For my next independent reading book, I’m reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It’s a pretty quick read with, in the words of my dad, “…absurd British humor in the style of Monte Python.” He wrote that on the inside cover of the book he bought me, and he pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. It’s not my typical paranormal romance, but it’s a nice change to get me out of my genre rut.

I was incredibly confused at first, but it’s actually not that hard to understand. The first 20 pages introduce you to Ford who’s so serious he’s funny and kind of odd in an unexplainable way, Arthur who lays in front of bull dozers for fun and is Ford’s friend, and Mr. Prosser who is the descendant of Genghis Khan and is trying to tear down Arthur’s house with the bull dozers. I actually laughed out loud on more than one occasion. For instance, the exchange between Ford and Mr. Prosser for anyone who knows what I’m talking about. Ford is so serious Mr. Prosser doesn’t know what to do except take Arthur’s place and lay down in front of the bull dozer so he can leave with Ford. Fantastic! I also like that the author tells you absolutely everything you need to know about the characters (expository characterization =D). It’s another nice change to what I’m used to. If the whole book goes like this, I have a feeling I’m going to be getting in trouble for laughing out loud in the middle of class.

Today I finished Mockingjay, and I wanted to cry. Katniss’s squad, led by Boggs (who I really like) began their infiltration of the Capitol. First, they step into land mines that weren’t marked on the Holo (map) and Boggs died, but before he was gone he gave the lead to Katniss. They traveled through the sewers to avoid the pods which held “surprises” inside. The sewer wasn’t much better though. There were pods down there too, and when Snow discovered they still weren’t dead, he sent half lizard half people, mutts, after them. Somewhere around eight people died, including Finnik, a former victor, who I also really liked. But Gale, Peeta, Katniss, and two others made it into the Capitol’s center.

There was a pen of Capitol children in front of Snow’s house, and gift’s began raining down to the children from what was thought to be the Capitol. But the gifts began exploding, and when Katniss’s little sister Prim (who I love)went in to help th injusred children, she was killed too!! I almost started crying. Katniss learned that it was the rebels who let the bombs rain down, and Gale was one of the masterminds behind it. President Coin was thought to be the one to send Prim to the front line (that’s what Snow told her while he was jailed). So when the time came for Katniss to execute Snow, she shot Coin instead, which I did not see coming. Katniss was spared from execution, and after awhile, sent back to 12 to live basically alone (except for Haymitch). Peeta came back too, and I ended up liking him more than Gale after finding out what he did to Prim. And the two of them lived happily ever after (almost). A lot of other things happened in between, but you just have to read the book to understand. Too many things happened to write a full summary.

I really loved this book, but the ending was a major let down. It feels like the author just gave up and didn’t even try to end it. Basically, it was Peeta and Katniss had kids, the end. Gale didn’t even come back! That was a huge disappointment. He just dropped off the face of the earth, along with Katniss’s mother. I would have been even more upset, but Katniss should have killed herself like she was planning, or Gale should have killed Peeta, or vice versa. That would have made for a much better ending than Prim dying and Coin being assassinated. I still really enjoyed the book though, which is obvious after I read it in about three days. The trilogy has plenty of fantastic qualities, but it’s a shame it was the ending of the third book that sucked because it sure left a real sour taste in my mouth.

So, I got very into Mockingjay today and read around 200 hundred pages, and a lot happened. But the main stuff was as follows. Katniss has managed to unite all the districts against the Capitol, with only a few injuries along the way, and they saved the other tributes from the capitol. I was pretty excited to hear Peeta was alive, even though I like Gale better. What he did when he saw Katniss for the first time completely caught me off guard. He wrapped his hands…….around her neck and tried to kill her. Kill her! After he proclaimed his love for her, he tried to strangle her, and I didn’t understand why at first. The doctors then discovered that while he was held prisoner the capitol had tampered with his memories of Katniss and made her seem evil and mean. So, after he’s gotten somewhat better and was sent to war with Katniss, he still hates her.

I’m actually somewhat glad Peeta hates her because that gives Gale more room. But I have a very bad feeling Peeta is going to kill him, and if he does, I’ll cry, but I’m not really sure where this is going to go in the last 150 pages. The first two books (and this one) are so unpredictable; I can’t even begin to guess. I absolutely love it so far though. It makes me want to be Katniss in some ways, but in others, not so much. I’ll hopefully have the book finished soon, but at the same time I don’t want it to end! =(