I may have found a way to tolerate Dean Koontz!

Odd Hours, by Dean Koontz

I recently finished listening to the audio version of "Odd Hours". I had tried to read the actual book twice before, and both times I hadn't been able to get through it. Koontz is too annoying--he bitches about the world too much. He writes about ONE FREAKING DAY in Odd's life, but the telling takes 7 hours because he can't go 5 minutes without making a joke at society's expense. We get it, Dean. The world is not up to your expectations. We are all petty, and small, and shallow, and stupid (except, of course, those who read your books. THAT PART OF SOCIETY IS GREAT, RIGHT?) Also, here's another lesson you get beaten into you with every Koontz book: DOGS ARE TOTES MAGIC, YOU GUYS! But only golden retrievers. Other breeds are just dogs. Plain old, garden variety, non-going-to-impart-upon-you-some-magical-wisdom-and-shit dogs. OH AND ALSO WAY TO END WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHAT THAT STUPID PREGNANT CHICK'S DEAL IS, ASSHOLE.

Oh, but anyway--audio version is way more entertaining. Narrator is awesome. I was really starting to see the characters so much better thanks to his voices.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Again with the cliffhangers! That's 2 books in one freaking week! I'd REALLY be more pissed about this if I didn't have the sequel to Hunger Games in my possession already.

This book was really hard to put down. Collins is FANTASTIC at storytelling, she really made me feel the tension, experience the excitement, and stuff of that nature. Basic story as simply as I can tell it: It's America's future, life is hard unless you live in the one privileged sector, the Capital. Every else lives in the Districts--1 through 12. Every year they have the Hunger Games--each district has a raffle in which a girl and a boy are chosen (aged 12-18) and sent to the Capital to compete to the death. The Game is televised, and everyone is required to watch. It's a reminder to the districts that they are under the Capital's complete control, and it's a punishment for the rebellion the Districts had performed many years before. Main character is Katniss--she goes in place of her little sister. Because I already had book 2, I knew she was going to win, I just didn't know how Collins was going to have her character defeat everyone else in the Games in such a way that the reader wouldn't hate her--when I say they fight to the death, I mean it. They fight to the freaking death. But Collins does great. She even puts in a little romance, using a fun little plot twist to make it believable to the reader.

I start the sequel tomorrow. Very looking forward to it.

Currently reading "The Cannibals", a Stephen King story. You can download it from his website, which is FREAKING AWESOME. I actually downloaded it a while ago, just haven't had a chance to read it. OK, and also I forgot it was there.

http://www.stephenking.com/library/unpublished/cannibals_the.html