nomadreader

It's so nice to be Salon-ing two weekends in a row. I'm planning to hunker down at home today, as even my cold-weather-loving self finds single-digit temperatures when the sun is out quite cold. While I should  run a few errands, when facing a two-day work week, it's easy to find reasons to just stay home and read This is the Story of a Happy Marriage  by Ann Patchett, one of my favorite authors. I've read some of its essays before, but I'm still enjoying them again. Look for my review on December 10th. On Catching Fire Yesterday, Mr. Nomadreader and I had a rare day off together. Even more rare: it was a Saturday. We celebrated by having a delicious brunch at Le Jardin , a recently resurrected Des Moines restaurant. In typical Des Moines fashion, we ran into friends and acquaintances while we were there. Then we headed to the mall (the horror!) and enjoyed a few martinis before settling in for an afternoon showing of Catching Fire.  I adored the book when I r...

  This review contains spoilers because honestly, you've either already read it or don't really care, but in the event you do care, please be warned: I will spoil the hell out of this book. The backstory: I liked The Hunger Games ( my review ) and absolutely adored Catching Fire ( my review ), so I was quite excited to see how Suzanne Collins would end this trilogy, even though I don't read very much young adult literature any more. My thoughts: I've waited a week to write this review because I wanted some time to calm down and fairly articulate why I hated this book . I'm not sure a week helped, but after writing this review in my dreams for hours last night, I'm ready. On structure: I was riveted by this novel for the first 85% of it. I read all of its 400 pages in one day. How can a book go from something so lovely to something so horrible so quickly? I'm still not sure. I enjoyed the structure of this novel. I think Collins intentionally mo...

Thursday night, Mr. Nomadreader and I took a little road trip down to Millerton, New York to see Suzanne Collins at Oblong Books . We drove down a little early and had a wonderful lunch at Harney and Sons , a gourmet tea shop. We got to Oblong a little over an hour before the signing, and we were rewarded with a number oh so very close to the front of the line . We all sat on the floor to listen to Suzanne read, and I was thrilled she first read from Catching Fire , which I adored. Next she read the opening pages of Mockingjay , and I was amazed how many in the audience hadn't read it yet (I mean, it had been out for two days already--kidding!) After the reading, the line started moving quite quickly. We had our book stamped and were back outside to enjoy a beautiful day before 5:30 p.m. We stayed in Millerton for a phenomenal dinner at Manna Dew and toasted the last night of my 20's. All in all, it was a wonderful night, even though (I confess) I didn't like Mo...

Catching Fire  is the sequel (and second in a trilogy ) to The Hunger Games ,  which I liked, but I didn't love . After reading Catching Fire , I like The Hunger Games  more. I won't spoil The Hunger Games  for you if you haven't read it (and if you haven't, you really should.) The things that bothered me in the first book (the half-hearted romance and the lack of depth and a greater message) were my favorite parts of book two. The romance was beautifully written and perfectly placed within the drama instead of as an aside. There is depth and a greater message. If book three continues these trends, it will be an amazing, fully realized trilogy of dystopian literature. Knowing the depth of Catching Fire  makes me appreciate what I took as the simplicity of The Hunger Games  as the subtleness and groundwork for the trilogy. The restraint Suzanne Collins showed is amazing. The Hunger Games  felt like young adult literature, but Catching Fire didn't. Yes...

The Hunger Games is the first book in a dystopian young adult trilogy. The setting is Panem, a country of 12 districts in what was once the United States. To remind its citizens of their power, the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games each year. Through a lottery, one boy and one girl from each district are selected to fight it out until one only person survives. The Hunger Games is intense and harrowing from the opening pages. The story is told from the perspective of Kitniss, a 16-year-old girl who had taken on the responsibility of hunting to feed her family after her father died. Kitniss is simultaneously vulnerable and strong, and I really liked her. I read The Hunger Games during the readathon, and it was perfect for the occasion. I could not put it down. When I did finish it, however, I had to give pause. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, it lacked the depth and message to truly make it a great book. I also found the romantic love triangle storyline annoying; it came out ...