The Hunger Games and Dragonfly

I read two books that I remember this week: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Dragonfly by Julia Golding. I loved both of them.

Dragonfly was a lot about politics, but it takes place in a fantasy land that seems to be just after the dark ages, so that makes it awesome. Politics are always better when they're fantasy, at least to me. Basically, these two people (Tashi and Ram) are from countries that are almost exact opposites. They get engaged for political reasons, to form a treaty for a better chance at winning a war. But then they get captured. At the time, they're totally not in love and hate each other. Then suddenly they're on the same side. Check it out!

I also read The Hunger Games. I'm now on the second book, about the middle, and am loving it. I can't believe some of the things that happened. Plus, I convinced my dad to read it. I am on the edge of my seat (well, not really) to see how the second turns out.

One complaint: people put spoilers on their blogs. Why? Oh my word, why do you do this? Spoilers, for those of you who don't know, are major plot points that are given away when someone is either waiting/wanting to read the book, or is in the middle of said book. Or series. Put a spoiler warning, please. If someone spoils a book for me, I refuse to comment on their blog. (Like what happened when a bunch of people blogged about Mockinjay.) If I spoil something, please tell me.

Creepy Short Stories

I read To Build A Fire by Jack London yesterday, and it was odd. I enjoyed the writing and the descriptions, but it was definitely not something I would pick for myself. My favorite character was the dog. I liked the dog's instincts. It was kind of creepy, though. It had a lot to do with death, and the main character's death, and that was part of what made it creepy. I liked the Tell Tale Heart better.

I also enjoyed writing my story with an unreliable narrator. It was so much fun - the one downside being that it was starting to give me goosebumps. I enjoy writing stories with unreliable narrators.

Reading

MEAP testing has two purposes that I can see: driving students and teachers stir crazy, and giving bored students an opportunity to read. I read two books I loved: one was Scumble by Ingrid Law, the other was the first book in the Bar Code Trilogy by Suzanne Weyn, called the Bar Code Tattoo.

Scumble was about a boy named Ledger, who gets a savvy on his thirteenth birthday (like a magical power). He has the ability to make things explode. The unfortunate thing is that he can't control it. So, he spends a crazy summer with his family at their ranch in Wyoming. There's a whole bunch of other things going on, too, involving city politics, foreclosures, and enormous butterflies.

The Bar Code Tattoo is a strange concept. It takes place in 2025, and it deals with everyone in America getting a bar code tattooed to their wrist. Kayla refuses to get one, and gets into a bit of trouble, but she finds something scary out - the bar codes contain your entire genetic code. I'm now reading the second book.

The Most Dangerous Game

What a weird short story. General Zaroff needs to be locked in a mental asylum, preferably in the 1700's when they tortured crazy people. I don't know what to think of Rainsford. He's a little odd, but I like him better than Zaroff. I do think that General Zaroff is clinically insane.

I didn't know someone could be as obsessed with hunting as General Zaroff. I enjoyed the last line of the story - it was very ironic. The story itself was very suspenseful, and had foreshadowing. I enjoyed it.

But what happened to Whitney, the other person with Rainsford?

The Odyssey - Final Post?

I finished reading the Odyssey, and I liked the ending. Odysseus finally got home, and killed all the suitors. It's kind of sad for Odysseus, though, because the suitors are really mean to him at first. Also, Penelope doesn't believe it's really Odysseus. In her defense, she hasn't seen him in twenty years. Everything is now wrapped up in the Odyssey. Homer doesn't leave the reader wondering like some modern fiction writers.

Other Fun Reading

I finished a Judy Blume book that I was reading, which I liked, but didn't love. I had found it in a bookstore in Wisconsin. It's Summer Sisters.

More exciting, I read Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls. It was amazing. In it, there's an eleven year old boy (Sam) with leukemia for the third time. His chemotherapy wasn't doing anything, and the doctors thought he had a year to live. Maybe. It's a chronicle of his lists, questions, and his journal. His best friend with leukemia, Felix, also plays a big part. I don't want to give away the ending, but many of you can guess. I cried. Worth checking out, but warning, it's a tearjerker.

Even more exciting: I have been looking for the Companion Quartet by Julia Golding series for the past eighteen months. I finally found them, and am on the fourth (and final) book. It's fantasy, about a girl (named Connie) who finds out that she is the only universal in existence. It's really hard to explain, but she is a companion to all mythical creatures, while most other members of the Society have one companion species. I like Dr. Brock, who's a Dragon Companion, for example. Ultimately, there's an evil shapeshifter named Kullervo who wants to banish all humans except for companions, who plays as the antagonist.

The Odyssey

I liked the part where Odysseus was telling his story better, but at last he's back in Ithaca. Telemachus is alive and knows who his father is, and they're plotting together to get rid of the suitors. I think it's cruel how, when Odysseus was dressed as a beggar, Antinous decided to throw things at him.

I definitely liked last week's reading better.

The Lottery

I've read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson before, for English class last year. I sort of like The Lottery, and I definitely like it better than A Good Man is Hard to Find. My favorite character is Mr. Summers, just because he's always trying to lighten the mood. I think it's a really weird story, especially since the first time I read it it was in the midst of a unit on the Salem Witch Trials. Creepy.

It's kind of like another short story I like, All Summer in A Day by Ray Bradbury, which is worth checking out on the Internet.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

In PATH, we started watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? It's loosely based on The Odyssey. Loosely. But there are some comparisons, like the fact that the main character (Ulysses Everett McGill) shares a first name with Ulysses/Odysseus. In both the movie and the book, the men are trying to find something. Odysseus wants to go home, Everett wants to find treasure. Also, there's plenty of violence in the movie - and in the book. In one scene in the movie, there's a group of women singing while doing laundry in a river. This scene is sort of like the Sirens in the Odyssey. In the movie, the singers are tempting the men, just like the Sirens. The women eventually seduce or put the men to sleep, and when they wake up, Delmar is gone. In the spot where Delmar was is a "horny toad" (as Pete put it), who Pete thinks is Delmar. This is kind of like the scene in the Odyssey where Circe turns some of Odysseus' men into pigs. There are more comparisons, but you have to find those for yourself.

Read, Read, Read

I've been reading two fiction books the past week - Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi and Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham. Girl in Blue was pretty good. It was about a girl, named Sarah Louisa, who runs away from home to join the Union Army in the Civil War, which is mostly illegal, since she's female and sixteen. She gets caught, but then there's a wonderful twist that I totally didn't expect: she becomes a spy. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't the best thing this week. Shark Girl is a book written in poetry and letters. There's a special name for this that I don't remember. The girl is a artist and a surfer. One day, she goes out surfing, and is bitten by a shark. The shark let go, but the doctors had to amputate her right arm from the elbow down. Some person is filming their kids and catches it on tape, and the tape is all over the news. The story is her recovery. Amazing book!

The Odyssey: I'm starting to like this a lot more. I like how Odysseus is telling the story to King Alcinous, so the story is told in first person. Almost the whole time this week I was comparing the Odyssey to Percy Jackson and the Olympians (especially book two). I loved the Noman thing, though it was gorier than I imagined.

A Good Man is Hard to Find: I didn't really like this short story. I loved all the foreshadowing, but it wasn't my favorite plot line. I didn't like the fact everyone dies, and I didn't like the grandmother either. The foreshadowing was brilliant, though, with the grandmother talking about the Misfit all the time. I started to wonder if the grandmother had a little bit of the ability to see the future.