Brutal and Bloody

Facebook pages are amazing. The spread of humor, encouragement and information on those things delights me! I am currently addicted to several. 
Book Haven,
Books Rock My World,
Coffee and a Good Book &
I Have More Books Than Friends
to name a few. I am always amazed that there are people that feel the same way I do about books. Things I go through that I thought made me incredibly strange, are commonplace to these people... You know... Like how I hyperventilate at the end of a book.

About a month ago one of those pages posted an invite for everyone to recommend their favorite books to each other. To quote from a movie that got me interested in Thomas More, "I could no sooner pick a favorite star in the heavens" then come up with ONE favorite, and there were already HUNDREDS of comments, so I said nothing. 

I did, however, read through quite a large chunk of the suggestions and found one for a Japanese book published in the 90's titled Battle Royale. I did some research and people are claiming that it is the 'original' Hunger Games, but more brutal and bloody. I ordered it immediately. 

After 50 pages I had to admit that while I don't like to suspect people of ripping off the ideas of others, Suzanne Collins should probably publicly explain why her idea so closely resembles a book published 10 years earlier. You know, just to squish the rumors and so I don't continue to feel disappointed in myself for not suspecting she got the idea from somewhere else in the first place.

After 120 pages the cat got mad at me. Apparently I kick her a lot when I am having terrifying dreams about children killing each other and blood splattering on my face.

I am currently taking a break from reading to write this... Simply because I think I can't handle reading too much of this book at once. 

FYI:
This book is intense. The goodreads reviewer who recommends this book for "people who don't throw up a lot" and the one who recommends it for "the non-squeamish" were not exaggerating. 

One Of THOSE Books

Some books are edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down, up-all-night-reading kind of books. They mean something to us. We feel connected to the characters, the places and/or the conflict. They might give us insights into someone else's life... or our own lives. They might transport us to distant places. 

Some books are not like that. They might be interesting looking. They might be books we WANT to want to read, but they don't scoop us up and focus all of our attention. These books are no less important then the other type of book. I would never have read Pride and Prejudice or The Red Tent if I thought a book that didn't immediately captivate me wasn't worth reading. 

  

I am wrestling with just such a book right now. Alice in Wonderland is adorable and goofy and imagination sparking, but honestly, I am done after a few pages. I have been reading an average of 5 pages a day. Yawn. It will take all my will power to stick with it till the end. 

It is a book a want to want to read and it's worth it. What books have you struggled through?