Book of the Week: The Hunger Games

[The Night Faery]

Hullo all! This is The Night Faery, guild captain and admitted nerd, with a new source of discussion: books! Because they are awesome. So I'm making this thread to discuss different books of all types --including some Wonderland-related, and some very much unrelated. I'll try to get a new book posted every week, and the topic will be open to everyone to discuss and compare. But please, try to keep big plot spoilers out of your posts, or discuss them in white text. Thank you!!


Current Book of the Week: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

The setting is a dystopian future, where a decadent Capitol run by conniving President Coriolanus Snow controls twelve districts of impoverished citizens. Seventy-four years ago a rebel uprising was crushed by the Capitol, and as punishment for their rebellion, each district was forced to send two children, one girl and one boy, to fight to the death in the Hunger games, where every year twenty-three children die and one is named the victor. Katniss Everdeen, a strong young woman from the underdog District Twelve, must enter the Games and choose her path wisely, or die.

I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. If you have a weak stomach for violence, you may want to step away, but the novel promises beautiful writing, defined characters and a haunting action/adventure/sci-fi/romance story. (The sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, are amazing as well-- I received them as gifts, and spent from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 the following morning finishing them both.)  

[The Night Faery]

Previous Books of the Week

Book One: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Book Two: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Book Three: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Book Four:
Book Five:
 

[Lady March Hare]

Soooo... I can post? *ish lolligagging*

Oh man... I can actually remember the first time I read this book. XD I was liiiittle, and I had just moved from my home with my family down to Florida, where everyone thought I was a total freak, haha. XD My grandma gave me this ugly old worn out version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland... I thought it was pretty much the coolest thing in the world. I raised rabbits... I kept getting irritated that none of them would take me to Wonderland, haha!

Now that I'm older, I can really appreciate a lot of the play on words and verbal games that Carroll integrated into his writing. It's funny... I look so much of it just at face value when I was little, haha! But everything I loved about it has only grown now. Even though I hate puns in general, I love figuring out the angles that are being aimed for in the writing. It's all so much more clever then is expected from literature for younger people these days! ^_^  

[Azure Caterpillar]

A masterpiece, it truely is. Its the kind of imagination most of us lose after becoming an adult. Its probably the greatest childrens book ever written, even adults read it after all. Lewis Carroll was a genius, of this I'm sure. The world of Wonderland has inspired so many people, movies and other books. It continues to inspire today even though it was written over a hundred years ago.

I was introduced to Alice in Wonderland through the Disney movie when I was quite young actually, it would be many a year till I actually read the book. But when I did read it; I realized just how wonderfully written it is. My favourite chapter is Chapter 5: Advice from a Caterpillar. I know you've probably heard this from me before but Alice's conversation with the Caterpillar is my favourite part in the whole book.

I think I like the story so much because I have always wanted to find another world myself.  

[The Night Faery]

I've always had a fascination with other worlds as well, and I've always adored books like this and Through the Looking-Glass, the Narnia series, and The Phantom Tollbooth... I myself am a sucker for the clever play on words, but even if I weren't I would love the Alice stories anyway because they are full of moral lessons and complex themes hidden in silly verse and absurd situations. As both of you mentioned, it is good for anyone of any age to read, and each person can take a different message from the stories presented.  

[The Night Faery]

It is certainly an option, yes, but have you an opinion on the current book of the week?  

[The Night Faery]

Come on, dears, this is the easiest literary discussion topic you'll ever find in this guild! Speak your piece! Love it? Hate it? Can't understand a single word of it? Tell us what you think!  

[Lady March Hare]

Indeed; we need discussion! *puffs on a bubble pipe*

You know, of the people I've known who have actually read the book, there have been a lot of misunderstandings about what's actually being said in the text. A lot of people seem to think that it's a lot of drug stuff, which is strange since there's so much structure in Dotson's writing when you really look at it. He was both a mathematical and literary savant, and he does a pretty good job of showing it. It's a bit sad that so much of that is attributed to drugs, haha.

I think you make a good point about the other world, Night-Night; they're really easy for people to adapt. I know when I was little I spent as much time as I could in a world of my own... it's a bit nostalgic to look back on it now, since there's no time to just sit back and imagine anymore. Think that may be why so many adults continue to really like this book? It seems a passable theory to me, haha. XD  

[Azure Caterpillar]

True, I've met a lot of people on the net who think its about drugs... and I really don't think it is. Infact it kind of annoys me when people go on about that; thinking they know it for a fact, when they probably have never read up on Carroll at all.

Doesn't mean I don't enjoy the psychedelic aspects of Wonderland though. XD  

[Lady March Hare]

I agree. It sometimes seems that drugs are blamed just to simplify the text into something more 'understandable', which I think comes across as kinda insulting. And you're right, it tends to be from people that don't read it all the way through, or just skim it and expect to get everything, haha. ^_^;;  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Its a book that needs to be read throroughly; there's a lot you can miss when reading it fast or skimming it.

And it needs to be read completely, as its such a wonderfully written story.  

[The Night Faery]

All right, I know it's been more than a week but I think I'll give this one two and call it one. *gasp!*

Anyway, from reading the book I got the impression that he pulled a lot of the characters from people he knew... and I don't just mean Alice, but people like the Queen of Hearts-- she sort of sounds to me like a school matron who hates her job and has been working at it for way too long... Maybe there were some folks he knew at Oxford who helped. Anyone know if there were specific people he used as a basis for any of his supporting characters? (I'm sure I could ask Wikipedia but it's more fun to ask you guys.)  

[ravenkitty776]

Oooh, oooh, I have a suggestion! The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor! In this novel, Carroll's book is all lies, and that the real Alice is actually Alyss Heart, of Wonderland.  

[Lady March Hare]

I need to find my annotated version to be sure, but two of the creatures in the caucus race are supposedly based off of Alice's sisters. And the Mock Turtle and the Griffin (is that spelled properly..?) were some reference to Alice's teachers specifically. Gaah, I loaned this version of the book to my cousin; I'll get it back ASAP to make sure I've got my facts straight... >_>