Just for fun...Books and Music

Sometimes we come across a song that just screams a book or a piece of a book or a piece of the song.

This song has hit me for a book... First, I'm not a huge fan of the song.  Gorgeous voice, yes.  But the song just seems so simple to me.  However!  It does seem to fit a Young Adult book.  I'm sure you know it.  Catching Fire.  The second book in the Hunger Games series.

I can very easily see Katniss coming out on fire in the parade to this song.  In her chariot and all the sight.  The description of the 'girl' in the song seems to fit Katniss as the image that she is becoming here as well.

Book Review: Mockingjay

Mockingjay

By:  Suzanne Collins

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Publish Date:  August 24, 2010

Genre:  YA Fantasy

Format:  Hardback, 389 pages

Recommendation:  YES!! and read the first two books too! It is so much more than YA and deadly games.

Book Synopsis:
My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed.  Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe.  Peeta has been captured by the Capitol.  District 13 really does exist.  There are rebels.  There are new leaders.  A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescu3ed from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it.  District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol.  Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans - except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem.  To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust.  She must become the rebels' Mockingjay - no matter what the personal cost.

First Sentence:
I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather.

My Review and Summary:
First, this review will have spoilers as to the first two books and some to this one as well, not much but if you want to go in unknowing the please don't read.  I tried keeping all the major issues out of this review and hope I did well in that.

One month after Quarter Quell and Katniss is still healing.  Katniss returns to the ashes of her home District 12 to see the devastation with her own eyes.  Katniss is still trying to put the pieces and players together to figure out what's true and what's not.  She feels guilty for the deaths of District 12 for her actions in the Quarter Quell ~ upsetting the Capitol to make them do this to her home district.

In Katniss's state of mind and distress over what has happened with the games she can't decide if she wants to join up with the Rebels and be the image they need her to be... the Mockingjay, to give hope to the other districts while fighting.  Yet the help with clothes, speeches and such all sound just like the position Katniss played before each game.

This book starts off slowly with learning who and how the rescued ones are.  You learn there are great worries for the ones who were captured by the Capitol, and you see how devastating it is to the ones who are alive and... well alive.  Here in District 13 you start to see there are rumors about the place and you wonder slightly on it while learning interesting details of the place, but the people are safe and accepted here. 

I was aware from the previous two books that President Snow and the games really affected these kids' minds, but it really shows in this conclusion as to how badly it really was/is.  The clouded view and instability of Katniss from the previous and even current happenings really comes into focus here.  This is also what makes this book so heart wrenching for me.  Suzanne definitely does NOT take the easy road for her characters.  She is very bold in taking this great stand with them, which makes them that much more real to me.

I was wanting to see more of the government and the views of what might have been "wrong," "right," or where they "went from here".  But again, these books are from Katniss's view so we are a little short on these explanations.  These books are of Katniss as she grows in the role here.  You do get your conclusion to the story.  But the idea implanted from this world and the reaction of these characters keeps you thinking.

As much as I loved the book and was drawn into these characters once more, I felt left wanting more in the end.  This can be a good thing and a bad thing.  Maybe the frantic pacing in parts of the book once it got rolling and then slower in others might be why.  I'm not sure.  Maybe the trauma periods for Katniss, when she is sedated, is what I felt as I'm missing things, I wasn't sure I was getting all the information or even the right information.  But I was seeing Katniss's view on everything to understand her even more.  It might be that I don't really get my closure with what happens in the government and politics.  But the book left a huge impact on me.  The thought to do what is right and needed in the bigger picture.

Is this the perfect ending to the trilogy?  I don't know.  I do know I was drawn right to the characters and the destructive world they live in.  Drawn so much I was heart broken in the end.  But there is a short ray of hope given after it all.  For me this book is about more than how Katniss chooses to be with, it is about what you choose in life to fight for and what you will do for it, but keep your eyes and ears open to not be tricked to do for others.


I purchased this book for my own reading.

