I have not posted a review here for every book that I have read lately but many of the books I have read lately have not been the greatest. I am not expecting every single book I read to be a wonderful work of fiction and literature but I do have expectations of how a book that I will truly enjoy should be. In the past couple of weeks, I have really gotten into a reading slump. If you knew me, you would know that this is a big deal. I love to read and I have loved to read ever since I was a child. I do not know if this slump is because of my job, just getting caught up in the day to day grind, the quality of the books I have chosen to read or all of the above.
How can I deal with this slump? I asked myself that on many occasions and have had many different thoughts. One of these thoughts was going back to reread some of my favorite books. The first book that I read again is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Part of the reason I read this book first is because the movie will be coming out in a month and I am very excited about the it. In rereading Catching Fire, I have gotten sucked back into the world of Panem, of Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Effie and all these wonderful characters that bring Catching Fire to life. Along this line, I have realized something. In my favorite books, I may not be able to identify with all the characters but I do enjoy where characterization takes the story and what I have read lately has not been anywhere close to this.
I really believe that this realization will change how I look at books moving forward. If there is not good characterization in a book, I will not spend a second longer wasting my time with it. There is too much that I want to do and too much to read for me to waste my time with a book that has none of these characteristics.
Now that I have read Catching Fire again, I am not sure where my reading will go next. But I know that wherever it goes, I will be better for it and will enjoy myself more than I have in the past.