Summer Reading Update

What a crazy summer... with moving, cleaning out my apartment, getting ready for the wedding, job searching... I'm booked. Of course, though, I still have time for reading. There is ALWAYS time for reading. Here are the added books to my summer reading list (of course with the same rating system).

1: terrible book, don't even bother picking it up

2: not the greatest book, could have been much better

3: it was good, but details, characters, and settings could have been improved

4: good book! kept me entertained

5: I loved it and would suggest it to anyone!!

1984 by George Orwell

• I wanted to do a bunch of classics this summer. You'll notice that on my books for this summer. 1984 was something that I always wanted to read and since that whole dystopian thing is in right now I figured it was a great time to read this. The book is about the year 1984 and everything that has come to pass in that year. Very futuristic and disturbingly close to what our society looks like now even though it was written in the 30's. 
• I give this book a 3. It held my interest, but I think I was over the futuristic take on life that seems to be so popular lately (Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc.) I enjoyed getting another classic under my belt, however. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

• The title is exactly what this book was... cuckoo! The literary classic of an Indian who lives in an insane asylum. When a new guest arrives at the ward (who claims to not be insane), he turns the place upside down. He gets the other patients in trouble, teaches them new things, and uses them for their supposed money. In the end, however, the battle he has with the ward master is lost and he pays dearly for it. 
• I give this book a 3. I felt creeped out reading it. There are lots of sexual references, gross parts, and overall it gave me the feeling that I was trapped in the asylum with the other patients. It kept my interest well enough though. 

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

• Another classic book that I wanted to read because the title captured me. The story of a war veteran who believes (years later) that he had been abducted by aliens and taken to a planet where he was placed in a zoo. A very strange story that I did not even begin to guess according to the title. 
• I give this book a 2. I found myself very bored halfway through the book. I am not into war books, or alien books for that matter. I was glad to read another classic, but I would not suggest others read this book. 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

• The odd story of a world where men hire women for their good-working ovaries to give them a child. There are different parts that each person plays, such as, a maid, a surrogate mother, a grocer, a mayor, a wife... everyone has their own responsibilities and they are not to go outside of those. The sad world does not allow for any freedom or choice for that matter. The ending was vague and surprising. 
• I give this book a 3.5. I would read this book again, although, I was disappointed in the ending. I felt it ended abruptly and a lot of it was left up to the reader to decide what happened to the main character. I don't like books that leave me hanging like that. The book, overall, was good though.