Meagan Reads Popular Fiction Way After It's Cool: The Hunger Games Chapters 1-11

In the spirit of my Twilight Experiment, I've decided to blog my experience in reading The Hunger Games series. I actually should be doing important things with my life, like looking for a job, but instead I'm going to sacrifice some of my free time in order to self-indulgently chronicle my personal experience reading a series that everyone else has already read and knows everything about. You're welcome, internet.

Disclaimer: All opinions, positive or negative, stated here about the Hunger Games series in no way reflect my opinion of the people who read and/or may enjoy them (or not enjoy them). I hope I don't hurt too many feelings.

Anyway, I started reading The Hunger Games a few days ago, and I've finished Part 1 and a bit, so come along with me on my magical journey!

We'll start with my take on the writing itself thus far first (get the boring stuff out of the way, am I right?). I really hate to start off my commentary with something negative, but mentioning that I'm a bit miffed it's taken her almost exactly half the book to get to the actual games part seems like a good place to start. Honestly, Collins, I promise I'll be okay with a little less about how Katniss and Gale became best friends (or more waggle eyebrows waggle) if it means I get more of people stabbing each other in the face to survive. That is what I signed on for when I picked up the book.

That being said, I did find that despite the fact I really really wanted some butt-kicking and name-taking sooner, the beginning pace moved along pretty well for the most part. If I didn't already have an inkling about what kind of bad-applery awaited in future chapters I probably wouldn't have minded at all. For the most part Collins does a great job of developing characters and their background for the most part--although I do think she could work on weaving in Katniss' flashbacks a little more smoothly. At this point they pop up rather, "Well, since I'm not doing anything at the moment let me think about my past." Bit convenient, Katniss.

Another con within the writing itself is that the tone tends to be a little inconsistent. For the most part Katniss' voice in the narrative is simple and concise, sort of no-nonsense; not only do I enjoy her straightforwardness, but sometimes the narration can say things that are downright beautiful despite (or perhaps because of) its simplicity. However, every once and a while some superfluous phrases or sentences are thrown in that don't quite fit this down-to-earth Katniss-voice--they seem more suited for a normal (read: annoying dumb I hate them) teenager. These times are few and far between though, so thus far this is a minor flaw.

Collins also likes to cut sentences into fragments for dramatic effect, I've noticed. Sometimes this works:

"I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun." [p. 121]

And sometimes it just makes me want to pat her head because, judging by the narrative, she's a little slow:

"'Quack yourself,' I say with a light laugh. The kind only Prim can draw out of me." [p. 16]

 That period does not belong. Collins, let me give you some free advice--which I know you'll just absorb like a sponge because who doesn't need to learn things from an unpublished English undergraduate?--semi-colons are awesome. Seriously, they're so awesome. I know people tend to overuse them because they think it makes them look like Charles Dickens, but well-used semi-colons are like my favorite. Or really any variety of punctuation out there, Suzy. Seriously, you can use semi-colons and ellipses and even colons to great affect and more than like once every two chapters, if you want.

You're very welcome, Suzy.

I also wish Suzy would do a bit more showing at certain places--the scene where the tributes are debuted and Peeta and Katniss come out literally on fire. If Suzy had dared to get a bit more poetic and detailed with her description that scene could have been incredible. Instead, it's just...inherently pretty awesome because of the fact that they are on fire. I find this is the case for quite a few scenes.

So anyway, character impressions (yay fun!):

Katniss:
Overall, I like her, which is a huge point in Suzy's favor because I judge female characters very harshly. I can count my favorite fictional females without having to take my shoes off. But there's no denying that Katniss Everdeen is seriously badapple. Honestly, she opens her narrative matter-of-factly relating the story of how she tried to drown an ugly, vermin invested cat. That's a pretty far cry from the saccharine, overly-compassionate animal activists you often see heroines portrayed as.

(Yes, apparently you just need to drown a cat to earn my respect. Not even I knew that.)

Despite her cold practicality, though, Katniss is also a legitimately caring and empathic protagonist. She's not afraid to get attached to people; she sacrifices herself for her sister; and she constantly sees the human qualities in people (even if she might not want to)--even people in the Capitol, who it would be very easy for her to blindly harbor hatred and bitterness towards. I loved the friendship dynamic that developed between her and Cinna. 

Katniss we know is quite adept at masking her true emotions, appearing completely neutral so as not to expose a weakness, when she needs to; but I think that's a completely different skill that putting on false emotions convincing enough to make people like you, which is what Katniss is able to do. And really not only just the right time--only the right time. It's a bit too convenient that she just happened to grow the exact trait she'd need to really become a fan favorite, and there was no lead up to this development.

