So the Green Lantern movie is out today, Captain America will hit theaters in another month, and Thor has been out since early May.

All these movies have got me thinking about the heroes and their various gadgets/powers. Green Lantern has his ring, Captain America has his shield, and Thor has his hammer. If you had to pick just one, which gadget/power would you go with?

I’d pick Green Lantern’s ring because you can create anything you can dream up with it. Although Thor’s hammer would be fun to use in a Hulk smash! kind of way.

What about you guys? Which superhero gadget would you pick? And what movies are you looking forward to this summer?

I saw something interesting at my local Barnes & Noble the other day — a poster advertisizing a Green Lantern costume party this weekend. In fact, every time I go into my local B&N these days, it seems like there is some event going on, whether it’s a book signing, something for teachers, or staff members demonstrating Nooks. I even thought I saw someone giving out makeup samples one day.

Everyone knows that bookstores large and small are struggling these days, and I wonder if this is the future of bookstores — if they will slowly morph into more of a community gathering place rather than just a shop that sells books.

I think it’s an interesting idea. Libraries do tons of different programs already — everything from kids’ storytimes to job fairs to art exhibits. A library is definitely more than just a place where you can borrow books — it’s a great resource. Seriously, if you haven’t been to your local library lately, go see what they have to offer. I bet you’ll find something that interests you.

I wonder if bookstores will follow the same trend. Certainly, all the different events at my local B&N seem to be getting folks in the doors since the store is almost always busy whenever I’m there. I imagine that more than a few of those folks coming in for the events take the time to browse around, buy some books, have some coffee, and maybe even eat a cupcake or two.

I don’t know if the different events help the store or not, or how much, but I don’t see how they can hurt. I think a Green Lantern costume party is a pretty cool idea, and I always look at the posters by the front doors to see what’s coming up.

What about you guys? Do you go to events at your local library or bookstore? Have you noticed more events taking place at your local bookstore?

Finished Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. This is the third and final book in her hugely popular Hunger Games trilogy.

Note: This review contains spoilers for all three books, so if you haven’t read the books, you might not want to read this review.

Katniss Everdeen survived the brutal Hunger Games not once, but twice, but Katniss is weary and heartsick for so many reasons — Peeta, the boy who helped her through the games, is being held hostage by the Capitol; her home district was firebombed to ashes by the Capitol; so many of Katniss’s friends are already dead; and everyone that she cares about is in danger once more. But Katniss slowly becomes the Mockingjay — the face of the rebellion against the Capitol. She trains to fight like a soldier and vows to kill President Snow, the person she holds responsible for so many of the horrible things that have happened to her and her friends. It all leads up to an explosive and unexpected ending — one that Katniss isn’t sure that she’ll survive …

So I finally finished the Hunger Games trilogy. I have a lot of mixed feelings about these books. In some ways, I think the trilogy is quite brilliant. The writing really pulls you into the story, and the books have so much to say about the media, violence, and more.

However, I didn’t like Mockingjay nearly as much as I did the other two books in the trilogy. There’s a lot going on in this book — the rebellion against the Capitol; Katniss trying to come to terms with everything that’s happened; Katniss trying to figure out how she feels about Peeta and Gale. Collins ties everything together nicely and tells a complete story — I just didn’t like the way some things went down.

I have the same complaint in this book that I did in Catching Fire — that Katniss was really angsty instead of being the brave, butt-kicking heroine of the first book. Katniss is still a great character in this story, but once again, it seems like she mostly thinks and broods about things, without doing anything to help or change her situation until the very end of the book.

What really bothered me was the last third of the book when Katniss and her friends are in the Capitol, and Katniss is trying to get close enough to assassinate President Snow. You have all this buildup and all this struggle of Katniss surviving trap after trap and her friends dying and sacrificing themselves so she can go on — and then the plot just fizzles out. The war ends in a horrible, abrupt fashion before Katniss can even get to Snow. She wakes up, and all the fighting is over with, Snow has been captured, and the new rebel regime is in place. I just didn’t see the point of all that struggle and all those pages just to have things end so suddenly. Those chapters felt like one long action scene without any real payoff.

I will give Collins credit — she wasn’t afraid to take chances or kill off beloved characters. I’m still a little shocked that she killed off Prim, Katniss’s younger sister. Katniss volunteered for the Hunger Games in the first place in the first book so she could take Prim’s place and save her sister — but Prim ends up dying anyway. Not only that, but Katniss’s mother can’t stand to go back to their home district after Prim’s death, so she ends up leaving Katniss in Haymitch’s drunken care.

