The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  Everyone was talking about this series and how great it is, and telling me how much I'd love it.  I was dying to read this book, and when I received it as a birthday gift I dove right in.

In the first chapter, I was already preparing for disappointment.  It bore striking resemblance to The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, which was one of the most incredible and terrifying pieces of short fiction I've ever read.  If the premise of The Hunger Games was based on this story, I already knew it could never live up to the original.  I didn't want to quit reading so soon, though, so I continued.  As it turns out, the similarities dissipated and there was never a feeling of horror and dread like that which comes from reading The Lottery.  I wasn't sure if I was relieved or disappointed about that.

The story morphed into a combination of the TV show "Survivor" and any number of so-called reality shows that are constantly filming every move of their actors.  Nothing new here.  Nothing original.  The plot moved along by unrealistic coincidences and contrivances from the author.  Things the Capitol would NEVER do during the games were suddenly - conveniently - being done.  I couldn't help but wonder what Suzanne Collins would have done had the games gone as normal.  More specifically (SPOILER ALERT), if Suzanne Collins had to write Katniss killing Peeta.  Because, if Katniss was the true winner of this thing, Peeta would be dead, and then things would have become really interesting.  Peeta's a pussy anyway.  It would have been a better ending if she ended up doing him in, so by then I was definitely disappointed.

Despite all that, though, I think the worst part was the inconsistency in Katniss' character.  In the beginning, she's made out to be this tough, brave, proud, fighting girl.  She takes care of her family after her dad dies, and she does whatever she must do to be sure they have enough food and supplies.  She takes a bullet for her sister by stepping up and taking her place in the games.  But then, once she's at the games, her whole attitude is "Oh, what's the difference, I'm going to die anyway.  I'm just a pig being prepared for slaughter.  Whatever."  I don't buy it.  If she's such a survivor, she would have done anything and everything she could do to be on top.  To win.  She would have strategized all along and plotted the deaths of the other tributes.  She had a bow and arrows, for crying out loud.  All she had to do was shoot them... Peeta too.

After I was done reading it (and, incidentally, deciding for sure that I wasn't going to waste my time reading the other two books in the series), I did a google search for interviews with Suzanne Collins regarding the similarities between the premise of this book and The Lottery.  I couldn't find anything.  There were plenty of discussions out there on the topic, but only between readers; none of them involved Ms. Collins.  I was disappointed yet again, because the author did not credit or acknowledge the fact that she was inspired by what is generally regarded as one of the greatest and possibly most controversial short story in history.  I suppose I don't blame her, though, since her books target the tween audience - and I'm guessing most of them haven't read The Lottery.

So, I guess the moral of this book review is this:  Skip The Hunger Games.  Read The Lottery instead!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I admit, the cover sold me.  It popped up on Amazon while I was browsing (probably reading book reviews on books I read ten years ago).  It was a new book, marketed as "young adult" fiction, of which I'm always skeptical.  I read the synopsis, avoided all the reviews, and was sold as soon as I found out that the novel was illustrated with quirky vintage photography.

What a surprisingly fun book!  It is well written, almost TOO well-written for the audience to which it is being sold.  But that only made it better for me.  The characters are children in body but adult in mind, and that gives them depth.  There are strange photos aplenty which, rather than detracting from the story, enhance it by bringing the characters to life.  And the story itself was enough to keep me reading, with or without the photos.

This book has everything:  Family dynamics, travel, World War II, circus freaks (or, rather, people with peculiarities), romance, time travel, and photography.  What's not to love?  Nothing!  And supposedly there's a sequel in the works... with more photos.

Hooray for a new addiction!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Oh, how I'd been wanting to read this book for simply ages!  My reading list is long enough to take me through the rest of my life, but sometimes I must prioritize books in order to remain on top of pop culture.  When I saw that the movie was coming out soon, this one jumped to the top of the list.

The first thing I noticed was the one and only review quote on the front of my paperback edition: "This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird... If you read only one book... let this be it." - NPR.org.  That's a pretty serious statement, so off I went.  I read this book almost entirely in one day, the Monday following Hurricane Irene, in fact.  The power was out at both my house and at work, so I had the day off.  I read until the sun went down.  I finished the last few pages with a flashlight.