This book qualifies for the Speculative Fiction Challenge hosted by Book Chick City, and for the Young Adult Challenge hosted by Home Girls Book Blog.

Looking Forward To... (14)

There are so many amazing books already on the shelves and new ones coming out.
For a list of books yet to be released I'm looking to get, you can also look on my right Sidebar at the list titled Desired Reads - just scroll down. Of course there are tones of other new books to come out that are amazing as well, but these ones are part of series I have already started or for one reason or another caught my eye (and haven't seen much on other blogs yet). But I will highlight one here each week.
(mentioned in order of Release Date then Alphabetical if there are more than one book coming out on the same date.)
The Next Book Is...

Mockingjay

By: Suzanne Collins

Due out August 24, 2010

Aahhh, The Hunger Games trilogy.  Yes, this one is very well known around the blogosphere.  Yes, this one is a Young Adult series.  I got talked into reading the first book, and was so glad I listened to this great book reading friend.  I am really looking forward to seeing how Suzanne finishes this series out.  I have learned alot about the Capitol and the people.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Book Review

Catching Fire

By: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publish Date: September 2009

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction

Series: Second book of The Hunger Games (for review of first book Hunger Games click here.)

Recommendation: YES!!! But read The Hunger Games first. You will appreciate this book much better.

First Sentence:
I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.

Book Synopsis:

SPARKS ARE IGNITING.

FLAMES ARE SPREADING.

AND THE CAPITOL WANTS REVENGE.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

My Summary and Thoughts:

This book starts just months after Katniss and Peeta return home from the Hunger Games, which they won by tricking the Capitol with those poisonous berries. Here we are in the morning of when the Victors Tour starts. Things have changed for Katniss in District 12. Katniss is not sure where she fits in now, she is rich beyond her dreams and has more fame than she wants with being a Victor, let alone the Love Struck Victor, of the Hunger Games. Then there is her relationships that have changed due to those Games; Gale, Peeta, her Mother, Prim, and the people (who helped her by donating what little they had to send her gifts along with all others). And Katniss is well aware she is hated by the Capitol Authorities for her trick that won her and Peeta the Hunger Games, when there is only to be one winner.

President Snow graces Katniss with his presence before her tour and makes her aware some people believed what she did that won her the Hunger Games was inteded to save both Katniss's and Peeta's lives due to the crazy young love they shared, yet other Districts took this as an act of defiance towards the Capitol leading to possible uprisings. President Snow makes Katniss aware she is to do what she can to convince the people in all the Districts she is truely in love with Peeta and that is what drew her to come up with the idea with the berries, or else something will happen to anyone she loves (not nice either).

Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, and the rest of their crew go on the tour. They are heavily guarded and watched as they go from District to District. Then you read of all the changes that happen in District 12 as we come to the next years Hunger Games. Even though this sounds as it may be boring, there are a lot of happenings that keep the pages turning and pick up small clues to what is going on around the different Districts and maybe even for later in the book.

The next years Hunger Games come about with great celebration in the Capitol, being this is the anniversary of 75 years of games. Every 25 years the games are called the Quarter Quell, which are set up with special circumstances established by the Capitol when the games started. No one knows what these celebratory circumstances are until the sealed envelopes of years ago are opened and read. Katniss and Peeta are slightly relieved, as being Victors they are not entered in the drawings of the games again, yet they still worry over their siblings and friends who are in the age range. Or are they?

Katniss gets tidbits of information as to what is going on outside District 12. But what is really going on? With District 12 being of such a small census will they be affected? Will Katniss be able to help sooth what people think of rebeling? Does she even want too? Where does Katniss stand on the rebellion and worries of her families and friends?

You are going to have to read the book. There are very great details given along the way to help you out as well.

The pacing is wonderful, everytime I went to set the book down to go back to work or go to bed (so I could get up for work) something else would happen and I had to keep going. The many rises and falls of the story are very well set to keep you going, no interest lost quickly here. After reading both books I feel I really know these characters very well, through what they have done or not done along with how their friends and family react or what they say.