As for the love triangle, I was always on Team Peeta. I just never warmed up to Gale’s character, and I felt like Peeta was the only one who really understood what Katniss went through, since he was right there in the arena with her. Gale always came off as kind of superior and arrogant to me.

And then there’s the end of the book. Katniss is put on trial for assassinating the new president (one who wanted to hold another Hunger Games). However, instead of actually showing us the trial, Collins just tells the reader what happened, and Katniss is shipped off to District 12 to live out the rest of her life. Even then, we only get a couple of brief chapters about Katniss putting her life back together, slowly healing, and slowly reuniting with Peeta. I wanted to see the two of them fall in love again — not just be told that it happens. Like I said before, it was a lot of buildup without much payoff in the end.

Overall, though, Mockingjay and the rest of the Hunger Games trilogy are definitely books that make you think, and they’ll be with me for a long, long time.

My grade for Mockingjay: C

My grade for The Hunger Games: A

My grade for Catching Fire: B-

My grade for the overall trilogy: B

Would I read this author again: Absolutely. I’m looking forward to seeing what Collins writes next.

Memorable quote: “All those months of taking it for granted that Peeta thought I was wonderful are over. Finally, he can see me for who I really am. Violent. Distrustful. Manipulative. Deadly.

And I hate him for it.”

Finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. This is the second book in her hugely popular Hunger Games trilogy.

Note: This review contains spoilers for the first two books. If you haven’t read them, then you might not want to read this review.

Katniss Everdeen barely survived the first Hunger Games, and now, all she wants to do is pretend like it never happened — like she wasn’t forced into an arena and pitted against other kids in a fight to the death. Katniss managed to save herself and Peeta, the other tribute from her district, during the games, but what she didn’t count on was being the spark that is about to ignite a revolution against the Capitol. Katniss’s friends and family are threatened by the evil President Snow, who tells Katniss to behave when she and Peeta are once again paraded in front of the people of Panem as part of the annual Victory Tour. But when a special contest is announced for the upcoming games, Katniss realizes that she’s going to have to play the Hunger Games again — and that this time, there’s no chance that she’ll survive …

I know, I know. I’m way behind reading this trilogy, but I finally finished the second book. Collins once again tells an action-packed story that has plenty of ups and downs and twists and turns. There are so many great characters in this series, and everyone get a moment to shine, from Peeta to Haymitch, Katniss’s mentor, to Cinna, the stylist who gets Katniss ready for the Hunger Games again. Plus, there’s a really nice twist at the end that I didn’t see coming.

However, I didn’t think that very much happened in the book until it’s announced that Katniss and other past victors will compete in the Hunger Games again. The first 150 pages or so are mostly Katniss going around and around in her head thinking about how she can keep her family and friends safe and trying to figure out if she loves Peeta, who was in the arena with her, or Gale, the friend that she has been hunting with for several years.

What made The Hunger Games such a great book was how strong a heroine Katniss was — fierce, brave, smart, cunning, ruthless, and vulnerable all at the same time. But in this book, she comes off as a little whiny and angsty. She has good reason to be, given the horrors that she’s suffered, but I would have preferred more of the butt-kicking Katniss from the first book.

Overall, Catching Fire didn’t blow me away like The Hunger Games did, but it’s still a good read.

My grade: B-

Would I read this author again: Absolutely. I want to see how the trilogy ends in Mockingjay.

Memorable quote: “My mother gives a faint shriek and Prim buries her face in her hands, but I feel more like the people I see in the crowd on television. Slightly baffled. What does it mean? Existing pool of victors?

Then i get it, what it means. At least, for me. District 12 only has three existing victors to choose from. Two male. One female …

I’m going back into the arena.”

So we’ve decided on a title for the sixth Elemental Assassin book. And the title is … By a Thread.

I think it’s a pretty cool title and fits in well with the other spider-themed titles. Right now, By a Thread is scheduled to be published in February 2012 — I believe the on sale date will be Jan. 31, 2012, but I’m not 100 percent sure about that yet. We don’t have a title for book seven yet, but it looks like that one will be published in the fall of 2012 (I don’t know the specific month yet).

As far as plots go, I’m jokingly referring to By a Thread as Gin on vacation. Gin decides to get out of Ashland for a few days but finds herself in as much trouble as ever. And you know how Gin likes to deal with trouble.

I’ll post more details, like the cover art and back cover copy, when they become available. So stay tuned for more …