My News Year's Resolutions: READ MORE BOOKS and gain a magical power

I'm not one to make resolutions for the near year. I'm already trying to drop a few pounds (I've lost 5 over the past few months) and I'm trying to swear less (this one isn't going so well...) but I've decided to set a reading challenge for 2015.

I'm going to read 40 books in 2015.

It's in BOLD so you know I'm serious. I was considering attempting to read 50 books but I think that might be a little much for me considering I didn't even read 20 books in 2014. As a book lover I'm ashamed to admit that.

The book I finished yesterday is my last book of 2014 and it was probably my favorite book of the year.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas.

Heir of Fire is the third book in the Throne of Glass series and unexpectedly my favorite in the series. New characters and story lines were introduced but the characters I loved from the previous two books were not forgotten. The world building in this series is fantastic. I wish I could come up with something like this. Sadly I am not so talented in the writing department so I'll just enjoy every moment of this series and wonder why I can't have fire powers.

Anyone else have any resolutions or challenges for 2015? Also, feel free to suggest books in the comments. I'll read almost anything.

It's just a box guys

The cats are currently battling over a cardboard box. I put an Amazon box in the hall closet and Bosco has been sleeping on it for the past couple of weeks. I left the box there because he seemed to really enjoy it. I am a cat mom who caves easily. Suddenly Mr. Binx has decided that he now wants to sleep on the box. The battle has been going on every morning for the past couple of days. Mr. Binx sneaks in there when Bosco comes out to eat and then gets mad when Bosco tries to reclaim the spot. Sibling rivalry at it's finest.

Last night I met up with my friend Melissa for dinner at our favorite burrito place, Boloco. We had ourselves a mini feast of burritos, chips and shakes. I was beyond stuffed but it was so good.

There seems to be a bit of a guacamole discrepancy at different Bolocos. Whoever makes the guacamole at the Boloco near my work puts a ton of jalapenos in their guac. This is not good for someone who gets heartburn just looking at spicy food. I decided to order my burrito with guacamole at a different location and it was perfectly fine. No burning! I guess I'll have to forgo the guac at my work location. Sad times for this guacamole fan.

I recently finished Cress by Marissa Meyer which is the third book in the Luna Chronicles.

This series is quickly becoming a favorite. The world building and characters are fantastic. Marissa Meyer breathes new life into classic fairy tales. Cress is a hacker that has been imprisoned on a satellite for seven years. Cinder the cyborg (who was the star of the fist book in the series) is still one of my favorite characters but Captain Throne probably has the best lines in the book.

art by lostie815 on deviantart

I can't wait for Winter which is the fourth book in the series. Unfortunately Winter will not be available until 2015. I can tell this will be a series that I'll go back and re-read in the future.

Thoughts on Ender's Game

But first some random pics

I want to buy all of these festive kitty toys for my cats. They're big fans of toy mice and feathers. It would make my floor very festive.

I like take picture of clouds. What can I say.

Look at all that fake butter color. Do not come between me and my disgusting movie popcorn. Don't worry this was  taken during the previews. I'm not that much of an ass that I bust my phone out during a movie.

So let's talk about Ender's Game.

Ender's Game is one of my favorite books. It's a shame Orson Scott Card is a complete ass because you want to like the writers of your favorite books. I was worried about Ender's Game translating to the big screen. The relationships and characters are complex and we get a lot of information because we're in  Ender's head. I think that the movie came out fairly well considering this.

I thought the casting was well done. My one complaint was Bonzo. He just did not look the part to me. He was tiny and not intimidating at all. That just might be going against what I had in my head but I'd like to hear others thoughts on that. I think Petra was cast perfectly.

The movie felt rushed to me. At an hour and fifty-four minutes it could have been longer. You don't get the sense that these kids have been training for a long time. The relationships are also not given time to develop. We barely see Bean and pretty much know nothing about him in the movie. I wish they had focused on his and Ender's relationship more. I think the build up to Ender and Bonzo's confrontation was not long enough. You don't really get to feel Bonzo's hatred for Ender. It's more like "I'm annoyed by you!" Also Bonzo's death was not just "oops I pushed you and you fell and hit your head". He smashed his nose into his head and that was not an accident.

I wish they had put in the scene where Petra falls asleep during a battle due to Ender relying on her too much. Bean had noticed that Petra was worn out and mentions it to Ender but Ender doesn't listen. Bean ends up saving the day when  Petra falls asleep and I think that really showed a great deal about Bean's character. We don't get to see how much Bean does for Ender in the movie.

I think the movie turned out well for a book that was deemed impossible to turn into a movie. It was far from perfect but it wasn't ruined. I think it would have been better as a mini series but what can you do (just blog about it...)