The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is an utterly compelling YA Dystopian novel from author Suzanne Collins.

The book is set in the future, when the world has been largely destroyed by an environmental disaster that has changed the face of the planet forever. More specifically, it is set in what used to be North America, now known as Panem, a country of 12 Districts all ruled by The Capitol. The Capitol is an oppressive government, forcing the people of the Districts in poverty while they consume the bulk of what the Districts produce. In punishment for past uprising by the Districts against The Capitol, The Capitol has given the people of Panem the Hunger Games. But what are these Hunger Games?

"The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins."

The Hunger Games is a first person narrative, written from the perspective of a teenage girl by the name of Katniss from District 12, the coal mining District. Katniss and her family live in poverty in the Seam, relying on Katniss’s hunting skills to supplement their meagre diet provided by the Capitol. When Katniss’s younger sister Prim is chosen as District 12’s tribute, Katniss steps up to take her place. She is soon joined by a young man by the name of Peeta, someone to whom she and her family owe their lives.

What follows is the story of Katniss and Peeta’s experiences leading up to, during and following the Hunger Games (that’s not a spoiler – this is the first of a trilogy after all!). A large part of the story that follows deals with the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, Katniss’s best friend. Both young men are in love with Katniss and Katniss loves both of them in return, but is unable to determine which she has more genuine feelings for. It is this element of the story that is certainly the most teenage part of the book.

Having said that, although The Hunger Games might be marketed to a young adult audience, this is equally a book for adult readers of all types.

One of the things I was most impressed with was the way in which Collins brings to life her characters and emphasises those personal attributes that should be admired. For what is essentially a plot driven YA novel, she did this incredibly well. There were so many different layers to the various characters which meant as a reader I could connect with each of them in different ways. Collins explores loyalty, courage, morals, family, love and much much more.

But where Suzanne Collins really excelled, and what I think adult readers will appreciate the most, are the themes that run through the book. There are so many adult themes that run through this book that I couldn’t possibly hope to deal with them all. These themes include social inequality, poverty and political hype/power. A lot of these were explored through the contrast between the lives and lifestyles of those in the Capitol and the lives and lifestyles of those in the Districts. The decadence of the first and poverty and starvation in the second.

What resonated most for me was Collins exploration of the power of the media and more specifically, the prevalence of reality television, in today’s society. What are the Hunger Games? It is children killing other children, but more than this, it is entertainment for the masses. To win the Hunger Games Katniss has to kill the other children, but she also has to win over the audience as the producers in charge of the television event manipulate their environment, exercising ultimate control over what happens within the arena and to the contestants. They are not children, they are contestants. It isn’t life or death, it’s entertainment. It isn’t manipulation of viewers and contestants alike, it is ‘reality’. People are so desensitised to violence that they can watch these events without blinking and without questioning.

Clearly our current western society doesn’t stoop to such lows, but in reading The Hunger Games you can’t help but reflect on our own reality and the role that the media plays in our lives. To what extent are we manipulated in the way that the populace in The Hunger Games are manipulated? Why do we allow it? Where will it end for us?


All I can really say is that The Hunger Games is so much more than you might expect. I was completely carried away by this book; I couldn’t put it down during the day and I was dreaming about it at night. It’s a little like a young adult version of Orwell’s 1984. Not as well written, not as complex, but just as clever in its use of the future to explore today’s society.

8 / 8

One of the best books I have ever read. Everyone should read it - it is totally amazing. I am in love.

I would love to know if other people enjoyed it as much as I did? Has anyone been avoiding the series because of the hype and do you think that you could possiblyh rethink your decision?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: An Introduction

The last few books I read last year were those that comprise The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins; The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  

These came at a perfect time for me. I had just about given up on the idea that I was going to be able to read anything new until the baby was born. Then I tried The Hunger Games and I was absolutely hooked from the very first moment.

What inspired me to read them was the fact that movie will soon be released here in Australia and the shorts looked really exciting. Like many avid readers, I do like to read the book before I see the movie where ever possible. Turns out, it was a brilliant decision.

This series has everything in it that I love, which I will elaborate on further in my reviews.

What I plan to do is review each book in turn and then have a post at the end where I sum up some of my broader thoughts about the trilogy as a whole.

