Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My dear friend Wendy is always forcing me to read kid books. She's a middle school reading teacher and future librarian who thinks everyone ought to love hanging around in the Young Adult section of Barnes & Noble with the zitty and emotional folks over there. Every time I open a gift from her containing (or an email recommending) another angsty tweenager novel, I have to sigh.

But here's my terrible confession: she's always right. (AACCKKK!!! Don't tell her I said that.) The stuff she sends me is always terrific and definitely worthy of appreciation in its own right by adults rather than just as kiddie novels for sweaty 7th graders with braces. Not one of them ever involves talking to God about your period (not that I didn't love that book as a middle schooler).

The current object of my chagrin is the second book in a series by Suzanne Collins. Wendy gave the first book, The Hunger Games, for Christmas and I read it in about 3 days. It was a fascinating little piece of sci-fi thriller wherein the main character just happens to be a teenage girl. I'm sure that if the author had been Dean Koontz and the protagonist a man, thousands of middle aged men would be feverishly reading this book on airplanes all over America. Here's Scholastic's synopsis of the book, etc. Even Stephen King liked it! And Stephanie Meyer! I liked it, too.

The Hunger Games is supposed to be the first in a trilogy of books, the second being Catching Fire, and the third due out in August of 2010. Having enjoyed The Hunger Games a great deal, I headed out immediately after Christmas with my gift cards and bought Catching Fire, even though it's still only in hardcover - how's that for return readership?!

Once again, I just read it straight through in a couple of days. Talk about page-turners, they are definitely zippy reads. Collins doesn't really dig deep into the philosophical, political, or social issues she raises (fascist dictatorship as mood lighting), but I find myself thinking about the characters and the plot even after I move on to reading another book. The love triangle is a bit tiring, but then again I'm not 17 years old. It's obvious who Katniss (the heroine) is in love with, and he happens to be the most rational choice considering the circumstances, so for her to go on fretting about what to do is a drag. She should just choose and let the plot line deal with the fallout of her choice instead of trying to draw out an easy decision. I gather that the main concept of this book has been done before in adult fiction (although I haven't ever read any of those novels), I'm constantly impressed with the author's creativity when it comes to the details of her dystopian nation and it's reality show competition. The Hunger Games arena in Catching Fire is extremely clever and I'm always curious for more details about the other Districts.

On the other hand, I do hate trilogies - damn the publishing companies and their greediness - with their silly cliffhangers and the eons it takes for them to crank out the next book in the series. And middle installments are always a bummer, beginning after a great deal of the action has already taken place and ending before anything really good happens and questions are answered. If I hadn't already started on these books, I'd just wait until next August when the conclusion comes out and then read them all at once. As it is, I'll probably be lurking around Borders with the girls next summer, shelling out a fortune to snatch up the third novel in hardcover so I can finally find out how it all ends.

Until then, what's the hot new book in the lunch room, Wen? I can't wait.

First Post

New idea, new blog. I read a lot and I think things about what I read and my girls aren't very interested in any of it, so I need an outlet. Here it is.

I've got a post about Catching Fire in the works. Be back tomorrow.