Dreaded Slumps

Book slumps are decidedly frustrating. There is no rhyme or reason as to when they happen. Perhaps the book just read or currently reading is particularly dull. For some reason, the drive behind reading and reading and reading has simply vanished.

By the end of October, I was in the middle of no less than three books. None of them were grabbing my attention and holding it. I kept putting books up and down. The sense of obligation to finish those that are started weighed heavily upon my shoulders. To date, I am in the middle of two of them still and finished the other recently.

I ventured into the adult genre, stepping outside of the young adult sphere. I was finding deliciously wonderful books to read, "Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruis Zafon and The Green Rider series by Kristen Britain.

The year began full force, averaging 5-6 books a month, it's dwindled to two. I feel like a failure. But then to remind myself that so many people read 1-2 books a year or none at all. I beat my book goal and page count goal. The end of the year seems very anticlimactic.

Hopefully 2015 will start with new goals, refreshed and ready to read, with many ideas on where to start. Cheers!

~SK

Running in Circles

The Maze Runner
By James Dashner

The Glade is home base in the centre of the maze. There Thomas awakes to a crowd of boys he does not know. They have a whole community, working together, trying to figure out why they are in the middle of a maze and looking for the escape. Who put them there? How can they figure out the maze when it changes every day?

I'm jumping on the bandwagon, wanting to know why this book is so beloved that it would be made into a movie.

A fast read, each chapter was short and almost always ending with a cliff hanger to keep you reading to the next chapter. The premise was very cool. I think if I hadn't heard such disappointing things about the next two books, I would read on.

I didn't particularly like the main character, Thomas, but he was written as a very flawed character. Sometimes in Dystopian books, the protagonist is saint-like because they are "the chosen one" - the one who will save the whole world from distraction (think "The Hunger Games"). He was intelligent, but his anger bubbled to the surface more often than not.

Certainly I liked it, but it won't stick with me as one of my favourites.

3.5/5 STARS