What I did want to say though is this – don't be a book snob. Don't be one of those people who don't read a book simply because of the hype. Sometimes there is hype for a good reason, and that is the case with The Hunger Games trilogy. I have recommended this book to 3 of my close friends, 1 of whom has completely the opposite taste to me, and all 3 have said that these are some of the most exciting and enjoyable books they have read.

I know everyone has individual taste, but I really can't emphasise enough that these are books where I recommend you put aside any prejudices you might have, be brave, and give them a go.

The vast majority of you won't regret it.

My new little baby has finally arrived!

Here he is - my beautiful little boy Rafael. 

We were admitted to the hospital on a Monday because I was very unwell and finally after lots of complications I had an emergency c-section on the Thursday morning and out emerged my bubba!

We were in hospital for 9 days but are finally home. 

Things are going well. I am so delirious with exhaustion I barely know what my name is, only getting between 4 and 6 hours sleep an evening in 2 or 3 lots of sleep. 

But it is all worth it. He is so cute that we can't stop staring at him and kissing his little cheeks.He looks almost identical to me when I was born which was a really nice surprise. He does have his Dad's ears and forwn though :-) 

I doubt Ill be around here for a while yet, but hopefully I'll be able to catch up with you all over the internet when I am back in action.

Review: The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club is a detective/mystery series much like The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in many respects, although set in Edinburgh.

In this book we have another female protagonist, Isabel Dalhousie, who is a philosopher and the editor of The Journal of Applied Ethics. She has a strong sense of morals and greatly allows this to influence her interactions with other people. In The Sunday Philosophy Club, this moralistic tendency causes her to involved herself in a mystery when she witnesses a man fall from the dress circle at an orchestra performance. In investigating the fall, she discovers possible links to insider trading at various Edinburgh financial institutions. Is this what has lead to the death of the falling man, or is the solution closer to home?

In The Sunday Philosophy Club McCall Smith delivered what most murder mysteries of this type deliver; an easy read and a mystery with a range of suspects for the reader to choose from. Having said that, The Sunday Philosophy Club was definitely on the dull side.

Isabel was far too particular for me to really connect with, or even to like very much. She came across as a stiff middle aged woman who thought that because she had studied philosophy she was on some sort of moral higher ground to the people around her.

For me, this quote embodies the boring person that Isabel is:

"She went into the larder and retrieved the ingredients for a risotto she would make for Cat and Toby. The recipe called for porcini mushrooms, and she had a supply of them, tied up in a muslin bag. Isabel took a handful of the dried fungus, savouring the unusual odour, shark and salty, so difficult to classify. Yeast extract? She would soak them for half an hour and then use the darkened liquid they produced to cook the rice."

Excuse me while I snooze.

The plot involving the falling man wasn't as compelling as it could have been. The solution to the puzzle wasn't revealed until the final few pages of the book and it came very suddenly and unexpectedly. Personally, I found it a bit of a let down. The solution made me feel as though McCall Smith had been wasting my time for most of the book.

In The Sunday Philosophy Club there was also a subplot involving Isabel's niece Cat and Cat's love life. I found this subplot a little strange. What was its purpose? What did it add to the book, if anything? Not much I would have to say.

I had a rather sad suspicion that McCall Smith wrote The Sunday Philosophy Club as a means of airing his own inner philosophical ponderings. Some of these ponderings weren't even particularly unique. For example, Isabel at one stage finds herself having a conversation with a random man on the street about why he is dressed the way he is, that is, in black clothes with holes in his pants, safety pins, lots of piercings etc. His response is something to the effect of he wants to avoid being labelled as normal or part of the mainstream. This leaves Isabel to question whether he isn't just rejecting one label for another and whether this defeats his purpose. Haven't we heard that before a million times? I have. Here's another example:

"The answer, surely, is that lying in general is wrong, but that some lies, carefully identified as the exception, will be permissible. There were, therefore, good lies and bad lies, with good lies being uttered for a benevolent reason (to protect the feelings of another, for example). If somebody asked one's opinion of a newly acquired – but tasteless – possession, for instance, and one gave an honest answer, then that could hurt feelings and deprive the other of the joy of ownership. So one lied, and praised it, which was surely the right thing to do. Or was it? Perhaps it was not as simple as that. If one became accustomed to lying in such circumstances, the line between truth and falsehood could become blurred."

