3. The Maze Runner by John Dashner
From Goodreads: If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Everything is going to change.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.
Remember. Survive. Run.
This has been on my list for years. I wanted to read it before the movie came out but that just didn't happen. It is your typical YA dystopian society novel. I really liked it although it leads into the the next book of the series without giving you much satisfaction of finishing this one.
UGH, seriously, I cannot remember if I've read this book? Watched the movie? I know I WANTED to do both last year, lol. I hate my memory. SO frustrating when you can't keep track of what you've already read or not yet read. Need to take a look at my signature once I'm done posting to see if it's listed, LOL!
I did NOT like this book for mostly the same reasons as you listed above. Not only that but I didn't like the movie either. If you had something else lined up, I would tell you to ditch it as it isn't going to get any better. But if you're stuck with it, thee are probably worse things you could read.
Well, I'm 70 pages into
We Need to Talk About Kevin so far (by default bc I haven't made it to the library yet!), but I have to admit, the whole letter thing isn't nearly as bothersome anymore. I must be getting used to it because I honestly don't even think of it as "letters" written from a wife to her husband anymore - it's more of a narrative told in the first person ? Much better that I think that because really, who the heck writes that kind of detail in each and every letter? It's totally unbelievable. I'll continue on fooling myself into reading it as a narrative, lol.
The use of big words is still irritating and continues to fester. I think it bothers me so much because I don't like pretentious people, and I feel the author is just trying to throw out as many big words & over-the-top flowery phrases as possible thinking that will make him a great writer. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but I literally have to read some sentences twice just to try to figure out what the author is trying to convey (or at least get the gist of what he's trying to convey).
Some examples (because I'm THAT irritated):
But since we've been separated, I may most miss coming home to deliver the narrative curiosities of my day, the way a cat might lay mice at your feet: the small, humble offerings that couples proffer after foraging in separate backyards.
I could detect from your telltale politeness that you privately preferred anecdotal trinkets from closer to home.
My souvenirs were artificially imbued with magic by mere dint of distance. (These 3 quotes were from the very first page and hit my nerve immediately - I feel like the author is trying to "impress" me the reader and that just rubs me the wrong way BIG TIME)
What a more considerable achievement, to root around in the untransubstantiated rubbish of plain old NY state and scrounge a moment of piquancy from a trip to the Nyack Grand Union (say WHAT? I don't think I ever figured out the meaning of this one - can someone translate? lol)
I never eat pasta these days without you to dispatch most of the bowl. (DISPATCH? Who dispatches their food?? How about devour or wolf down perhaps? Or maybe I'm interpreting it wrong... does he throw it away maybe?)
We commended the inventive salad with ingenuous fervor (again... is this another way to say they ATE their salad or did they just sit there and talk to it with excitement?)
But if I had arrogated to myself the whole planet as my personal backyard, this very effrontery marked me as hopelessly American, as did the fanciful notion that I could remake myself into a tropical internationalist hybrid from the horribly specific originals of Racine, Wisconsin (at this point in the book, I don't bother to even stop to figure out the meaning... just move long... keep reading!)
I have All The Light We Cannot See on my list to read this year. Might try that one next.
Ooooh, I really enjoyed this one! I believe it won the Pulitzer Prize last year too!
The characters are likable, though not very deep(seems to be on par for this kind of book)... There is lots of humor. I wish the crime mystery were a little more developed but it's not that serious so...
