9. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Well, that was enjoyable.

I'm always hesitant about books that everybody is reading, because a lot of the time they're horrible (see Twilight). At the same time, that same "Everybody likes this so it's probably horrible" elitism almost kept me from reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so I'm glad I didn't let it stop me this time either.

Like I said Friday, these books are imperfect. They're too short. Some scenes are just seem rushed, and many of the character sketches are incomplete. At the same time it works on some level--Katniss is never really sure what's going on, and neither do we. It's a lot like real life: she doesn't understand her emotions, doesn't know what she wants, doesn't know what the right action is. She's a completely imperfect heroine.

I couldn't help but compare her to Harry Potter. For Harry, good and evil is an easy distinction, and, though Dumbledore becomes slightly more morally ambiguous in the last book, Harry never wavers in his faith that he's on the right side. Katniss never has this certainty. She knows the government is in the wrong, but she has reservations about the rebellion, ones she never really comes to terms with.

I suppose the difference between Harry and Katniss is that, with very few exceptions, Harry is always good, while Katniss can be kind of horrible (with good reason, though). It's refreshing, because heroes aren't perfect. We're not all Harry Potter.

The books aren't quotable or particularly eloquent. They get right into the dirt, the action of what's happening and Katniss's own confusing thoughts. But that's part of the reason why I could tear through them in three days--they're so fast-paced, I couldn't stop until I knew what happened. It's a good plot, and it will make a good movie (especially because so many things aren't explored. It leaves them a lot to explore).

Basically, read the Hunger Games trilogy if you like distopias, awesome female heroines, moral ambiguity, and/or have always wanted to be a skilled archer.

Next up: I don't know... I'll take a look at my bookshelf. Suggestions?

8. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Well, I sped through this one too, finishing it pretty late last night, and then immediately downloading the next one, which I'm already immersed in.

Honestly, I'll just write something nice and long when I finish that one. Each book doesn't stand alone--it needs the others.

Next up: Mockingjay...

7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I started this book right after I finished the last post, and I finished it maybe twenty minutes ago. Reading books like this reminds me of being an awkward preteen, when I'd spend hours ripping through books because I just couldn't stop.

So, it's not high literature, it's not that well-written, and it's not the new Harry Potter, but The Hunger Games was good. Katniss, the heroine, is fierce and conflicted, loyal and strong. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

Should I summarize? I almost just want to post a link to the trailer instead... Dystopian future (man, novelists are obsessed with those, aren't they?), violent contest used to oppress the masses, heroine fights.

Nothing in this book is that surprising--you can tell where the characters are going. But, even though I'm ridiculously tired, I couldn't stop reading; it wasn't boring, at all.

That's really all I have to say about it, to be honest. Though i'm pretty fortunate that I don't have to go hunting for my food, because I would be pretty useless at it. Maybe I'll come up with something deeper when I finish the series.

Next up: Catching Fire, because obviously I can't stop now.

6. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shytengart

Well, it took about a month for me to fall behind, but I’m only a week behind, which is not too shabby considering the intense amount of work I’ve done in the past two weeks.

But it wasn’t just because I had so much work that it took me so long to finish this book—it wasn’t particularly good.

On the surface, it seems like something that I would love--a dystopian novel about a Jewish guy in New York. That’s a combination of the three types of books I read the most (see A Handmaid’s Tale, The History of Love, and Let the Great World Spin for evidence of this). But this book seemed…forced.

There are two main characters, Lenny and Eunice. They meet in Venice. Lenny is convinced that she is the love of his life, while Eunice awkwardly tells her friend about the kind of creepy, gross old guy she slept with. This is kind of the theme in the novel—the two main characters view the world in completely different, but equally horrendous viewpoints.

Neither character is likeable. Lenny is a slightly deranged pushover, who obsesses over this girl he doesn’t know. She is vapid, with nary a redeeming characteristic until the end. Was I rooting for them to stay together? Was I rooting for them to fall apart? I don’t know. I’m not sure the phrase “love story” is even appropriate.

At the same, I didn’t completely dislike this book. Shytengart’s vision of a crumbling America seems not too distant from the one we finds ourselves in now. However, this dystopia didn’t work in the way that other, better-crafted ones do. Instead of bringing out societal problems that we often over look, he brings out the most obvious problems—our credit is failing, the Chinese are going to own our money, everyone is addicted to their iPhone. A well-written dystopia provides a deep criticism of society, but his seemed only cursory.

Maybe I’m just missing the point. Maybe the point is that these are two extremely ordinary, kind of horrible people living in a disastrous time who screw everything up. Maybe that’s what would happen to most of us if society collapsed—we wouldn’t step up to the plate, but go on making a mess of our personal lives, ignoring the government for the most part, until everything crashes in around us.

I feel like I had better ideas while reading the novel, but they escape me now (I finished on Tuesday. I just hadn’t had the time to write it up).

Next up: The Hunger Games. I know, I know, but no amount of elitism is keeping from reading this.