To me, it's just thoughts that we have heard before, and that weren't particularly interesting to begin with.

My final though is in relation to the title of the book – The Sunday Philosophy Club. I have no idea where this title came from or how it even remotely relates to the story. In the book, Isabel does mention being the founding member of a group of people called the Sunday Philosophy Club – but that is as far as it goes. The group plays no role in the story and as far I could tell from the few mentions it received, the group of people had never even met each other. Why on earth it is the title I have no idea.

This review is perhaps a little harsher than I meant it to be. The book was harmless and easy to read. It just needed a more sympathetic protagonist, a little more action and a little less philosophical pondering to improve it.

There are more books in this series. I will read them if I even come across them for cheap at Vinnie's or a garage sale, but I couldn't honestly say that I will be rushing out to buy them.

4.5 / 8

Alright. Worth reading if you get the chance, but don't prioritise it. 

If you have read it, were you a little disappointed by this book? Are you sometimes disappointed when what seems like it has potential to be an interesting and fun read falls short of your expectations? What was the last book that did that for you?

Review: Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

It's time for the truth: I am not a fan of Shakespeare. I am still traumatised by being made to read his plays in High School when I could have reading many more cooler and more interesting books (to my teenage mind). The hangover from this is that the thought of reading Shakespeare still sends shudders down my spine.

Bill Bryson, on the other hand, I love. His books usually have me laughing out loud on public transport and at other inappropriate places and times.

So when I saw a book entitled Shakespeare by Bill Bryson I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to learn something about one of the greatest known playwrights, while being amused by a funny writer, and without having to read a Shakespeare play.

Fortunately, I was right, and it was a great read.

What's clever about this book is that Bryson isn't trying to teach us everything there is to know about Shakespeare. Instead he seems determined to convey how little we know about and how little we can know about him. Everything from how he looked to how is really spelled his name is a mystery. I learnt that there are only a few surviving samples of Shakespeare's signature, and not one of them is spelled the same as any of the others and none of them are spelt in the manner that we are accustomed to seeing his name written now.

Bryson points out that as we know so little about the man, academics and scholars have instead largely concentrated on what it is possible to know about Shakespeare's plays:

"Faced with a wealth of text but a poverty of context, scholars have focused obsessively on what they can know. They have counted every word he wrote, logged every dib and jot. They can tell us (and have done so) that Shakespeare's works contain 138,198 commas, 26,794 colons, and 15,785 question marks; that ears are spoken of 401 times in his plays; that dunghill is used 10 times and dullard twice; that his characters refer to love 2,259 times but to hate just 183 times; that he used damned 105 times and bloody 226 times, but bloody-minded only twice; that he wrote hath 2,069 times but has just 409 times; that all together he left us 884,647 words, made up of 31,959 speeches, spread over 118,406 lines".

Essentially what Bryson does in Shakespeare is to concentrate on sharing interesting facts about we can know about Shakespeare's writing and what we do know about the times in which he lived. This includes matters such as transport, town planning and dress.

Bryson uses these observations and historical facts in two ways. The first is to attempt to draw possible conclusions about what Shakespeare himself was like and what his life may have been like. He also, however, uses facts that can be gleaned from Shakespeare's work to draw possible conclusions about what life in England must have been like. So, we find interesting facts such as this:

"Pronunciations, too, were often very different from today's. We know from Shakespeare that knees, grease, grass and grace all rhymed (at least more or less), and that he could pun reason with raison and Rome with room. The first hundred or so lines of Venus and Adonis offer such striking rhyme pairs as satiety and variety, fast and haste, bone and gone, entreats and frets, swears and tears, hear and get. Elsewhere plague is rhymed with wage, grapes with mishaps, Calais with chalice (the French town was often spelled 'Callis' or 'Callice')."

Bryson does all of this with his characteristic sense of humour; poking fun at the extent of scholarly attention the minutiae of Shakespeare's writing has received, as well as at some of the conclusions these scholars have reached based on what little primary evidence there is about the man himself.

