Book Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
By Suzanne Collins

YA Fiction
Post-Apocalyptic??? Dystopian??? You Decide...

I really knew nothing about this book before I read it. I didn't buy the actual book, but instead downloaded it to listen to for my book group. Thus, I've seen no photos of the cover, read no book-flap summaries, trade reviews, nor print media recommendations. I'm reviewing it completely on my own experience with it. Well, with one caveat. In our book group, everyone chimes in as to whether or not they've read the book, whether or not they will be participating in the discussion and maybe what they thought. With very few exceptions, the other members loved it, called it a page-turner, a great book, etc. So I started listening with that bit of public opinion ringing in my ears. Beyond that, really, I knew very little.

I have to admit that for the first half and more of the book, based on what my Nook pals were saying, I wondered if I had downloaded the wrong book. I actually double-checked. It wasn't going quickly for me, it was kind of annoying and I wasn't finding myself engaged at all. Gradually however, by the last 3 hours of listening, I couldn't put it down, so to speak, and began to care what the outcome was. Your mileage may vary, of course, and it could be that it just didn't really lend itself to being listened to instead of read, although I really liked the reader. Her name is Carolyn McCormick. She played the female psychaitrist on Law and Order, and I like her acting. So, I don't know what it was-it just didn't click for a long time.

So, to the actual story. It is a terrible story, really, but sometimes those are the ones that are important to tell because they allow one to think about difficult and terrible things without having to actually experience them. Therein lies the value of this book in my opinion. Understand that it's not a terrible book, it is a good book, and the author is a skilled storyteller. Its just a really difficult world to live in, even for a little while. I can't really say that I enjoyed it the way my friends did or that it was transporting for me, but I believe it has value and I'll encourage my kids to read it because they've read other things by this author and liked them. It asks questions about class, politics, relationships, ethics, morals, and many other important things through the story of a flawed society that pits its youth, gladiator-style, against one another in the most brutal of ways. Because of the gladiators of old and the Reality T.V. of today (and even the way we cheer on the violence in movies and video games), it is sobering to consider that humans are capable of treating each other in this way, but this story has its heroes as well, with their necessary bits of hope to keep one from despairing altogether about mankind and our future.

I for one am not inclined to such despair, so I tend to notice the beauty among the ashes in stories like these, and they really and truly don't depress me. Evil is all around in the world right now, but so is good. This book had some really powerful moments of good that nicely balanced out the difficult parts without making the story sappy or melodramatic. I can live in fear or I can remember that I still have control over my actions and responses, even if I have none over others. That is a central theme of this book. Are you trapped because the Capital says you are or are you free because you are a human being?

Good stuff for anyone to think about.

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New Year Dreams

Happy New Year 2009!
I resolve to lighten up this year, physically and mentally, to smile more, to worry less, to write less about stress and bother and more about joy and accomplishment, and to make sure I'm living life rather than just photographing it for my blog.

It is my dream this year:

• To improve my kitchen
  
• To solarize my house
• To travel somewhere I've never been
• To not weigh 170
• To paint my living room/dining room
• To build shelves over the entry into the family room
• To either use or get rid of fully half my yarn
• To either use or get rid of fully half of my other craft supplies
  
• To move to the next level in my creative pursuits
• To run another full marathon
• To live more simply and scale down in all areas
  
• To make more bread
• To take more walks by the river
• To take a photo a day that shows something I've learned about photography
• To publish two of my knitting designs

So, something I think about a lot is the connection between dreams as a motivating power and practical plans bridging the gap to actual accomplishment. I perennially aim farther than I can actually shoot, meaning I sometimes get stuck because I dream too big. It is good for me to take the colors of a dream and use them to fill in the outlines of what is actually possible in my real life. Thus, I keep the sense that anything is possible, but then I actually go about the work of making things happen rather than staying in dream mode. I'm not stuck with a half-completed wall-sized fresco that doesn't fit anywhere when all I really want is a nice little watercolor to fill in a blank spot.

So, here are 12 goals relating to those dreams:

1. Paint my cabinets and get new hardware. Paint the walls of the kitchen along with the DR/LR and coordinate colors and accessories
2. Get a new countertop, most likely a mid-range laminate that can be had for a few hundred dollars rather than something more tony that would cost thousands. After all, the builder's grade laminate I have has lasted nearly 30 years, so it can't be that bad.
3. Build the shelves I want. They are already sketched, I know how to do it because I did the ones in my bedroom, and I think they will look great.
   
4. Train for the marathon. The race is in March. I know I can do that one, too, because I did it before.
   
5. Take more classes at the gym to jump-start my exercise routine and save me from boredom. They are already paid for in my membership and they offer a lot of variety.
   
6. Have a consulting session with Chesapeake Solar to see if our house is even a candidate. Also, talk to the Homeowners' Association to get a handle on whether or not it would even be approved.
7. Give away all my unopened stamps, and make one card a week to send to someone in my seminary class, a missionary or a friend.
   
8. Knit for two hours per day, and finish formatting all patterns in my library.
   
9. Submit something to Yarn Forward under the current call for designs
10. Submit something to Knitter's
11. Take a class from Penn Camera
12. Walk the dog every day down in the park
    

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Book Review: Patriotic Grace

Patriotic Grace
By Peggy Noonan

I really like Peggy Noonan. To me she has been a voice of calm and reason through the turmoil of the last few years in politics. She is always kind and reasonable, even if she disagrees with something. If you don't read her because she is a conservative, I hope you would set that aside and consider reading this book. It is a small book, written just before the election, and is a combination of things. It tries to explain, in balanced, non-partisan terms, what has happened to the political life of America in the last years, and it is a call to all Americans to consider a new kind of political discourse. She asks us to stop the brutality and partisanship that has torn us apart and learn to come together. She uses the example of a time when she was in the capitol building and there was an attack and she took note of the fact that everyone had to help everyone get out, regardless of party affiliation. She says that someday, we will all have to help each other down the stairs. I believe this.

Her words resonate with me because she feels the same way that I do-which is that America is great, Americans are good people, and we can rise above the current troubles. I enjoyed the book, learned a lot and came away hopeful and optimistic.

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