Book Review

The Hunger Games



By: Suzanne Collins



Genre: Fiction, Young Adult



Publisher: Scholastic Press



Publication Date: October 2008



Recommendation: YES! YES!



Book Summary:



Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?



In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.



Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.



My Review and Synopsis:

I almost did not read this book because of the idea of people hunting people, let alone kids being forced to do this. So, I have to thank Krista for convincing me to read this book. If it was not for her I would not have picked this book up at all. Once I started reading this book I realized it is not as harsh as I had anticipated, which I am thankful for, and was not able to put it down. (I read this book of 374 pages in two and a half days, which is extremely fast for me.) Most of the book is not even set in the actual arena of the fighting. This book is more of the survival of Katniss and Peeta who are on the defensive and trying to stay alive. There is no cannibalism nor is it gory or brutal. I am very glad I did not pass this book up any longer.

I know there is a lot of talk of this book currently, which may be due to the second book recently being released. So with all this amazing praise I had to read it. Which was also a fear to me that with all the hype I would have higher expectations and the book would not measure up. Well, the book exceeded my expectations tremendously. Let me just say the praise is well deserved.

You meet Katniss here in the beginning right away. She sneaks past the fence around District 12 ment to "keep the animals of flesh eating out" and the citizens are not aloud to go outside the fence. Katniss has a spot she sneaks out and meets her friend Gale to hunt. See, they don't get caught or in trouble because the Peacekeepers of the city look the other way, as they like to eat meat too. Katniss has been trained at a young age by her father to hunt, and this is what Katniss has done to help keep her family alive after her father passes away in a mine accident years before.

Also, in the beginning you learn of the history of Panem, and how the Capitol has a gripping control over the 12 different Districts. As a lesson for trying to over throw the Capitol years past the Hunger Games came to exist. All the people are forced to have their children entered in the contest starting at age twelve through to eighteen, no matter stature or standing in the District. However, the poor children could very well have more entries than the richer. See, if the family is in need of food rations the child can enter an extra name in the drawing for this and you can do so for each person in your family. So with Katniss, she has a sister and a mother along with herself - this would be three more entries along with the one for this year. Oh yes, the entries are cumulative, so they carry over each year. That would get scary after a while.

On the day of the drawing all the people of the District are required to be there to witness this, and as a reminder. Katniss is shocked when her twelve year old sister who only has one entry gets picked as the girl to go to the games. What would you do for your sister? Would you sacrifice yourself to take her place? Well, that is just what Katniss does, volunteers to go in her spot.

I am surprised with the extent the Capitol goes to, to try and make this an exciting game to watch. The Capitol actually seem to enjoy this. The publicity the winners of the drawing get is unbelievable. There is lavish foods, complete make-overs, parades, and interviews. They are treated like royalty. People chant for these poor kids and bet on them. All this before they are sent to the arena to fight for their lives. The suspence is held through this section and there are peaks and valleys through here. My heart felt for Katniss and Peeta (the boy who won the drawing in District 12 with Katniss). Even the interview has a shocker to it. They need to win the love of the people in order to have sponsers to supply them "gifts" while they are in the arena when needed. The contenders all have to go through a training session for a few days then show their skills to the Gamemakers, which results in a scoring that could win them sponsers as well. All of these have their own peaks to them which keep you interested and driving forward in the book.

Then you get to the Arena where the game begins. Now, you are going to have to read the book to see what happens here. Just remember the people of the Capitol like a show and will do anything to get it... There are a few twists that get added along with new rules as they go.

By the end of this book I loved Peeta and Katniss. My heart burst, swelled, and broke with them through all their tribulations. Will they both live? Will one die? Will they both die? I am ready to dive into the next book Catching Fire. This book has told a story and set up for the next book at the same time, very well written in that respect. I also feel I understand the characters very well.

I have to say, for a Young Adult book I would suggest it to any and all adults to read.