I finished THE GIVER last week, and I generally loved it. However, I didn’t love the ending. It was abrupt and ambiguous. Literary Fiction does this a lot, and in certain contexts I have no problem with it. In this one, I felt too invested to have a sudden ending. It could be that I was reading it on Kindle, and the device told me I was only 80% into the book so the quick ending was unexpected. The reason Kindle told me 80% was the author had included other material in the back of the book and I hadn’t realized it. I’m going to say what I really felt: For such an intense, well written book, I thought the ending was lazy writing. Tons and tons of readers will disagree and that’s okay. We all have opinions 
All that said, I still highly recommend the book! The viewpoint of an 11 or 12 year old boy really gives an interesting perspective on a dystopian (or highly controlled might be a better description) society. Totally worth the read.
I’m listening on and off to a mystery, THE GUILTY ONE by Kiersten Modglin. I like it, and the twists are pretty good so far. I do find some parts hard to listen to due to subject matter. But I’ve been also listening to various podcasts, so that helps me disengage for a bit when I need a break. That may be weird, but that’s me, LOL.
What are you reading or listening to?
May 14th, 2025 at 5:46 am · Link
There are 3 more books in the series. I don’t know if they tie up loose ends as I did’t read them. (Was not a fan of the ending and didn’t want to do that again.) But I can tell you that the ending sparked furious debate among my middle school students. They talked about that book until the end of the school year. Some of them even wrote their own ending—which I loved.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:55 am · Link
Yeah…I hate books with ambiguous endings. Or cliffhangers that leaves EVERYTHING up in the air. Especially in a romance/series. The final straw for me is a twist at the end where the MCs get not even a HFN to tide a reader over to the next, done with the expectation that readers will buy the next book. Nope. I’m done the 2nd or 3rd book.
I’m still doing the Kristen Ashley revisit–her Chaos MC series. I haven’t listented to them since 2019 so it’s been a minute.
She is definitely an acquired taste and some of her narrative makes me roll my eyes but it’s her voice and she writes such compelling characters that I just roll with it. Pun mostly intended. I’m about 3 hours away from the end of RIDE STEADY which is probably my favorite in the series. I’ll roll over to whatever the next book is. 
And Marianne, I think it is AWESOME your students got so invested and love the idea of them writing their own endings! Way to inspire future writers!
Happy reading, all!
May 14th, 2025 at 12:24 pm · Link
Marianne, I love that the middle school kids were so invested in the book and debated the ending. That some wrote their own ending is even better! That even makes me rethink the ending in that it apparently worked for her target audience. But it still didn’t work for me, and while the other books were heavily advertised in the bloated amount of pages put in after the ending, I’m not interested.
I do feel better that you felt similar to me about it.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:30 pm · Link
Silver, I get how much readers hate cliff hanger endings, but I don’t mind them if I know it going in. I kind of like having more books to look forward to if I love the first book. If I’m surprised by it, then I hate it. However, I get how you feel totally!
Ambiguous will work for me in literary fiction in some cases. Not in romance so much.
I’m with you in loving Marianne’s students reaction to the book. That makes the book valuable, and I’m sorry it’s on the banned list (but I’m against banning most books anyway, so that’s just me).
It’s great that you are enjoying a series you already have on audio. Definitely more listening bang for your buck in that case! MC books in general are fun, and a world I’d much rather read about than experience, LOL.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:43 pm · Link
I looked into The Guilty One and it sounds great. My library only has it on audio and I don’t listen to books.
It’s no big deal right now since I really haven’t had time to read much. Right now I’m still falling asleep as soon as I pick up a book.
I made a carrot cake today for C and hubs birthdays. C is tomorrow and hubs is Friday.
I hope you’re having a nice day.
May 14th, 2025 at 3:42 pm · Link
Viki, I think you’re smart accepting that right now is not the season for reading in your life. It’s best not to place anymore stress on yourself. I got into audio when the Tinnitus started, and that plus walking were and are hugely helpful. Before that, I had little interest in audio.
Huge Happy Birthday to C and Hubs! I’m sure they will love and appreciate the carrot cake!
My day is good, I hope yours is too!