Another Set of Good Reads...

ChristyACB · #1 01/31/11, 12:20 PM

...for you all.

I know we pass around titles of books related to our prepper common interest and almost all of them have to start with some event. The others start as dystopian scenarios. So, of course Amazon keeps giving me recommendations based on my love of dystopias. LOL.

Anyway, I kept ingnoring this one until I got my kindle and then I zapped it download and WOW. Supposedly this book is written for teens but I would really hesistate to give it to a teen.

It has something like 1700 reviews and most are by adults so I'm guessing it isn't just me that likes it.

Anyway, it is by Suzanne Collins and the first book in the trilogy is called The Hunger Games. The second is Catching Fire and the third is Mockingjay.

Really great. Not prepping specific, but it is a dystopic look at a future US and how they are forced to live with..of course, something horrific called the Hunger Games as the moving focus of the book.

I was glued to the book, didn't do much else for 2 days while I read all three books and I still can't stop thinking about it.

Anyone else ready them?
Here is my review if you want more info:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGSW4...tag=&linkCode=

Would love to hear from anyone else who read them.

anniew · #2 01/31/11, 01:43 PM

not the spelling police, but I couldn't find dystopic in my dictionary...are you referring to dystropic which means imperfect or faulty nutrition?
Those books sound interesting.

ChristyACB · #3 01/31/11, 02:10 PM

Hello spelling police:

Dystopia - dys·to·pi·a /dɪsˈtoʊpiə/ Show Spelled
[dis-toh-pee-uh] Show IPA

–noun
a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.
Use dystopia in a Sentence
See images of dystopia
Search dystopia on the Web
Compare utopia.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1865–70; dys- + (u)topia

—Related forms
dys·to·pi·an, adjective
dys·to·pi·an·ism, noun

Dystopic: A medical term with increasing common usage associated with the word Dystopia(n).

***

Is that all you could find to respond to? Nothing about the books themselves? I did use the word...dystopia...so did the additional use of Dystopic after that throw you off? Or you only were interested in the common use of the word rather than the post?

#4 01/31/11, 02:29 PM

Back to the subject at hand. The Kinder Major's English teacher tried to interest her in reading them as she's as much a bibliophile as the rest of the family but she found them to be too violent for her taste. This is junior high school age. Adults might not find them to be that way, but as I understand it they were written for the young adult market.

Disaster fiction I like, but dystopias don't do it for me. I spend more time trying to think of ways to overthrow the system than I do actually reading the story.

Cindy in NY · #5 01/31/11, 02:49 PM

One of my sisters teaches 7th grade English and these were some of the books they read as a class. She said the kids really like them.

ChristyACB · #6 01/31/11, 02:54 PM

I hear what you're saying with the kid thing. I wouldn't have even considered they would be grown up material because of the labeling, but I was surprised and really enjoyed them.

I would seriously hesitate giving them to a junior high kid. Far, far too mature in theme and certainly too much violence in terms of concept at least.

I think the word choice and level (which is what makes it teen reading) is really appropriate for this story. The main character has had little schooling and thinks the direct thoughts of someone whose had to fight to survive since early childhood. The word choices really match the character so it worked for me.

It was a bit like reading "An incident with a dog in the nightime" (or something like that) which is written from the perspective of a person with autism. The word choices just matched the charcter in the same way.

barefootflowers · #7 01/31/11, 03:04 PM

Both of my daughter's have read the whole series. They're between 15-18 yrs old. I don't remember how long ago the first one came out, but they were an immediate hit with my kids as well as their friends. I guess like anything else it just depends on the maturity level of the reader in question. Sounds like I should give them a try. I had avoided reading it simply because I had grouped it into the "teen series" category. What's that about not judging a book by it's cover? Guilty.

beaglebiz · #8 01/31/11, 05:04 PM

Along the same lines...have you read "The Long Walk"...Stephen King (I think it was originally published under Richard Bachman

Simpler Times · #9 01/31/11, 05:27 PM

Just the other day my grandson (age 10 but with very high reading/ maturity levels was telling me about these books. A teacher at his elementary school loaned the series to him. He read them in a few days and loved them. Now I'm concerned because of the age comments on here. I'm going to read them. Thanks for bringing them up.

Loquisimo · #10 01/31/11, 07:16 PM

Teen fiction has taken a really dark, dystopic turn over the last decade. We all remember The Catcher In The Rye, written in 1951, but that was milquetoast compared to some of the stuff out there now. I think it reflects the fact that teens literally live in a much more violent world than their parents did, and parents can't keep the violence at bay, school shootings happen regularly and many young people come from homes where abuse is commonplace. In addition, the school system itself is very dystopic in a sense, teachers spend more time trying to ram communist philosophy down kids' throats than trying to actually educate them.

A lot of kids come out of the system having very little real education. The superstars get an education, kids from loving homes in wealthy suburbs. The rest can read, and can write some. Many kids never learn cursive writing, and thus never develop a signature. As for the rest, forget it. They can add and subtract. Some schools, especially in the ghettos, basically spend all their time doing reading and math drills because politicians want neat, clean statistics.

The rest of the time, they try to keep the kids under control. Most teachers are lefties, and try to imprint that onto the kids. Other than that, there's very little learning. Kids today can easily imagine living in a broken world like that in Hunger Games, or if not them then THEIR kids.