This includes of course the conjecture around whether Shakespeare was really the author of his own plays. Bryson dedicates an entire chapter to these theories at the end of the book. This chapter, in fact, is really dedicated to making fun of the various theories about who might really have authored the plays and was one of the funniest chapters in the book.

This isn't Bryson's most humorous book but if you, like me, enjoy a good chuckle and aren't so fussed about Shakespeare, this is a great introduction to the life and times (or what we can know of them) of a great playwright.

6 / 8

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it

I would love to know if you enjoyed this book in the same way that I did? I admit, that I can perhaps see that fans of Shakespeare might find Bryson's light hearted attitude a little irritating at times.

Review: The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

The first book in Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri detective series, The Case of the Missing Servant, sounded fun and promising. With a quote like this on the back "If Mma Ramotswe is an African Marple, Puri is an Indian Poirot…" I didn't think I could go wrong.

Here's a taste of what you can expect from this book: "Meet Vish Puri, India's most private investigator. Portly, persistent and unmistakably Punjabi, he cuts a determined swathe through modern India s swindlers, cheats and murderers. In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centres and malls are changing the ancient fabric of Indian life, Puri s main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family priests. But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puri s resources to investigate. How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking pot shots at him and his prize chilli plants? And why is his widowed Mummy-ji attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows Mummies are not detectives? With his team of undercover operatives Tubelight, Flush and Facecream Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection established in India more than two thousand years ago -- long before that Johnny-come-lately Sherlock Holmes donned his Deerstalker. The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From his well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, Puri's adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity."

I really enjoyed this book. It was everything it promised to be.

The mystery was exactly that – quite a mystery. There were many twists and subplots that kept me entertained and it was interesting to watch it all unfold and see the roles that the individuals in the story each played in the resolution.

Hall was also able to work into his story the many different ways of life within India, from the slums to the middle and upper classes. I imagine that what I read was an accurate portrayal of the lives of many people in India (I say imagine because I have never been there).

If I sound like I am holding back a bit it is because of this: there was nothing original about this book. I know I know. What kind of originality could I possibly expect of a book of this nature? It's been done before; Puri is just a new character in a very well defined literary tradition.

I suppose I didn't expect it to be quite as unoriginal as I felt it was. In my mind I couldn't help but compare it with Shamini Flint's Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder. This is a very similar book I read in 2011 that I still felt added something new in a way that The Case of the Missing Servant failed to do. Puri was a bit too close to Poirot for comfort, everything from the round body to the perfect moustache and the affected manners. This may have been done deliberately but it turned me off a little bit I have to admit.

Having said that, please don't let this turn you off the book. It was a very compelling read, with larger than life characters, mystery and heartbreak. For people who enjoy this genre, this is certainly a series you won't regret reading.

5.5 / 8

Enjoyable. I would recommend it.

Do you think I am being a bit harsh expecting something a bit more original from a book like this?



Happy Australia Day! You know you're Australian if......

I know it's a day late but happy belated Australia Day.  I found this on someone else's blog and couldn't help but laugh. It certainly coinjures up images that wouldn't apply to all Australian's by a long shot, but it's still worth sharing with you all. 

You know you're Australian if....

* You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.

* You're liable to burst out laughing whenever you hear of Americans "rooting" for something.

* You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'. You believe the 'L' in the word 'Australia' is optional.

* You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'

* You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.

* You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.

* You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.

* You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.

* You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.

* You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread. You've also squeezed it through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.

* You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.

* Beetroot with your Hamburger... Of course.

* You believe that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.

* You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.

* You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, While 'scuse me' is always polite.

* You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.

* You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.

* Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.

* You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'.

* You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'.

* When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.

* You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo etc.

* You know that there is a universal place called "woop woop" located in the middle of nowhere...no matter where you actually are. *

* You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes like shit. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.

* You have some time in your life slept with Aeroguard on in the summer. Maybe even as perfume.

* You've only ever used the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you REALLY mean it.

* You know that the barbecue is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the Salad. (sad, but true in my experience)

* You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not.

* You understand what no wucking furries means.

* You've drank your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam.

* You own a Bond's chesty. In several different colours.

* You know that roo meat tastes pretty good, But not as good as barra. Or a meat pie.

* You know that some people pronounce Australia like "Straya" and that's ok.

All questions welcome if you need something explained!!