"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

"Mockingjay" is the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. Overall I found the trilogy to be gripping and easy to read, and found them hard to put down. Some aspects of the books I found to be really novel and exciting, other aspects I found a bit disturbing as they don't seem so far fetched in light of some of the obsession with reality TV shows or the technology that is already here, and definitely the greedy, manipulative, corruption that is seen in politics around the world. However I was disappointed with the ending, and also found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the main character Katniss as the trilogy unfolded. While this sounds like a bit of a negative review, I actually really recommend this trilogy, although the underlying vibe of the book is one of distopia for me. These books would be great to read on a series of long plane flights where you can get absorbed into the story and read them quickly one after the other.

Started reading on my kindle: 7th December 2013
Finished reading: 23rd December 2013 
My score: 8.5/10

"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

"Catching Fire" is the second book in the popular Hunger Games trilogy.
I started reading it on my kindle: 1st Dec 2013 and finished it: 7th Dec 2013
My score: 8/10 (not as good as the first book in the series as it was very slow to get into it, and then ended mid-story). Still very addictive though and I will be going on to read book 3 next! Once I finished reading "Catching Fire" I went to see the film version of it which is currently screening in cinemas in Adelaide at the moment. I must say that the film of "Catching Fire" is one of those rare movies where the film is equal to or even better than the book! Definitely recommend seeing it on a big screen if possible :-)

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a very popular trilogy, and I am quite late in getting on the bandwagon. Lots of people have recommended these books to me as gripping, fast paced, easy/quick read. I must agree, I certainly found this first book in the series to be a great story, easy and fast to read, a mix of fantasy and dystopia and reality-tv-like scenarios...very addictive reading! I started reading it on my kindle: 27th Nov 2013 and finished: 1st December 2013. it's one of those books where you stay up way too late at night reading despite having work the next day as it's a page-turner. I'm going straight on to read the rest of the trilogy.
My score: 8.5/10

"Under the Skin" by Michael Faber

I recently read a 5-Star review on the blog "Reading Matters", which prompted me to read this book. Now that i have finished reading it myself, I can say although I agree almost wholeheartedly with her review, my (non)appreciation of the horror element to this book lead me to give it quite a different score. The book is set in Scotland (near Inverness), and the central character, Isserley, is unlike any character I have met before ("half Baywatch babe, half little old lady" as described in the book), but really that doesnt even begin to explain how strange this character is. I'm not sure if the correct term to describe the world portrayed in this book is "Distopic" but I found it creepy, depressing and more than a bit twisted. However it did cause me to stop and think a bit more about some issues associated with meat consumption and treatment of animals destined for the meat market. I'm sure if I appreciated the macabre horror genre more I would give this book a higher score, but I found it too twisted to really enjoy reading it, and often kept turning the pages just to have closure rather than because I was enjoying the book.

I read this book on my Kindle in March 2013.
My score: 6.5/10