Have you read the Percy Jackson books?

These book are so amazingly good!

I have wanted to read these book for awhile, but with book group choices and other books on my list that pop up I had not made time for them.  Then I discovered on the library website that you can download and borrow audiobooks.  I can put them on my iPod and listen to them in the car.  Perfect!  They have all the Percy Jackson books available.  Over the past couple months I have been doing just this.  The Percy Jackson books are also "children's literature" so they are appropriate to listen to in the car with my kids around.  Unfortunately I don't think the kids really paid that much attention to the stories when they were on. But let's face it, these books were soooooo for me.

Several months back my sister in law with her family came to visit.  They brought the Percy Jackson movie along.  I had been wanting to see this movie so they waited for the evening when I could sit down with them and watch.  I really enjoyed it.  I think the kids were cute and the other actors were great.  The story was exciting and it gave me more of an idea of what the books are about (because I really didn't know).

I listened to the first book.  It is NOTHING like the movie!!  Okay maybe it isn't that bad.  It is nothing like the movie.  See the difference?  I have asked this many times:  Why do they change movies from the books when the books are perfectly good how they are?  I don't understand why you make small changes to a book's storyline when you make it into a movie.  When you do this it makes the movie not that good.  I mean, the movie as a stand alone was fun.  But as far as keeping with the plot of the book, it is not as good.  This is only a real problem when that messes with the storyline of the other 4 books to follow.  Because you messed up the first movie, you can't make the other 4 movies.  These could be really good movies, and I bet make lots of money (ex. Harry Potter and Twlight, among others). 

I enjoyed the first book, Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief, so I quickly moved on to the second one, Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters.  This one was better then the first.  Then I picked up the Eragon book to listen to because the 4th one in this series (The Inheritence Cycle) comes out in November.  I usually reread all the books in a series before I read the new one (I really enjoy rereading books you will see why by the end of this post, I promise.  My ramblings do end.  Try and keep up.)  Listening to this put me back getting the 3rd book, Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse.  I must have gotten through this one fast because I honestly can't really remember what this one was about.  Then I listened to Eldest, the second Inheritence Cycle book (which is crazy long!).  Then I finished up with Percy Jackson and The Battle of the Labyrinth and Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian.

I like to read because I like to leave my life.  Not that I have a bad life I want to leave, but I enjoy reading books that take me away from things now and put me some where else, doing other things, and being other people.  Reading is supposed to be fun so I like to read fun books.  Let me say that one more time.  Reading is supposed to be fun so I like to read fun books.  The Percy Jackson books are all of these things!  I was living in these books.  I was along for Percy's adventures.  When The Last Olympian was over I started to listen to the 3rd Inheritance book, Brisingr.  I haven't been able to concentrate on it or put my heart into because I feel like my "life force" is still in Percy Jackson's world.  I have often finished a book then immediately turned around and read it again (ex. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows and The Hunger Games series).  I want to turn around right now and reread the Percy Jackson books.  And this time I want to actually read them.  I enjoyed listening to them, but when you just listen to a book you miss things.  At least I do.  I pick up on so much more when I can read it myself at my own pace.  I can also flip back to pages that had info on them that come up later in the book (ex. Percy's prophecy).


I encourage all of you to pick up these books.  They are extremely entertaining and fun.  I love Percy and all the other characters.  I like Rick Riordan's writing and look forward to reading his other books (which I have heard are excellent as well.)