One more thing that's important to know about Katniss Everdeen: she is always wrong. About everything. Let's look at her track record:

• Katniss' assertion: There is absolutely no way Prim could be chosen for the Hunger Games, the odds are like a billyun to one. Actual outcome: Primrose Everdeen's name is drawn in the reaping.
• Katniss' assertion: Crap, my stylists are going to introduce me in no clothes at all and it's going to be totally lame and embarrassing. Actual outcome: Is lit on fire and looks totally awesome.
• Katniss' assertion: I totally screwed up shooting an arrow at the Gamemakers, they're completely angry with me and I'm totes going to get the lowest score ever. Actual outcome: Katniss' score is an eleven out of twelve.
• Katniss' assertion: Ohemgee Peeta just totally embarrassed me he made me look so weak that was his plan all along I am ruined. Actual Outcome: Everyone is putty in the hands of these star-crossed lovers.

Katniss, just shut up, oh my word. You're going to say something horrible next, like, "There is no way I'll go insane and brutally beat Rue to death with my bare hands." Seriously, woman, stop listening to your intuition, it is the worst. And on a more practical note, it worked for dramatic effect the first time, but after like the second or third time that Katniss had a complete emotional breakdown and then moments later was convinced, "Wow, this situation I thought was the actual worst is in reality super okay" I just started rolling my eyes at the page.

Peeta:

This boy is a little dip. Seriously. "Oh man Katniss, you know what would be so stupid? If you and I pretended to love each other. That would be so stupid. Haha, we should totally pretend to like, be all over each other and make out and stuff and the Capitol will think it's real and we'll show them, they're so dumb, lolz." Just ask her out, you little girl, good gravy--gumption, man, gumption! 


(Yes, I'll admit while I have stayed mostly spoiler-free as to the overall plot and outcomes of The Hunger Games series, I did glean enough about it to have prior knowledge that Peeta's feelings for Katniss are real).

Other than that I really don't have much to say about him, considering most of what you "know" about Peeta is told to you by Katniss, and it's all her assertions on his character, and Katniss is always wrong. So.

Am I the only one who still thinks it's hilarious that his name is Peeta? Really, Suzy, you are such a troll.

Impressions of other characters:

Gale:
Handsome. And manly (probably?).

Haymitch:
What a boring drunk. Doesn't even try to make out with inanimate objects.

Cinna:
Sexy and a spiffy dresser. The minimum you need to get my stamp of approval.

Rue:
Arghfffggghh how are you so cute to me when you've said like two things.

Careers:
Oh no, it's the American highschool metaphors! It's not a young adult novel without them, apparently.  

One thing I'm quite enjoying, in a frustrating way, is the way Collins is continually including that implication of other people's stories and history--no major players come in as backgroundless foils. Although she has yet to divulge anyone's history but Katniss, there is a lot of sense of possibilities regarding where other people came from, if that makes. What I'm basically saying is that I'm very curious to know exactly how someone like Haymitch survived the Hunger Games and what the Games are like for other people besides Katniss. I hope Suzy tells us sometime.

Also is it wrong that I really want to read to story of the Games that Titus, that guy who went insane and started eating people, was in? I know it's gross but I got to the part and just had to say, "Daaaaang. I want that to happen in these Games."

Favorite characters:

• Cinna
• Rue
•  Effie Trinket (please don't give me that look, she's just interesting okay. And it can't be denied that, whatever her motives, she did work extremely hard to do everything she could to help Katniss and Peeta in the upcoming Games)
• That cripple kid from District 10.

This list could also be titled "Characters that Meagan is 93% Sure Are Going to Die."


Predictions based off Katniss' assertions:
Based on Katniss' assertion that "It's not like I was going to win the games anyway" [p. 103] and her continual insistence that she is eventually going to have to kill Peeta or be killed by him, I predict that not only is Katniss going to win, but she's going to do so in some weird heroic or weird convolutedly deceptive way that enables both her and Peeta to make it out alive. Steamy makeouts will probably follow.

Though how awesome would Katniss be if in the end she was like "I'm sorry Peeta, but my one and true love is hunting. And this lamb stew stuff."

Cause boys are smelly.

