This project is, of course, excruciating since it is sure to further alienate her long-time hunting partner, friend, and would-be suitor Gale Hawthorne.

 Genre 

Teen fiction.

 Review 

"Suzanne Collins marvel again a novel from the moment in which lodge in our eyes on the first page, we will not drop. And this story is shocking, full of adventure and a fast pace, will delight all those who eagerly devoured the first book. No sir, no.Not disappointed at all!

Our heroine, Katniss Everdeen is the winner of the seventieth quart Hunger Games, she and her partner Peeta. They live as calm as they can in the Village of the Conquerors now that I have nothing to fear. To be devoted to the Victory Tour, a ride that all victors do for the various districts of Panem. What I do not know is that they have been able to spark a rebellion against the Capitol, a spark that ignites a fire that is already impossible to contain.

The author returns with his unique style to get under the skin of a country suffering the incessant taunts of the Capitol, a country that saw a glimmer of hope in the last act of Peeta and Katniss in the Hunger Games. They're tired of seeing loved ones die every year, tired of being abused and seem willing to fight. ¿Rebellion? Survey ¿? What will happen?

The beautiful, flawless looking pen will keep us more and more desire to know, of course. We show the harder side and also the most tender of the characters, the Districts. And leave us with honey on the lips with a claw end and surely none expected. That's one of the most amazing things: things will happen no one could imagine, which is good, is not a predictable book.

Good pace, lots of intrigue, fast-paced action ... In flames is the perfect choice for those who love the genre of science fiction."

Mockingjay - The last of the series

The Hunger Games - Saga Districts - by Suzanne Collins

"It's time. There is no turning back. The games will begin. Taxes should go to the Arena and fight for survival.Fame and wealth means winning, losing means certain death ...To begin the Septuagint Rooms Hunger Games!A history of war has left the 12 districts that divide Panem under the tyrannical power of the "Capitol". Without freedom and poverty, no one can leave the confines of his district. Only a 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, dared to defy the rules for food. His prinicipios will be tested with "The Hunger Games", televised spectacle that organizes the Capitol to humiliate the population. Each year, 2 representatives from each district will be forced to survive in a hostile environment and fight to the death between them until a single survivor. When her younger sister is chosen to participate, Katniss does not hesitate to take its place, determined to demonstrate its firm and resolute, even in the most desperate situations there is room for love and respect."

  Summary  

A war for survival leaves America divided into 13 districts controlled by the Capitol, a place where you can have anything you want just by snapping his fingers. But came the dark days when districts fought for survival and out of the decay, the Capitol with advanced technology gets the submission of twelve districts and the annihilation of the thirteenth, and everyone remember the dark days should not repeat results in "The Hunger Games," a bloody contest in which a boy and a girl from each district must fight to the death, without rules: if you lose you die, if you win you will have the reputation of any and all Panem wealth imaginable.

Already past seventy-four years of the dark days of Panem people used to working till you drop and die, but a few brave fight and risk defying the Capitol, Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl through the fence every day twelve district to hunt in the woods, and sell the dams, the only way to survive.

At harvest of taxes for the seventieth quart Hunger Games is provided voluntarily to save his sister from certain death (her sister is only 12 years), she and her fellow district, Peeta Mellark, venture into an arena, where they could die in seconds, every red herring is an invitation to death. But everything changes when Peeta and Katniss are forced to feign love for the amusement of the Capitol, but in an act to be both survivors, are seen as icons of the rebels. Arriving at the arena the 24 competitors are involved in a struggle for survival where only one will survive.

In this arena are threatened primarily by tax district 1 and 2 each year who train for these games and volunteer. When the games start Katniss is hiding in a tree with only a backpack and stays there until the next day but the tributes of District 1 and 2 form a group to pursue and imprison her in a tree where he met Rue the District 11 tribute that suggests launching a honeycomb rastrevíspulas to flee. After fleeing Rue is tragically murdered after Peeta is injured and seeing the watchers believe this would be a good idea to create a teenage love and change the rule that where two taxes can win provided they are of the same district. What will happen when they find out they really only one can win?

  Genre  

Teen fiction.

  Inspiration and Origins  

Collins says that the inspiration to write The Hunger Games came from channel surfing on television. On one channel she observed people competing on a reality show and on another she saw footage of the invasion of Iraq. The two "began to blur in this very unsettling way" and the idea for the book was formed. The Greek myth of Theseus served as the basis for the story, with Collins describing Katniss as a futuristic Theseus, and that Roman gladiatorial games formed the framework. The sense of loss that Collins developed through her father's service in the Vietnam War also affected the story, whose heroine lost her father at age eleven, five years before the story begins. Collins stated that the deaths of the young characters and other "dark passages" were the hardest parts of the book to write, but she had accepted she would be writing such scenes. She considered the moments where Katniss reflects on happier moments in her past to be the more enjoyable passages to write.

  Cover  

The cover of The Hunger Games is black, featuring a gold mockingjay, a bird born from genetically engineered stock, with an arrow inscribed in a circle. This is an image of the pin given to Katniss by the District 12 mayor's daughter, Madge Undersee, which Katniss wears in the arena. The image matches the description of the pin that is given in the book, except for the arrow: "It's as if someone fashioned a small golden bird and then attached a ring around it. The bird is connected to the ring only by its wing tips."

 Suzanne Collins 

Collins was born on August 10, 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut. She is the daughter of an Air Force officer who served in the Vietnam War. As the daughter of a military officer, she and her family were constantly moving. She spent her childhood in the eastern U.S. She attended high school at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she was a Theater Arts major. She graduated from Indiana University with a double major in Drama and Telecommunications.

Collins' career began in 1991 as a writer for children's television shows. She worked on several television shows for Nickelodeon, including Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, and Oswald. She was also the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days. She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, Santa, Baby!
After meeting children's author James Proimos while working on the Kids' WB show Generation O!, Collins was inspired to write children's books herself. Her inspiration for Gregor the Overlander, the first book of The New York Times best selling series The Underland Chronicles, came from Alice in Wonderland, when she was thinking about how one was more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole, and would find something other than a tea party. Between 2003 and 2007 she wrote the five books of the Underland Chronicles: Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret, and Gregor and the Code of Claw. During that time, Collins also wrote a rhyming picture book, When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005), illustrated by Mike Lester.
In September 2008, Scholastic Press released The Hunger Games, the first book of a trilogy by Collins. The Hunger Games was partly inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration was her father's career in the Air Force, which allowed her to better understand poverty, starvation, and the effects of war. The trilogy's second book, Catching Fire, was released in September 2009, and its third book, Mockingjay, was released on August 24, 2010. Within 14 months, 1.5 million copies of the first two Hunger Games books were printed in North America alone. The Hunger Games has been on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than 60 weeks in a row. Lions Gate Entertainment acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company. Collins adapted the novel for film herself. Directed by Gary Ross, filming began in late spring 2011, with Jennifer Lawrence portraying main character Katniss Everdeen. Josh Hutcherson played Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth played Gale Hawthorne.
As a result of the significant popularity of The Hunger Games books, Collins was named one of Time magazine's most influential people of 2010. In March 2012, Amazon announced that Collins had become the best-selling Kindle author of all time Amazon also revealed that Collins had written 29 of the 100 most highlighted passages in Kindle ebooks—and on a separate Amazon list of recently highlighted passages, Collins had written 17 of the top 20.


Collins resides in Newtown, Connecticut, with her husband and their two children and two cats. Is a Roman Catholic

  Awards  

The Hunger Games received a number of awards and honors. It was named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" in 2008 and a The New York Times "Notable Children's Book of 2008". It was the 2009 winner of the Golden Duck Award in the Young Adult Fiction Category. The Hunger Games was also a "2008 Cybil Winner" for fantasy and science-fiction books along with The Graveyard Book. It also one of School Library Journal's "Best Books 2008" and a "Booklist Editors' Choice" in 2008. In 2011, the book won the California Young Reader Medal. In the 2012 edition of Scholastic's Parent and Child magazine, The Hunger Games was listed as the 33rd best book for children, with the award for "Most Exciting Ending"

  Review  

"I must admit I was a little fair about this book. Being so popular, and most belong to the teen fiction genre, I expected that the quality of the novel was well below what was the reality.
The approach seemed very original. Suzanne Collins recreates a world in near future, that because of natural disasters, the territory of the USA is divided into sectors of economic specialization, 12 in total, all dominated from the Capitol. So we are in front of a dystopian world, as there is a suffocating climate of censorship, repression and violence.
Katniss lives in a state of great poverty, having to hunt wild animals and sell them on the black market to ensure the survival of his family. So we have a 16 year old is very capable of fending for itself and for 11 years has had to fend for themselves without waiting for assistance. Although there is not much depth in the psychology of the characters themselves that their evolution is noted throughout the book, and especially during the course of the games, which are an experience that would change anyone.
The other main character is Melark Peeta, the other tax district 12, Katniss barely knows, and that causes great confusion from the beginning. In fact, Peeta is quite mysterious. As the narrator is Katniss always, it is impossible to discern the true motives of Peeta, especially to see everything through the eyes of the girl desconfiantes.
The plot itself engages much, easily one plunges into the atmosphere created by Collins. It really is a book that is hard not to close, especially when the games start, it requires a mastery of the will to leave a party. What I mean is that there are a lot of action and the author, as Katniss, hardly gives you time to recuperate and rest.
But there must be a "but" I hope that in the following books in the series to develop more fully the world that the author has created. In the first book introduces the context in which the action unfolds, it briefly summarizes the history of the country and provides some data and description of the type of regime of terror in which they find themselves. Yet, by concentrating much of the novel in the development of games, not enough time to carry it further.
In conclusion, it is a book that is fine, ideal if you want to relax a bit and get away from the world around you and your everyday life. And undoubtedly, the book leaves you with a great desire to read the following. Of course, it remains fantasy literature for young adults, and, without underestimating the genre, there is some lack of depth and complexity, but this is precisely what makes reading so enjoyable and entertaining."