The original Hunger Games was of course the short story The Running Man, by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. I read The Running Man when I was about 16, and could relate to it, although it has adult elements that make it unsuitable for some teens, thus the attempt to "teen-ize" it. The creepy thing is, The Running Man was written around 1980, but it somewhat describes, say, Argentina today, a deindustrialized country with a degenerate citizenry who have to hustle for every dollar. Reality shows are popular on Argentine TV, for lack of funds, but Argentina has too many places to hide to make a Running Man type show feasible-most of the country is depopulated.

nebula5 · #11 01/31/11, 07:33 PM

I have read all 3, and loved them. I work in a high school library, and usually don't enjoy much YA fiction, but this trilogy seemed to appeal to both adults and teens. Most of the kids who pick up book 1 read it in a day or two, then rush right back for book 2, then 3. My own daughter read books 1 and 2 as an 8th grader; I agree they would be a bit too harsh for many younger readers.
Much prefer it to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, which is equally violent.

Honduras Trish · #12 02/14/11, 10:23 AM

Hey Christy - thanks for the recommendation. I got the books on Kindle, after hearing about them on this thread, and like you I swallowed them whole. As others here have stated, I wouldn't have my jr high or younger kids read them, but I think my older teens would enjoy them.

Thanks again for the recommendation!

ChristyACB · #13 02/14/11, 10:58 AM

I'm so glad Trish!

Had I known about the Kindle loan thing, I would have loaned them to you.

As a matter of fact, just like the other thread I just started, if anyone wants to borrow them on their kindle from me, just respond!

Simpler Times · #14 02/14/11, 04:41 PM

yes, thanks for the suggestion. I read all three. I liked the first one (the hunger games) better than the last two because of its emphasis on hunting and foraging. a couple of valuable lessons in it.

shelljo · #15 02/15/11, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

Teen fiction has taken a really dark, dystopic turn over the last decade. We all remember The Catcher In The Rye, written in 1951, but that was milquetoast compared to some of the stuff out there now. I think it reflects the fact that teens literally live in a much more violent world than their parents did, and parents can't keep the violence at bay, school shootings happen regularly and many young people come from homes where abuse is commonplace. In addition, the school system itself is very dystopic in a sense, teachers spend more time trying to ram communist philosophy down kids' throats than trying to actually educate them.

A lot of kids come out of the system having very little real education. The superstars get an education, kids from loving homes in wealthy suburbs. The rest can read, and can write some. Many kids never learn cursive writing, and thus never develop a signature. As for the rest, forget it. They can add and subtract. Some schools, especially in the ghettos, basically spend all their time doing reading and math drills because politicians want neat, clean statistics.

The rest of the time, they try to keep the kids under control. Most teachers are lefties, and try to imprint that onto the kids. Other than that, there's very little learning. Kids today can easily imagine living in a broken world like that in Hunger Games, or if not them then THEIR kids.

The original Hunger Games was of course the short story The Running Man, by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. I read The Running Man when I was about 16, and could relate to it, although it has adult elements that make it unsuitable for some teens, thus the attempt to "teen-ize" it. The creepy thing is, The Running Man was written around 1980, but it somewhat describes, say, Argentina today, a deindustrialized country with a degenerate citizenry who have to hustle for every dollar. Reality shows are popular on Argentine TV, for lack of funds, but Argentina has too many places to hide to make a Running Man type show feasible-most of the country is depopulated.

You are so off base that it boggles the mind. Teenagers have ALWAYS enjoyed this type of book. The protagonist is a teen and it's the teen who saves the world--not an adult, but the teen. It ties into their psychological development--who doesn't have a teen who's smarter than their parents? Teens feel their world is out of control, and that is reflected in these kinds of books.

Robert Cormier books were very popular 25-30 years ago and they were NOT nice, cookie cutter books. (might still be, but I haven't seen him write anything in a while.) They dealt with dark issues then--before NCLB. If you look at the history of YA literature, you'll see the common themes that have nothing to do with "leftie" teachers, but entirely with tapping into the mind thought of teenagers.

That said, I'm just starting Mockingjay today. They are extremely well written and are enjoyable. In fact, they're the type of book that makes you think about the darn thing even when you aren't reading it. I dreamed about the games last night! If a book stays in your subconscious, and even in your conscious...it's a darn good book!

ChristyACB · #16 02/15/11, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shelljo

You are so off base that it boggles the mind. Teenagers have ALWAYS enjoyed this type of book. The protagonist is a teen and it's the teen who saves the world--not an adult, but the teen. It ties into their psychological development--who doesn't have a teen who's smarter than their parents? Teens feel their world is out of control, and that is reflected in these kinds of books.

Robert Cormier books were very popular 25-30 years ago and they were NOT nice, cookie cutter books. (might still be, but I haven't seen him write anything in a while.) They dealt with dark issues then--before NCLB. If you look at the history of YA literature, you'll see the common themes that have nothing to do with "leftie" teachers, but entirely with tapping into the mind thought of teenagers.

That said, I'm just starting Mockingjay today. They are extremely well written and are enjoyable. In fact, they're the type of book that makes you think about the darn thing even when you aren't reading it. I dreamed about the games last night! If a book stays in your subconscious, and even in your conscious...it's a darn good book!

Very well said! I agree with you wholeheartedly! I didn't respond to him and glad you did. As a person reading stuff that was about nuclear war, war gaming, runaway computers...etc...in the early 80s, the darkness has always been there. It is merely the type of darkness that changes to reflect the times and not the shade.

And you're so right..it's about teen; normal teen; development into adults.