For a Love of Reading

It's been about four months since my last blog post.  The main reason for that is because in mid-May, I discovered the most wonderful book series I've ever read.  I proceeded to spend the following eight weeks completely engrossed in reading.  Since I finished, I've been going through withdrawals and doing what I can to keep the characters alive.  The first book has been made into a television series so I've been watching episodes of that and I also started to re-read the whole series from start to finish (much slower this time).  The actual book series is not the main point of this blog post, though I most definitely have plenty to say about it.  The point is that after many years of not reading for pleasure, for one reason or another, I've finally been able to read for pleasure again.  It's like finding a part of myself that I didn't know was lost.  One drawback to this wonderful book series is that it may take me a while to get back out there and read anything else.  It's like I don't want to date anymore because I want to be in a monogamous relationship with these books. LOL.  I know I'm crazy.  You don't have to tell me.

This book series actually isn't what got me back into reading.  Rather, I was reading old blog posts by a new friend of mine over at bam.  She wrote a post a few years ago reviewing several books she had read that year.  Since it seemed that she and I had similar taste in books, I decided to get back into reading by selecting a few of these books and starting to read again!  I also took the plunge and downloaded the Kindle app on my iPhone and iPad which makes reading on-the-go much easier.  

I will give a brief run-down of the books I've read in case anyone is looking for something good to read.  In the order that I ready them,

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald - This was a fun, short little novel with some fantasy and fairy-tale elements.  It is written in such a way that a very wide-range of ages may enjoy it.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - This is part of a series but I haven't read any of the subsequent books.  I'm not sure I will.  It was good but not really good enough to keep reading.  It's directed towards a younger audience.  If you enjoy mythology, you'll like this book.  I never did well when learning about Greek mythology in school so I constantly found myself having to refresh my memory of all the gods and goddesses in order to fully understand and appreciate all the nuances of the story.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - I don't think I need to say much about these books as most everyone is familiar with them.  I was quite engrossed with this series and read all three books very quickly.  I did not find these to be light reading and they were a bit disturbing but all in all, I did enjoy them.  I liked the first two more than the third.

Finally, the book series I alluded to at the beginning of this post is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon consisting of eight books:  Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bone, and Written in My Own Heart's Blood.  My mom told me about the television series but I shrugged it off knowing I never have time to watch TV (not to mention, it airs on Starz which we do not subscribe to).  Then, a breastfeeding page I follow on Facebook mentioned an episode where one of the characters has recently had a baby and has to hand express breast milk for her comfort when emergently taken away from her newborn.  Some comments on this post mentioned "the books" and I was instantly intrigued.  I did very little research, only finding out that it was a very long series, before plunging in and immersing my whole body, mind and spirit.  I was particularly excited about the length of the books and the fact that there were so many of them because I figured they would keep me occupied for a very long time and I wouldn't have to worry about that depression one sinks into when finished with a really good series.  Alas, I read all eight books in eight weeks and slumped into the deepest post-series depression I've ever descended into.  The only positive, which is also kind of a negative, is that the author is working on a ninth book.  This is great because I know the story goes on.  But it's bad because it will not be out for several years at the least and I may go crazy with waiting.  I may dedicate a whole blog post to a review and my thoughts and feelings on these books someday but for now, if you enjoy historical fiction and an epic love story, go pick up Outlander (or download it to your eReader) ASAP!  I have a couple of other disclaimers before you actually get into the books so feel free to comment or shoot me a message if you're seriously considering reading this series.  These disclaimers aren't meant as deterrents to reading, but rather preparation for what you're getting yourself into.  Haha.