This month, I only read 5 books. At a total of 2,014 pages. Technically, I started book 6. But started isn’t the same as finished. So we’ll talk about that one in November. So here goes!
The Land of Stories: Worlds Collide by Chris Colfer (434 pages). This is the final book of the series. And I’ve enjoyed every single one. In this one, the Literary Army assembled by the Evil Emperors is set to invade our world. And they have Alex under a curse that makes her more powerful than even she could imagine. The fairytale world is almost in ruins. But Connor has gathered his own army of HIS literary creations. And the two armies face down in New York City in an ultimate battle of good versus evil. Armies can always be defeated. But can the most powerful curse ever created be broken and can Alex be saved? Will anyone get their happily ever after? This series was very creative and full of imagination. I finished it in 4 days.
Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews (385 pages). I decided to just start reading my books in alphabetical order. I might switch back and forth between paperback and hardback. I haven’t decided yet. But I’ve got to start putting a dent in the books that I sometimes seem not interested in. This one was cute. Total chick lit romance. Which might not have been the smartest decision immediately post-breakup. But it’s the one I grabbed. Regina Foxton has a local cooking show in Atlanta, where she specializes in southern dishes with healthy, fresh ingredients. Tate Moody has his own show, a kill it and grill it one. Both of them are up for a new southern cooking show on The Cooking Channel. A Food Fight is planned and it’s a fight to the finish when the two hosts face off in three challenges that will test their cooking skills. The book made me hungry. Hungry and a little heartbroken. But that’s just a personal thing. This summer, by the pool, it’d have been perfect. A little too romantical for a girl who’d just gone through a breakup. I finished it in 4 days.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (374 pages). After reading The Handmaid’s Tale not that long ago, I realized I’d purchased a trilogy by Atwood that I’d never even cracked open. So I decided the MaddAddam trilogy would be next. Dystopian society? Check. New terminology for a new world? Check. Otherwise, nothing like Handmaid’s. In this, Snowman is scared he is the only human left after a plague wipes out humankind. Genetic testing and mutations created “animals” and “humans,” but none like Snowman. No real humans. So he decides to search for others and returns to his former home, where the destruction of mankind originated. His story is told in memories of his life before, with his best friend Crake (who engineered the hybrid “humans”) and his crush Oryx, and what led him to this point in the world as it remains and how the world got into this state. Other than the genetically mutated humans (aka Children of Crake or Crakers), are there other humans out there for Snowman to find? And who is this MaddAddam character that the trilogy is named for (hint, it’s not just one person)? It took me a while to get into it. But once I did, I rather enjoyed it. I finished it in 7 days.
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (431 pages). Book 2 in the MaddAddam trilogy. I figured if I’d started it, I might as well complete the whole trilogy now! Toby and Ren are both former members of God’s Gardeners, a weird semi-religious, semi-earth mother, semi-political group founded by Adam One that was very active prior to the plague outbreak (or the Waterless Flood as they called it). Toby finds herself trapped in the swanky spa where she had been working when the plague hits. Ren is also trapped in her place of employment, an upscale sex club. Again, the story is told primarily in memories of life prior to the Flood, from both women’s perspectives. One of the fellow Gardeners, Zeb, is nicknamed Mad Adam (hmmmm, is that a clue about how MaddAddam came into being? Yep). And there was some interesting overlap of characters- Ren goes to high school with Crake and Snowman (her first love) and her best friend during her God’s Gardeners years ends up dating Snowman after college (events Snowman had reflected upon in the first book). Things get even more interesting when other survivors start to surface and reunite. I finished it in 7 days.
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (390 pages). The last book in the trilogy. Now that most of our main characters have been reunited, things really got good. The Crakers have joined forces with the God’s Gardeners/MaddAddamites. The group is trying to get Snowman healthy, find Adam One (very interesting connection to Zeb), and basically start a new civilization. It was told through multiple eyes- Zeb telling Toby his backstory and how God’s Gardeners came into being, Toby telling what was happening in the moments and also telling stories to the Crakers (which they loved) and one of the young Crakers telling stories. There was excitement and happiness and sorrow and even the humans working with some really smart pig hybrids. It might have been my favorite of the three. I finished it in 7 days.
This month's favorite read goes to (drum roll please)- Land of Stories. It was a satisfactory final book to a series I’d long been reading. I did find the MaddAddam series pretty fascinating once it got going and I became accustomed to the terminology and characters.
