Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

This was probably my first book by a comedian this year that was actually funny. Just reading the back of it you know Ellen is going to deliver her usual spunk. I love watching her show because of her humor and quick wit, and this book is full of it. When you get past the funny parts, it basically tells you how to enjoy life and be happy. Some of the parts were a little reduntant like explaining why I'm writing the chapter." If you like Ellen you will enjoy this book, but otherwise it was just an okay quick read.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

After hearing all the hype about this book from my kids from this year and last year, I finally gave this book a chance. I was not disappointed. It was so enthralling to me that I sat down and read it for a few hours straight. It takes place in the future and the United States has collapsed from disasters like war and famine. It has been replaced by Panem, which is a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year every district must choose a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the Hunger Games. This is basically where the 24 unlucky ones literally fight to the death until a winner is left standing, while being televised for entertainment. The main character is Katniss, and she actually fills the spot for her younger sister. During the course of events there are changes in the rules, alliances are formed, and some chances for romance. This book was amazing, and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy as well as see the movie when it come out in March.

Cause of Death by Patricia Cornwell

The seventh book in the Kay Scarpetta series was about solving the murder of an Associated Press reporter who was killed while scubadiving in an abandoned navy yard. Throughout the course of the novel Scarpetta becomes a target as well. There was a cult causing terrorism, and technology, which I was not a big fan of. It was still a quick read however for me, just so I can make it through to the next part of the series. I hope the next one is better.

The Chose One by Carol Lynch Williams

This young adult novel was so enlightening and interesting to read that I sat down and read it in one morning. I'm not sure how much of it is based on true facts, but it a story about Kyra, a 13-year-old born into an isolated polygamist cult. Here, Kyra is bored with life and sneaks behind the adult's backs to read books, which have been forbidden. (Loved that part!) She also has fallen in love with a boy from the compound, but is heart broken when she is told by the Prophet that she is to marry her 60-year-old uncle as his seventh wife. Yes, uncle. Young boys are being chased off the compound so the extremely young girls can be given to the elderly men. (We've heard of this really happening in the news). To leave the rest a mystery, she does not like this idea and acts upon it. I learned a lot from this novel, if in fact it is true. For example, they believe that men can not get into heaven unless they have at least three wives. They also do not let babies survive that are born with developmental diseases. It was a quick read that I quickly got lost in, and I would recommend this to anyone looking for something a little different from the norm!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

I saw the Night Circus on a best reads list for last year and so I gave it chance even though it was not on my reading list for this year. It is definitely mystifying, I've never read another book like this. It is about a circus that only opens at night, and it shows up in places unannounced. It is the stage for performers with real talents, making it have an atmosphere of fantasy to it as well. The circus is used for a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood just for its purpose. They find out as they go only one of the illusionists can be left standing, which creates a catastrophic problem as the two fall in love.  The must find a way to beat the fate they have been cursed with, or leave one with a broken heart. It feels like you are actually there in the circus experiencing the acts with them. Great read!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I have always been a fan of biology and cells. This is a non-fiction science book about a woman named Henrietta Lacks. Her cells, called HeLa by scientists, were taken without her knowledge and have been one of the most important tools in medicine. They were the first "immortal" human cells to continue growing in culture and are still alive today although she died from cancer sixty years ago.  In fact, if you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons. HeLa cells were used for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects. It also helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. I was amazed by the history in this book. During the time Henrietta was alive it was not uncommon for blacks to be kidnapped off the streets to be used for experiemental testing. They would also inject "voluteers" and prisoners with diseases like syphillis without telling them there was a cure. The book compared these events to being much like the experimentation that was done to Jews during the Holocaust. Most of the book was about the family's struggle to understand why they had been lied to about thier mother's cells and how they could be sold without their knowledge. The writer of the book was actually a reporter that was the first to earn the trust from the Lacks family. This was my first audio book, which may seem boring to some but it was great to hear different voices used to understand how people spoke.

Radiance by Alyson Noel