The next book in the series - Catching Fire


Mockingjay - The last of te series

Breaking Dawn - Twilight Saga - by Stephenie Meyer

"Do not be afraid, I whispered.' We're like a single person.' Suddenly I was overwhelmed by the reality of my words. That moment was so perfect, so true. Left no room for doubt. I wrapped my arms, hugged him and to the last of my nerves came alive. "Forever" he said. Thus began the love story most addictive of all time"

Summary

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both a fantasy and a nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, she has endured a tumultuous year of temptation, loss and strife to reach the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice, to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or pursue a fully human life, has become the thread from which the fate of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella’s life – first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse – seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed… forever?

Influences

The plays The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream both influenced Breaking Dawn. Meyer decided that Alice would write her instruction to Bella on a page from The Merchant of Venice to give a clue that the final confrontation at the end of the book would be a mental one—not a physical battle—like the one at the end of the play. It also hints that the novel would have a happy ending for the couples, as in The Merchant of Venice. Originally it was Jane Eyre that Alice tore a page from, but Jane Eyre had nothing to do with the story, so Meyer changed it.

Cover art

Meyer described the cover as "extremely meaningful" and said that she was "really happy with how it turned out". The cover is a metaphor for Bella's progression throughout the entire series; she began as the physically weakest player on the board, the pawn, but at the end she becomes the strongest, the queen. The chessboard also hints at the conclusion of the novel "where the battle with the Volturi is one of wits and strategy, not physical violence."

Title

The title, Breaking Dawn, is a reference to the beginning of Bella's life as a newborn vampire. Originally, Meyer wanted to title the book Forever Dawn, but she thought the name was very "cheesy". Wanting to add a "sense of disaster" to the title to match the novel's mood, she called it Breaking Dawn. Another reason for giving the book this particular title is that it matches the book's plot, which centers around "a new awakening and a new day and there's also a lot of problems inherent in it"

The Review

"Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final novel in Stephenie Meyer’s hugely popular Twilight saga.  With all the hype surrounding the release of Breaking Dawn I doubt that there is anyone left on the planet that isn’t aware of the books publication!  However, readers who haven’t read any of the previous books in this saga should not be tempted to start here – you really need to read these books in order since the story continues over the series.
For readers who have read Stephenie Meyer’s previous offerings Breaking Dawn is the long awaited and highly anticipated end to the compelling tale of vampire Edward and human Bella’s impossible romance.  Beginnings can be tricky but Twilight got this series off to a fantastic start with its modern day fairy tale quality and heart stopping romance.  New Moon further built on that with Bella and Edward’s bleakly painful separation and subsequent happy reunion - but since the end of New Moon the romantic tension that had been driving the story into the heady heights compelling reading has been lacking.
As a result Eclipse was a different novel – it was clear that what ever happened in Eclipse Edward and Bella would be together forever – and the stresses on their relationship came from outside forces rather than from within the relationship itself.  Breaking Dawn is similar. The romantic tension between Edward and Bella is non-existent – it is clear that whatever happens to them (death, Jacob, mutant vampire baby) their love is non-negotiable and to a certain extent this alters the feel of the story, losing some of the romantic magic of Twilight in the process.
If beginnings are tricky, endings are fraught with difficulties.  At the beginning readers have no expectations but by the end everyone seems to have an opinion on how they would have finished the book if they were writing it.  Thankfully Stephenie Meyer was writing the ending so the resulting story is a good one and in my opinion a fitting end to this fantastic series.
In Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer addresses one of the major issues that some readers had with Bella’s character – namely that she wasn’t independent enough.  This novel sees Bella coming into her own power and proving that she is more that capable of independent thought and action.  While the Cullen family vampires have always been kind to Bella, it has been clear that she was no match for this talented bunch - but Bella’s character gains strengths that make her just as unique and talented as the rest of her new family.
Breaking Dawn is a weighty novel, weighing in at over 800 pages but it doesn’t feel like a long read.  The story is well paced and well balanced, with a mixture of exciting supernatural action as well as good character development and romance.  The strength of Stephenie Meyer’s writing as ever lies in her exploration of love in its many guises and Breaking Dawn gives her the opportunity to examine the relationships between mother and child, father and daughter, husband and wife and the bonds of friendship.
Breaking Dawn is a different novel to Twilight (and New Moon) and some readers may be disappointed by this but I’m not one of them.  I don’t want to keep buying the same story over and over again just with a different title and cover picture – I enjoy seeing the development of the characters as well as seeing the development of the author’s writing.  Breaking Dawn is more like Eclipse, Edward and Bella are sure of their love for each other but outside forces (this time it’s the Volturi) may tear them apart as the story reaches its thrilling climax.
This book is all that I was personally hoping it would be.
Full of Forks goodness, Breaking Dawn is recommended reading for any self-respecting Stephenie Meyer fan."

*Eclipse - The back of the series

*Twilight - The first of the series