Check In

Hey everybody!
So I just wanted to do a little bit of check-in so I don't leave all of you completely in the dark. I'm still only about a quarter of the way through Xenocide, I haven't been reading it much due to my assignment of reading Under the Dome. I am halfway through the book, which means I have been reading, on average, twice as many pages a day, than I said I would. It's an excellent book and I hope to finish it within the next week or so.

Keep reading!
Mackenzie

My First Assignment!

I have received my first assignment, so I'm putting Xenocide aside for the time being because this assignment has a time limit. A friend of mine asked me to read Under the Dome before the TV series starts at the end of June. So I started that last night and I'm not a fast reader but if I read 30 pages a day I'll finish in time. I'm determined to finish it in time for my friend. If you have any suggestions of what I should read, let me know!

Also, I have reached 500 page views! Yay!

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Procrastination Station

I'm writing this post as an apology, I'm such a procrastinator. Well, I usually procrastinate before doing my homework by reading, but I also procrastinate when I'm reading. When I get towards the end of a book, I procrastinate because I don't want it to end. When I start a book (shocker) I procrastinate because I'm not quite ready to let the last one go. That's what I'm dealing with right now. I'm about 50 pages in, I'm trying, I swear.

Keep reading! And don't procrastinate like me!
Mackenzie

Speaker for the Dead

I finished Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card last night.I think I'll put that in OCTOPUS.

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Palestine
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Speaker for the Dead

There is a lot I have to say about this book. First, I'm not really sure if I liked this book or not. I'm pretty sure I did but I'm still kind of on the fence. I saw a lot more positive reviews than negative which made me feel good going into it. The beginning of the book was really confusing and I wasn't quite sure how it all fit together but after the first few chapters it started to make sense. Then there was the whole idea that this is also a children's book, but again there are so many complex and mature subjects that children shouldn't be learning about so early. My niece is an advanced reader going into third grade and this is something she would want to read but I probably wouldn't let her (partially because she isn't my own child and her mom would be in the awkward situation of explaining). Also, the vocabulary was so rich and more advanced than I would have expected. There were times when I had to look up a few words. But I did like the concept of this book, it was a lot more mellow than the last book and there were times it brought me to tears. This book brings science fiction alieny stuff together with murder mystery. It's fun trying to figure out what's going on in this town full of secrets. I would say this isn't as good as Ender's Game but it still is a very good book. This book was actually meant to be the original book and Ender's Game was the prequel, but Ender's Game became much more popular.

My original intentions of reading this series was so I could get to Xenocide because I needed another "X", little did I know I would get completely sucked into Ender's world and all the characters he comes in contact with. Xenocide is a little bit longer (and by a little bit I mean 200 pages) than the last two books so it might take me a little bit longer to read but I will try my best to get it done in a timely fashion. I have Relay for Life this weekend so I'm not sure how much reading I'll get done but I will try my hardest.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

James Patterson

I have many favorite authors and James Patterson is in my top 5, especially his Women's Murder Club Series. As you can imagine, I was very excited when I finally got 12th of Never (it came a little late because it had to be forwarded to my new address). I have now run into a little bit of a problem. 12 is not a letter in the alphabet and I don't want to wait until after I finish this challenge to read this book. What do you propose I do? Maybe it should be a bonus read? Or maybe use the first letter of the title? Let me know what you think I should do.

Keep reading!
Mackenzie

P.S. I apologize for any missing e's in my post, I'm missing the e key on this keyboard.

Decisions, decisions

So I've decided to read Speaker for the Dead the 2nd book in the Ender Wiggin series. That's all for now.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Ender's Game

I have finished the 13th book for this challenge! Yay! So I just finished Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card this morning. That means I'm more than halfway done with ELEPHANT

Ender's Game
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Persepolis (The Complete)
Happiness Project (The)
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Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass
Two Towers (The)

4 of 5 stars

 So occasionally I will read some reviews (without spoilers) before I read the book. This book I decided to read the reviews while I was in the middle of the book and almost all of them were bad, the most I saw it get was three stars. I thought it deserved better. A lot of the reviews were written by adults reviewing a children's book and I think that's where the problem lies, that these adults don't have the mindset of a child when going into this book. But overall, I thought it was an excellent book. I gave it four stars. The pros of this book were it was quick and easy to read and it had a very good story line. I'm a sucker for sci-fi and it's quite possible that this is what will happen to our world eventually. I had one problem with the book. It's a children's book but there were some situations that were a lot more mature than I thought should be included in a children's book. There were also quite a few swears throughout the book, most commonly used was "bastard". There were just some things in there that I felt didn't need to be put in and the book would still have the same effect. Also, the end was very anti-climatic, there could have been a lot more build up, but it is was it is and it was an overall good book. With most books there were a lot of times I had to get up and walk away from the book because I was so frustrated with what the characters were doing, but that's what makes a good book. A book that makes you feel something towards it.

I haven't decided whether to go onto Speaker of the Dead the second book of this six book series or Return of the King the final LOTR book. I will let you know soon what my choice is. As always let me know if you have an opinion on any book I read or if you have any suggestions of books I should read.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

The Two Towers

At last! I have finished The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm almost done with ELEPHANT and by almost done I mean like almost half.

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L
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Persepolis (The Complete)
Happiness Project (The)
A
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass
Two Towers (The)

I know it took me forever to read this book but honestly I really enjoyed this book. It started off on an exciting note with a battle so the first part of the book was really exciting and most of the book was really engaging, with a few slow parts in between that was basically travelling. It was overall a good book and I personally absolutely love Sam. I like how these books end and begin with exciting events which is because it was originally meant to be one book. Although, middle books are hard it was still well written and Tolkien  finds thrilling events to put in the story to keep it going. But again there was the lack of female characters. I'm pretty sure there were none in this book at all. But anyway, I plan on watching the movie after finals are over next week.

I'm now reading Ender's Game and then I'll probably read Return of the King.

Keep reading!
Mackenzie