Sunday Series - My Bookshelf

I've always loved reading ever since I was a small child, my mum taught me to read before I started school and after that no one could stop me, I went through a phase whilst I was at school of reading every book I could find and ended up with hundreds which had to go in the end as they were all over my room. Nowadays I'm too busy to read as much as I used to and the kinds of books I read depend on the type of week I've had but I've been making an effort over the past few weeks as I want to have read all of the books I own by the time I move away as I'm not taking them with me. I've been meaning to write this post for a while and Jennie's post yesterday was just the kick I needed to get it done so here are the books I've read and re read over the past few weeks.

The first is Extremely Loud and Incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer and I will admit I haven't finished this one yet. From all the reviews I read and from the comments people who recommended this book to me made I expected to not be able to put this down, however that's not the case as I've been attempting to read this for the past six months. It's not that it's a bad read, I just keep getting distracted and it hasn't captured my imagination just yet. The story revolves Oskar who is nine years old and is on a quest to find which one of New York City's locks a key he found after his father passed away. I've been told it's very moving and that by the end of the book I'll be thoroughly invested in little Oskar and his quest and even though I'm only four chapters in and despite how long it's taken me to read it, I am enjoying it and one day I will find out which lock it opens.

The next is Lucy In the Sky by Paige Toon and I think I've probably read this more than enough times but I always come back to it. I find that a lot of the time I want to read a book that makes me think or that's slightly complicated and I don't know which characters I like by the end of it but sometimes I like to read something I don't have to think about, where I know who I like by the end of the first page and I still like them by the end of the story. This is the latter kind and will probably always be my favourite book by Paige, I've read them all but this is the one that I always come back to and don't start getting annoyed with the heroine half way through. It all about Lucy who leaves her cheating husband back in gloomy England to go back to her native sunny Australia, her best friends and of course a hot younger man who just so happens to be her best friends brother (and a surfer who lives in wetsuits...) It's a no brainer, you know how it's going to end from just that one sentence but lets be honest, faced with that choice we all know who we'd pick.

Thirdly is the Hunger games trilogy, I say that like I've read all three but no I've just started this one. I chose to read it as I watched the film and still had no real clue what was happening (probably because I spent most of it poking Jon in the face to distract him rather than watching it, I'm fun to watch movies with.) After reading this I'm pretty excited to start reading the second one and even watch the second film but does anyone else find the casting slightly strange for some characters, definitely not how I imagined them to look. The story centre's around Katniss Everdeen, a competitor in the 74th Hunger Games, a televised competition where teenagers fight each other to the death to bring fortune to their district. I know this book is supposed to be for a younger audience than me but with everyone killing each other left right and centre I definitely feel this isn't a book for children or even younger teenagers.

The last book is another re read in the form of You before Me by Jojo Moyes, which is the story of Lou Clark a tea shop waitress who becomes the Carer of Will who became a Paraplegic in a motorcycle accident. I don't know why I put myself through reading it again as even though the cover is your typical chick lit illustration it's just that, a cover. This is a true heartbreaker, the kind of book that once you get to the end of it you feel like you need to tell someone how much you love them, just in case. I always say I won't read it again but I will because it is as lovely as it is sad and it's a book that makes you think more than a lot of thiller's with all their twists and turns manage to do.

Do you have any recommendations for me to read?