40. Mockingjay

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press e-book, 288 pages, 2010

Maryann and I had a conversation the other day that clarified my thoughts on the Hunger Games trilogy as a whole, and what I thought was its major flaw: Katniss doesn't change or grow as a character at all throughout the books. She's portrayed as kind of an unlikable personality to begin with--surly, distrustful, far less crowd-pleasing than the kind and honest Peeta--and it works in the first book when she's fighting for survival and sacrificing herself to save her sister. But in the second and third books she remains completely self-centered as the struggle she's caught up in grows bigger and bigger around her, and it's frustrating.

I disagree with Maryann on the ending; I think Katniss ended up with the right guy (trying not to spoil things here although you probably shouldn't be reading this anyway if you haven't read the book and want to). I disliked what they did with Peeta through most of the book, and I think the final chapters had a kind of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows bloodbath thing going on where characters were killed seemingly at random and their deaths were barely noticed (spoilers, highlight to read: FINNICK!!!!!! Plot-wise there was NO reason he had to die, except that he was a newlywed and that's apparently the rule in these situations. Bonus cheap drama points if his wife is pregnant. How boring and predictable.) But honestly, all this is just nitpicking the most enjoyable series I've read in quite a while. Still highly recommended.

28. Catching Fire

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press, 285 pages, 2009

I've been SO looking forward to reading this ever since I finished The Hunger Games, and it didn't disappoint. I did find the first half of the book less suspenseful than The Hunger Games, since the Games are now over and the story revolves around the victors going on tour and the rebellions that have started in the districts of Panem, but it picked up in the second half for reasons that I can't talk about because it would be a huge spoiler. I don't think I am going to know 100 percent how I feel about this book until I finish reading the third book, to be honest. It did start to seem less like the author had created a complex world and was working within its bounds and more like she was just pulling out all the tricks in the book to create suspense, but shit, it worked.

Next up: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

23. The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Scholastic ePub edition, 275 pages, 2008


I know you have heard this from everyone and their mom by now but oh my God this was so good. SO GOOD. In case you live under a rock, it's a dystopian YA novel in which one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts of Panem are selected as "tributes" and forced to participate in a televised battle to the death. This summary was, I'll admit, unappealing to me, but I read it anyway because of the buzz and I am completely won over. The suspense! The action! The romance! Agjsdlkgsfd! It stays far away from any kind of preachiness or political agenda, which I think was a smart move; instead it explores the choices and the sacrifices made by the tributes forced to participate in the brutal Games, all wrapped up in the most exciting adventure I've read since... I don't know, Harry Potter, maybe, but The Hunger Games sucked me in even more than that. I'm dyyyyying to read the next one but I don't want the series to end so I'm forcing myself to space it out. 


Next up: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

16. Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin
Ace Books (Penguin), 301 pages, 1969

I inherited this book from my predecessor by default, and I honestly had no intention of reading it, but I picked it up randomly off the shelf after deciding I didn't feel like reading any of the (many) books I'd bought in Tokyo. I think I had a vague idea that I should try reading some sci-fi to fulfill my goal of reading a wider variety of genres; I don't know. But outside of the dystopian classics (Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451), it's the first sci-fi I've ever read, and I LOVED it. LOOOOOVED it. It was one of a very few books I've read this year that was completely engrossing (A Wild Sheep Chase was another, and maybe Revolutionary Road), and I know that's such a cliche, but I'm finding that very few books actually fit that description. For hours a day I just immersed myself in this world that the author created. When I finished A Wild Sheep Chase, I was overcome by the urge to see Hokkaido, and when I finished Montana 1948 I added Montana to my Epic American Road Trip 2012 itinerary; obviously no such thing is possible for science fiction, so I just found myself wishing the book would never end.

Since coming to Japan I'm finding myself drawn to stories of cultural isolation, especially if they involve an element of being unable to express oneself through verbal communication (which I think is why I was so moved by The King's Speech). It's kind of crazy to compare my situation to that of a protagonist in a sci-fi novel, but in a lot of ways I related to Genly. The idea of shifgrethor (遠慮？顔を立てる？) The inability of the locals to pronounce your name? The SNOW?? For a while I even wondered if Le Guin had Japan in mind as she wrote it, although I'm sure that's just projection. Anyway, I'll definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

Next up: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho