"Real."
Two nights ago, I finished Mockingjay by Susan Collins, the third and final book in The Hunger Games series. I have never been sucked into a story the way I was with this one -- which is saying a lot considering how many hours of my life I've spent reading -- and finished the series in 6 days. (Thankfully, the Blizzard of 2011 cooperated with my need to read and gave me 3 consecutive snow days and, therefore, plenty of time to finish.) It might be cheesey, but The Hunger Games left me starving for more until I finally reached the end of Book 3. I think being in Katniss' thoughts made the whole experience come to life around me, and Colllins wrote in such a way that I truly felt I was experiencing Katniss' days and emotions along with her. I'm always drawn into a story that makes me feel I have something in common with a character, especially characters who are, in the grand scheme of things, vastly different from me. I thrive on finding and feeling those commonalities -- in this case, a sense of responsibility, the desire for more even when it isn't clear what you need more of, the need for human interaction and connection when it's not easy to find or when it seems other things are more important, the drive for justice and freedom for all, not just those in charge.
This was one of those stories that, upon finishing it, I reread the ending a few times. I usually do that when I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't feel like I absorbed all of the final details enough. The ending was satisfying and gave a welcomed sense of closure. Even so, I do have one wish -- that Collins had given us more in the last chapter than she did. More about Katniss' thoughts about Coin, more about her trial, more about how she worked through the mess of emotions associated with Gale, left to his own devices in District 2. More about how she and Peeta learned more about each other and found how they fit together. More about how she came to terms with having children. More about how the country continued after Coin, and how Katniss' children would face the past and how their parents were involved.
I recommend this series to anyone and everyone, but only if you have some time to really devote to the books, since I'm not sure you'll want to put Katniss and her revolution on pause to deal with the real world.
Showing posts with label The Hunger Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Hunger Games. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Putting the book down just long enough to write...
I have been reading more this school year than ever before during my career -- mostly because I hunkered down and told myself that I deserve it, especially since I don't get to teach literature right now. All of these were recommended to me by friends, which makes reading them all the more fun since we can compare notes on them afterward.
Since August, I've read all three books in the Millennium Series by Steig Larson, and I stand in awe for several reasons. First I love, love, love how he makes so many details come together and work for a common goal, even details that seem completely irrelevant when I read them the first time. No blatant foreshadowing here (thank goodness -- American Wife had enough to last me a lifetime). I'm also impressed with how much he can suck me into the plot, when his writing style is far from anything I've enjoyed before. He's rather dry for my taste, talks to us in the third person (in case you didn't know, I thrive on first person, even stream of consciousness), gives details opposite of what I want to know, and takes his time moving the plot along. And yet, I was so drawn into Lisbeth's story that I couldn't put the books down. I had to know what happened to her. Right now. Knowing more books followed, and, therefore, that Lisbeth lives, wasn't enough. I had to know all the tiny little details, the ones that Larson only provided when I pried them out of his hands. Details about the police officer's exercise habits, on the other hand, he freely explained. And knowing that Larson had many more books in mind when he unexpectedly died, leaving us only the first three, gives me goosebumps considering the sense of closure we have at the end of Hornet's Nest.
Then, after reading the three books over 4.5 months, I read A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean in a week. Ok, so it's only 105 pages, so that helped. This one was more in the style I seek out -- first person, tell me what you're thinking down to the moment even if it means not telling me exactly what the other characters are doing, provoking thought about the ordinary. I didn't know heads or tails about all of the fly fishing information he gave, but it was at the center of my understanding of the characters, how they interacted, how they saw each other, how they saw themselves. And Mclean is such a wonderful wordsmith -- lines like the opening, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing," and, "The storm came on a wild horse and rode over us," painted beautiful images in a very unique way. I would like to write some academic paper on this story, comparing it to a story about sisters, and see what I can find.
And now, I'm in the middle (well, closer to the end) of The Hunger Games, and I only put the book down long enough to write because I was afraid I'd lose my ideas about the other pieces if I go too far into this series. I've nearly finished this book in two days, and I wholeheartedly intend on finishing it tonight before I go to bed, even if it means teaching in a sleepy stupor tomorrow. I have to know how Katniss fairs -- because like with Lisbeth, knowing more books come after isn't enough. Sometimes in math we say that the answer isn't always important, it's the process of getting from the problem to the solution that matters. So it is here, too, where I'm hungry for the journey far more than the destination.
Since August, I've read all three books in the Millennium Series by Steig Larson, and I stand in awe for several reasons. First I love, love, love how he makes so many details come together and work for a common goal, even details that seem completely irrelevant when I read them the first time. No blatant foreshadowing here (thank goodness -- American Wife had enough to last me a lifetime). I'm also impressed with how much he can suck me into the plot, when his writing style is far from anything I've enjoyed before. He's rather dry for my taste, talks to us in the third person (in case you didn't know, I thrive on first person, even stream of consciousness), gives details opposite of what I want to know, and takes his time moving the plot along. And yet, I was so drawn into Lisbeth's story that I couldn't put the books down. I had to know what happened to her. Right now. Knowing more books followed, and, therefore, that Lisbeth lives, wasn't enough. I had to know all the tiny little details, the ones that Larson only provided when I pried them out of his hands. Details about the police officer's exercise habits, on the other hand, he freely explained. And knowing that Larson had many more books in mind when he unexpectedly died, leaving us only the first three, gives me goosebumps considering the sense of closure we have at the end of Hornet's Nest.
Then, after reading the three books over 4.5 months, I read A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean in a week. Ok, so it's only 105 pages, so that helped. This one was more in the style I seek out -- first person, tell me what you're thinking down to the moment even if it means not telling me exactly what the other characters are doing, provoking thought about the ordinary. I didn't know heads or tails about all of the fly fishing information he gave, but it was at the center of my understanding of the characters, how they interacted, how they saw each other, how they saw themselves. And Mclean is such a wonderful wordsmith -- lines like the opening, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing," and, "The storm came on a wild horse and rode over us," painted beautiful images in a very unique way. I would like to write some academic paper on this story, comparing it to a story about sisters, and see what I can find.
And now, I'm in the middle (well, closer to the end) of The Hunger Games, and I only put the book down long enough to write because I was afraid I'd lose my ideas about the other pieces if I go too far into this series. I've nearly finished this book in two days, and I wholeheartedly intend on finishing it tonight before I go to bed, even if it means teaching in a sleepy stupor tomorrow. I have to know how Katniss fairs -- because like with Lisbeth, knowing more books come after isn't enough. Sometimes in math we say that the answer isn't always important, it's the process of getting from the problem to the solution that matters. So it is here, too, where I'm hungry for the journey far more than the destination.
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