This year I’ve challenged myself to read at least one book per month. I’ll be selecting titles from this list of books that will be coming to the big screen this year. You can read more about my 2014 Reading Challenge here.
I actually finished this one in March. Another two-book month! Go me! For the most part I’ve not gotten into many of the big Young Adult trilogies that have been popular in recent years. So I haven’t read The Hunger Games or Twilight. I know (gasp)! In reading Divergent I’m reminded that one of the great things about YA fiction is what a quick read it can be, so even if you’re not feeling it you know you’ll be done soon. I finished this book in just three days. I loved that this book was fast-moving books and had a lot of high energy that made me want to keep reading to keep up with the pace of the book. (I may have to read The Hunger Games after all). I’m finding that it’s easier to quickly get through a book when you’re reading it on the Kindle since you can pretty much take it anywhere. (The Kindle Paperwhite is actually on sale right now for $99 so head over to Amazon and scoop it up if its been on your wish list.)
Divergent is set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago. The citizens who live in the city have been divided into factions based on their strongest personality trait: peaceful, selfless, intelligent, brave, honest. The story follows a young girl, Beatrice (later known as Tris) as she takes her aptitude test and selects her faction. She chooses to leave Abnegation (selfless) and join Dauntless (brave). Though behind the scenes someone is making a move to disrupt the established structure. Tris’ abnormal aptitude test results make her divergent (something that is not welcome in the new order) and her characteristics will instead help her play a big role in trying to thwart the secret plan. I thought this book was entertaining and definitely want to read the next one.
I was able to watch the movie with Ally a couple weeks ago. We met up at our mid-way point, Culver City. The movie didn’t encompass all the psychological mind-game aspects of the book but was still a good visual of what happened in the story. Really, my favorite part was actor Theo James, who played Four. Yummy! I had no idea when the movie started that it was the same person who played Kamal Pamuk in Downton Abbey, one of my favorite shows. (Ally let me in on that juicy little tidbit) He sure looks good when not playing a pale white dead guy.
The next book I’ve already finished is The Fault in Our Stars and this is my favorite book yet. Though I won’t be sharing on this one until next month after the movie is released. Shailene Woodley is really getting around the movie circuit this year.
How are you doing with your own reading goals so far?
Update: The second movie in this series, Insurgent, came out last month. I’m skipping the book this time but I do want to see the movie.
I read Divergent right before the movie came out, and I liked the movie too. Four is so hot! I haven’t seen Insurgent or read the book (a shocker, I know!), but I might set a goal to finish the series and watch both movies back to back with my friends as the holidays come up. I read Fault in my Stars a few months ago, and it was a really hard read! It does make you think about death and living a life where you have to deal with having cancer. But I thought Gus was really sweet to Hazel – a bit of friendship and love in the midst of all that pain. Since the book was rather heavy, I shied away from seeing the movie (visuals are sometimes worse when it comes to heavy topics). This summer, I made a reading goal to finish the Anne of Green Gables series and wrote blog posts about them here – http://wordsmithery.net/wordsmithery-blog.html. Thanks for the post, Marina!
Thank you for your reading and commenting! I LOVED the Anne of Green Gables series growing up. I’ll be sure to check out your post. =)
Marina, thanks for checking out my blog. It’s always great to meet another of Anne’s kindred spirits. :)