At first I thought it was a bit presumptuous for NPR to compare this book to one of my favorite books of all time.  Had it been published at the same time as To Kill a Mockingbird, I thought, it might have been more timely.  I expressed this opinion to a friend, who reminded me that timeliness, as I define it, is irrelevant - as time goes on, we tend to forget lessons we've learned in the past.  A book like this is important because it reminds us of past evil.  The only way to prevent future evil is to keep the past in our minds.  We all know that history repeats itself, and a book like this could hopefully keep us from returning to the Miss Hilly mindset.

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this book.  My only nit-picking detail is chapter 25:  She writes every other chapter in the voice of one of the main characters, but she writes the benefit in a never-before-or-again-seen omniscient voice.  It really broke up the flow of the story for me, and I think she could have just as effectively written it from the voice of one of the "help", and it would have kept the voices consistent.

Other than that, though, this story is put together quite beautifully.  You won't regret reading it, and you won't forget it for a long time to come.  Read it!

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Book two of the Millenium series did not disappoint.  Lisbeth Salander is accused of double homicide, but her two previous bosses are sure she's innocent.  Or is she?  They set out on investigations of their own to find the real answers, meanwhile Salander evades everyone who is looking for her.  The reader knows there is something about Salander's past that is the key to the murder investigation, but we don't find out what it is until the very last pages of the book.  But it's a fun and suspenseful ride getting there.

This book has the same quirks as the first:  The beginning is slow and a bit tedious at times as the author sets up his characters and circumstances.  Once that's over with, the remainder of the book is non-stop.  As with the previous book, I found myself reading at every possible opportunity.  I stayed up late, woke up early, and didn't eat much until I was finished reading!  Another quirk is the translation.  The translator, I'll bet, is a native Swede who studied English in school (and British English at that), but has never spent a lot of time in an English-speaking country or around English-speaking people.  The dialogue is unrealistic, and the occasional use of slang seems misplaced.  It's not enough to ruin the story or its pace, but I'm a stickler so I noticed.  Probably many (or most) people didn't notice, or if they did, they likely didn't care.  I guess I really don't care that much either, because it didn't stop me from reading.

Anyway, I am eagerly awaiting the third and final installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, to be published in paperback, at which time I will procure a copy and tear right through it.  I can't wait to see how it all ends.

True Grit by Charles Portis

True Grit by Charles Portis

I just returned from a long, lazy vacation in Arkansas, visiting my old Great-Aunt Mattie Ross.  We sat on the front porch swing, drinking sweet tea in the sticky southern air.  My eyes drifted to moss-covered trees as she told me a great story of how she avenged her father’s murder.  I don’t even remember what precipitated the telling of this tale; perhaps it was when I asked her why she never got married.  Regardless of why she started to tell it, I couldn’t wait to see how it ended.  My Great-Aunt Mattie was sometimes so stern she frightened me, but she was strong and I admired that about her.  This adventure explained why she was the way she was.

***Okay, back to reality.***

Everyone I know has seen the John Wayne movie, but I haven’t.  Supposedly this book had been out of print for decades until the Cohen brothers’ remake came out last year, and I had the rare benefit of reading this book having not seen either movie.  I’ve heard that the new movie is much more true to the book in voice, grit, and dark humor, so I’m excited to see it.  I also happen to love the Cohen brothers, so that’s a bonus.

I can’t recommend this book enough.  It’s short and a quick read, but it is rich with both history and suspenseful storytelling.  The dialogue is genuine.  It feels exactly like I imagined 19th century America to be, and the ending is heartbreaking in a way that makes it impossible to believe that it’s not a true story.  This is a great work of literature, and Charles Portis has been described as the "most overlooked great American writer”.  This was the first book of his I’ve ever read, but I think I already agree with that statement.

Take advantage of the fact that this book is back in print.  Even if you’ve seen one (or both) of the movies, read the book anyway.  If you’ve not seen either movie, read this first.  I haven’t seen the movies either, but I know that the book is always better than the movie.  (Except with the “Twilight” saga… but that’s only because Stephenie Meyer is a terrible writer.)  So get to your library or your bookstore NOW!  I’d offer to lend you my copy, but I know I’ll have to read it again after I rent the movie.  Sorry.

Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon

Godmother by Carolyn Turgeon

***Warning:  This review contains spoilers.  But that might be a good thing.

This book was great in the beginning, before I actually started reading it.  The writer is local, and the premise is great.  A fairy tale with an edge.  “The Secret Cinderella Story,” the cover says in letters almost as big as the title itself.  The back cover description promises a part of the famous Cinderella tale that we’ve never heard before:  The Fairy Godmother’s story.  Hooray!  Something fun, light, sweet, romantic, and totally make-believe to pull me into the pollinated Pennsylvania springtime.  I found it at the library and checked it out, happy that it was a thin 273-page book which would probably take me as long to read as it would take for me to enjoy my coffee the next morning.

On the contrary, this book took me over a week to get through.  From the very beginning, I kept thinking that this story would have been much better if it was written for an appropriate fairy/princess audience, such as an age 9-11 crowd.  The story was terribly overwritten, and the main character, Lil (the fairy godmother), was simply unlikeable.  Another main character, the modern-day Cinderella named Veronica, was a combination of a sorority girl and a vampire-obsessed teenager, with only the worst qualities of both.  She was annoying and I wanted her to go away, but she didn’t.  I was stuck with her.  Even the flashbacks to the original Cinderella weren’t fun to read.  Cinderella was such a whiner, I would have given up on her and said, “Fine, even though it is your destiny to be with the Prince, and he actually WANTS you, and all your troubles would be over if you just went to the ball, go ahead and sit there and feel sorry for yourself.  I can’t help you if you just want to wallow in your own self-pity.  I’ll go to the ball and take the prince for myself.  Later!  Have fun sitting in the dirt and ruining your makeup!”

Finally today I finished it, and although the characters and I couldn’t be friends, I was dying to know how the fairy tale really ends.  Guess what?  It was another “and then I woke up” endings.  The fairy godmother actually ended up being a delusional old woman rather than a fallen fairy, and none of the Cinderella stuff I just read actually happened in the fairy tale context.  WHAAAA???  This book is marketed as “The Secret Cinderella Story.”  The description on the back made me think that Carolyn Turgeon may be writing a Grimm-like tale.  Sorry, Carolyn, I know you’re local and I’d love to support you, but you didn’t follow through with your promise.  I won’t be buying – or even reading – any of your other books.  And for you, my faithful readers (all zero of you), please don’t waste your time on this one.  It’s unbearable and unrewarding.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Everyone’s talking about this book.  It’s all over the bookstores in three different bindings and at least two languages.  It's never available in the library.  People I barely even know tell me how great the book is.  I am skeptical of overly hyped novels because they usually disappoint me for some reason or another, but I had to give this one a try so I could feel like a part of the human race.  So I picked it up at Target (hooray for $5.00 paperbacks) and started reading.  I’m very glad I did.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book.  The first, and most important, is the fact that I didn’t want to put it down.  I skipped meals and social opportunities to read it.  Every chapter ending pulled me into the next one.  It’s a good thing I’m a fast reader, otherwise I would have starved.

Although I liked the character of Mikael Blomqvist, it was Lisbeth Salander who really stood out to me.  She is so brilliant, both in her work and in everyday life, but she is a victim of socially-imposed circumstances beyond her control.  That only makes her stronger, though, and it made me love her.  She’s the one I’d want in my corner.

There is a major plot point whose outcome I predicted early on (I don’t want to spoil it so I’m not going to say what it is).  I kept hoping that I was wrong, because it seemed too obvious.  I expected a twist so shocking that I never would have seen it coming.  Although I didn’t get the surprise I wanted, there were unexpected (and rather gruesome) details that made the conclusion rewarding.

It seems that, although this book has already been made into a movie (which I haven’t seen yet), an American Hollywood version is currently in production.  Hmm.  I wonder what the difference will be?  I might have to hit up Redbox soon to see if they’ve got the original in stock.

Book number two in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is definitely on my reading list, but not immediately.  Maybe in a few months I will read it, after I get through the pile of books that are on my desk right now.  I assure you, I’ll tell you all about it!  For now, stay tuned for other good (I hope) books.