End of Semester Post

This semester went by really quick and I didnt get to read all of the stuff that I wanted to read. However, I did get a lot books read that I wanted to read and the book I am reading right now I have really wanted to read. A lot of the book I read this semester were required, but I did have a few that I picked independently. I definitely branched out a little bit this year with my reading, as last year I mainly read fantasy books. This year I read a realistic fiction book called A Long Way Gone. This was new for me and even though we had to pick this kind of genre for school, I really enjoyed it. I finished the Maze Runner series this semester as well as reading Outliers which is a psychology book that looks at what makes people successful. I chose my books on what I liked as well as recommendations from friends and family.

My blog posts this semester evolved a lot since my first one about summer reading. They started out being very dry and analyzing, with no engaging diction. I believe that by the time I got to the seventh or eighth post I finally began to start putting feeling into them. I started to put some of my feelings into the blog instead of just saying it was a good or bad book. My posts were focused and hopefully the readers enjoyed what they were reading. I was also good at including the Goodreads widgets on the side of my scream, However, there were some things I was not so good at, especially including a wide variety of pictures, videos and links into my posts. Another thing that I wasn't very good at was including direct quotes from my book into the blog posts. Overall I think my blogs evolved enormously and were much more entertaining than when they had just started out.

My first goal for the next semester is to meet my book reading goal. I want to try and read fifteen books instead of the ten I will this semester. For blogging I want to make my blog more interactive with photos, videos and links so that my blogs are more fun to read. My final goal for blogs is to make sure all of my blogs are on time. I made some of them a little late and it affected my grade, so next semester I want to make them all on time.

The Maze Runner Series

I have just now finished the third and final book in the Maze Runner series. I can honestly say, it left quite a lot to be desired.

WARNING: SPOILERS

I really liked the first book. The second book kind have had a little bit missing but it didn't even come close to the amount of the disappointment the third book gave me. All of the buildup throughout the entire novel kind of just fizzled out at the end, leaving us wondering what is going to happen next. And also, whats with the fact that we don't even get to see what memories Thomas had? If you're anything like me, you want to know what Thomas was involved with in the maze and how Teresa also played a part. WARNING MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER. On the subject of Teresa, what's up with her death? This may be one of the most pathetic, cliche deaths in the entire book. After everything they could have been through, James Dashner killed her with a piece of falling building.

Now that I've finished my rant, honestly this was a very good series. The first book was by far my favorite with the rest steadily getting worse. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into the new young adult books that always end with the world barely being saved.

This is the cover for the prequel to the series. I may read this book hoping for a little bit of back story that we never got to see in the real series.