Car Things

Things I have in my car:

1. An umbrella. And yet I still always forget to take it with me when it rains while I'm walking around (or conversely, it never rains during the times I remember to grab it). I guess what I'm saying is that I've been wet a lot this week.
2. Bath and Body Work's "Autumn" car freshener. Sometimes when I'm smelling the crisp, sweet, earthiness that it bastes my car in, I take the time to contemplate how God has blessed us through this store. Nothing smells bad in there. Nothing. I could go into the store looking for a present for someone, close my eyes and grab anything, and the person would love it because it smells amazing.
3. A bunch of clothes more suitable for summer. I know I should get those tank tops and shorts out of there and replace them with jeans and sweatshirts, but the chances are high that as soon as I do that the weather will shoot to 87 degrees on a day where I decided to wear my long-sleeved polo and ugly pants to work in the morning, thus leaving me with nothing suitable to change into. Thus my hesitation.
4. A pair of earrings. Maybe someday I'll be sitting in my car looking at what I'm wearing and say, "Shoot, I forgot earrings!" and then look down and there they'll be, all perfect and convenient. These are my dreams.
5. Car charger and auxiliary input cable. The only team you need for listening to music in your car. Well I mean you need a stereo that has an auxiliary input plug. And an mp3 player of some kind (like a Zune...just kidding, who doesn't have an iPod?). Anyway.

Things I need to put in [or on] my car:

1. My string dolls. Shut up, one's an outlaw and one's a pirate with a thumbtack peg leg and they'll be magical protective talismans (talismen?) once I hang them on my mirror. You're jealous.
2. Stickers. Lots and lots of dorky, clever, bumper stickers. Right now all I have is the Covenant Fellowship 25th anniversary magnet, which isn't even a sticker it's a magnet. But it is awesome.
3. Cold weather clothes. I think it would be wise for me to keep at least one full outfit in my car for emergencies, and it would probably be helpful if the outfit wasn't a tank-top, shorts, and flip-flops like it is right now. The wisdom in this is pretty much proved to be vast by point #1 in my first list.
4. A towel. Because of the rain. And my ineptitude surrounding that particular life situation.
5. A blanket. This is an extremely useful thing to have lying around your car. It's like a Swiss Army knife, only bigger. You can use it to cover the ground if you spontaneously have a picnic; you can use it as a curtain or something if you desperately need to change in your car (like, if you for some reason got soaking wet walking to your car and had a towel and a nice, dry, warm set of clothes beckoning you from the back seat...theoretically); and I can personally attest to the fact that when you are a passenger driving with someone on a cold autumn's/winter's morning/day/night having a blanket is literally the best thing ever. 
6. A snuggie. So I can drive and still experience some of the wonder of the last point made in #4.
7. A first-aid kit. I'm thinking I want to make one myself. That way the band-aids will be Batman band-aids, and it will include essentials that most manufacturers are remiss in omitting, like stickers and lollipops (but not butterscotch ones, those are gross).
8. Snacks. As the semester progresses I'm falling into this habit of not eating. I don't know how or why this is happening.
9. I dunno, like, survival stuff I guess. Like...water. And road flares, or something. Dehydrated food?

If I plan right I should be able to live semi-comfortably out of my car should some disaster strike. Like, I dunno, the zombie apocalypse. I can drive through the desolate country-side, keeping my Bath and Body Work's car freshener close to my nose to obscure the scent of rotting corpses and stagnating society; I'll comfort myself with songs I used to listen to in highschool--when life was simple and unterrifying--and old PDI worship songs using my car charger and AI cable; at nights I will curl into a ball in the back seat, wrapping my blanket around my body like a protective shell, using my snuggie as both a pillow and to drown out the distant moans of hunting zombies; when I come across survivors I shall do what I can for them, sharing water and dehydrated food, and aiding the wounded with my Batman band-aids. I'll even have at least one extra outfit to change into! I'll probably last like a whole two weeks like that. Maybe three. After that I'll probably starve, or get beaten to death by looters when they break into my car to steal my magical string doll talismen.

Of course since a Facebook quiz assures me I'll only survive at most the first five months after the original cataclysm, I think that's okay.

