Charlotte's Library

The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games is living proof that a book cannot be judged by its description. At its simplest, yes, this book can be called a survival story. There are, however, so many more layers to it all. It is all about the human to human interactions as opposed to the human to environment interactions one would expect in a survival stories. It's such a lousy summary to give, "A reality show survivalist story" when there's so much more to it all. So I was skeptical when I first began reading, and it did seem to fall into that category. I had a bit of difficulty, due to that fact, getting into the book. However, once I found a good, quiet block of time, I sat down and read straight through and loved it. It's all so suspenseful, as you really have no idea who will live and who will die going from page to page. I made predictions, some came true, some did not. Overall, I think the appeal to this book is the appealing pe...

Liar written by Justine Larbalestier This book...oh, this book! This book is so frustratingly frustrating! It is the best concept I have seen in a really long time, taking the phrase 'unreliable narrator' to places unheard of previously. Prepare to have your mind messed with to the extreme, though, as you can never ever tell which of Micah's lies are truths and more importantly, which of her truths are lies. This book is revolutionary in its genre, but I'm still unconvinced by its delivery. I was excited about the fact that such a fascinating new book would be coming out, but upon reading it, I think it was a little overhyped. Once it got to the werewolf thing--no. Just no. That was the last straw. I still do not know what to think about all the other truths/lies, but...no. There is no way this girl, if she is a girl, is a werewolf. Right? I felt like the ending could have been much more powerful, ending with a massive plot twist, and while a few new bits of...

currently reading: Liar (!!!) The Sandman: Endless Nights written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by various Some of the writing was overly flowery, some of the chapters were utterly incomprehensible...and yet, there's just something there that draws the reader in. I found it irritating that the art was different for each chapter, and would have really liked to have seen unity both in illustration and plot. I still don't know what the overarching storyline of this was supposed to be because there simply wasn't one. Particularly disappointing was the 2nd chapter, falling into the graphic novel trap of excessive nudity with absolutely no purpose. I didn't need to see that, it served no purpose. I really did want to learn more about the Endless, though, and I found some of the dropped plot threads to be really intriguing, and I just want to know more. I hope some of the issues are cleared up in the next few volumes, because I feel like there's a really good story som...

Fables: Legends in Exile Written by Bill Willingham Various illustrators Fables is a graphic novel bringing together a very wide variety of fairy tale characters in a common world, all interacting with each other in fascinating ways. The concept itself was definitely enough to hook me, as I'm a sucker for fractured fairy tales. Everything about it was amazing and for a person who typically has difficulty understanding graphic novels, everything was extremely clear and easy to understand. Parts are a little melodramatic, but it is still an enjoyable read all the same. The various fairy-tale cameos are such a blast to spot, adding another dimension to the story. While I found the ending to be extremely predictable, it was, again, a great read, and I can't wait to learn more about this universe! Rating: 5/5 I got this book from...: a fellow Laughliner :) Many thanks for letting me borrow this!