Things Meagan Recommends

1. Tea without sugar. It's very refreshing. And you get the benefit of the pure taste of delicious tea with the added bonus of feeling like a European demi-god or something similar.
2. Andrew Bird. Specifically his albums Armchair Apocrypha and Noble Beasts/Useless Creatures--perfect summer music.
3. Not thinking a lot of yourself. Specifically this is important when you're trying to hold a funny face your making at someone. If you think a lot of yourself, you'll probably start thinking about how funny the face is, and then you'll laugh at your own hilariousness and consequently ruin the face--probably before the person you're making said face at sees it. And then the whole thing is just ruined. Humility is key in many things, and one of them is pulling off a good funny.
4. Walking around in bare feet. For two reasons: the first is that if you do this frequently you'll never have to experience the shame of going for a walk around the neighborhood and getting debilitating blisters on the pads of your feet because your delicate kid glove princess feet can't handle the abrasive friction of asphalt for longer than ten yards; the second is, obviously, that you'll become a hobbit.
5. Diana Wynne Jones. One of my favorite authors; she's creative, clever, hilarious, and prolific, which is an excellent combination of traits. If you like reading fantasy remotely, you'll like her. If you like fairy tales, you'll like her. If you like witticism, you'll like her.
6. Keeping up with your devotions--even in the summer. I'm dry as bones right now. Le sigh.
7. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. If you like mysteries, writing that makes you want to dog-ear every page, drama, Jane Eyre, reading, reading about reading, or reading books that are good, your mind will be blown by this book.

On an unrelated note, I actually set up that creative blog I've been ruminating about for about a year and a half. It's right here. At this point you get semi-recent things I've already written, nothing new. I've been thinking about using the 100 themes challenge as a catalyst for subject material, but I'd also really benefit from any suggestions you have, dear readers, and hearing what you'd like to see. If you stop by I'd love feedback.

Harry Potter 7.2 Thursday at midnight. I wonder if this will be anything like the first time I saw The Return of the King (that would be embarrassing).

I'm Back--Sort of

You know what I don't understand? The letter G. It's all silly looking and weird; and it for some reason feels like being the only letter in the English alphabet that can make the sound it does isn't enough and therefore it must mug J for its sound every once in a while. G is all, "Hm, 'garage'...oh man, I got so exhausted making the 'guh' sound at the beginning of that word. Plus I always end up sounding like someone punched me in the stomach. I think I'll make the 'juh' sound for the next one--that's not weird or confusing, right? It's cool, it's not gonna make first-graders cry from frustration as they struggle to grasp the purpose of it, right? Right!" Meanwhile J is like, "Come on, this is all I have! So I can act like a Y or even an H in foreign countries--WE'RE SPEAKING AMERICAN HERE, G. For flips sake!"

Conversely, you know what the most awesome letter is? Q. No matter what font it's wearing it looks like an ancient rune or a military insignia from Star Trek, and is always all, "Hey, man, I'm pretty much whatever you want me to be...check this out, I can make 'queue' just say my name! How awesome is that, it's like six letters, but still only one syllable. Booyah."

Also the vowels are the elitist clique of the alphabet world, and the IPA are the gods of all the alphabets.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

The first fifteen minutes of Gladiator, an entire recent conversation with (the glorious and beautiful) Olivia Stout, and three school assignments in as many days have all been completely wiped from my memory.

(Well, to be fair, the memory-wipage of the school assignments wasn't complete so much as it was utter-until-my-professors-brought-it-up. And boy did that damage my calm.)

The other week, I was sitting next to my friend in the computer lab. She sneezed, and I didn't say "Bless you." A few minutes later, I sneezed and she didn't say "Bless you" (although the girl behind me did). I felt a lot less guilty and a pleasant sense of balance was restored to our friendship.

That's basically the story of my life this semester.

Thank God He's controlling my life; what said life would look like if it were solely up to me inspires the utmost of horror.

Archives Advent Extravaganza Day THE END--IT'S CHRISTMAS, WHY ARE YOU ON A LAME BLOG RIGHT NOW?!

HEAVENS TO BETSY GUYS IT'S CHRISTMAS, GUYS, IT'S CHRISTMAS HERE'S YOUR PRESENTS.

This is probably the most epic blog post I've ever read. Definitely the most epic blog post I've read on SCL.


My favorite scene from a Christmas movie.


Possibly my favorite Sufjan song, "Get Behind Me, Santa!"


Fantasia forever!


Our Christmas Eve tradition is to watch this movie.

Another tradition is to read this book. My daddy always cries; I love him.


"Christmas Time" by Phil Wickham (y'all need to go on his website right now and buy this album).

Got this off of Deviantart. Because I like interesting art.


More Sufjan: "The Friendly Beasts" featuring Shara Worden!


Julian Smith--he made this for you.






Geeze, I hope I didn't break the internet with all the stuff I have in this post...

Merry Christmas!

Archives Advent Extravaganza Day 23-24--Christmas Eve!

We always used to called December 23rd "Christmas Adam." We were really quite cool.

An example of why Psych is made of awesome:



I never believed in Santa, but it's never almost been Christmas until I watched this video:



T-1! Happy Christmas Eve!