Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

The second Ivy + Bean book, which I think will be my last Ivy + Bean book, because it’s not much better than the first. In this book, Bean cuts her sister Nancy’s hair as she sleeps, and honestly I just feel so sorry for Nancy and I know the books are never going to let her get her own back.

I also read John Muir’s Stickeen, which is about Muir’s walk along a glacier-top with a dog named Stickeen. At one point Muir has to inch his way along an ice bridge that crosses a massive ice chasm, chipping his path with his ice-ax because the ice bridge has eroded down to a knife-point, and he’s writing about it all chill and relaxed because he is basically the epitome of a nineteenth-century adventure hero, except in the flesh. OH JOHN MUIR. I’m amazed no one wrote dime novels about him.

What I’m Reading Now

Helen Rappaport’s Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, 1917 - A World on the Edge, which despite the somewhat awkward nesting subtitles proves to be absorbing. It’s compiled from the reports of foreign reporters who were in Petrograd at the outbreak of the revolution, and it’s fascinating to see the city descending into anarchy - and the patchiness of it; some streets are totally quiet, and people are going about their business standing in queues for bread, and a few streets over there’s a machine gun on the roof and protesters standing below shooting back at it with guns they stole from a police station they robbed earlier that day.

I’ve also started The Hunger Games! Why didn’t I do this years ago? They’re in the Capitol now, and Katniss is all “This is the best food I’ve ever eaten,” and also “I HATE YOU ALL SO MUCH.”

Like seriously, I’m surprised the judges didn’t start conspiring to have her eliminated as soon as she shot the roast suckling pig on their buffet. This is surely a sign of unacceptably rebellious attitudes.

ALSO THE PARADE SCENE, OH MY GOD. All the tributes paraded through the Capitol in their ridiculous fancy clothing, and Katniss and Peeta wearing clothes that are literally on fire. I love the combination of glitziness and underlying horror.

What I Plan to Read Next

Clearly I’ll have to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

THE HUNGER GAMES I KNOW

I'm not mad at myself for not trying to read it years ago, because I think I needed to be in a certain place to enjoy it as much as I'm doing now.

I also read John Muir’s Stickeen, which is about Muir’s walk along a glacier-top with a dog named Stickeen. At one point Muir has to inch his way along an ice bridge that crosses a massive ice chasm, chipping his path with his ice-ax because the ice bridge has eroded down to a knife-point, and he’s writing about it all chill and relaxed because he is basically the epitome of a nineteenth-century adventure hero, except in the flesh.

This sounds PRETTY DAMNED DELIGHTFUL. Does the dog live? I will read it even if he doesn't but I will be a lot happier if the dog lives.

If. . . you like chill and relaxed guys being remarkably chill about ice, month-long nights, and other things, you might like the book I'm reading now, The Worst Journey in the World. It gets horribly sad at times, though, fair warning.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

The dog lives! It's actually a pretty joyous essay about nature and dogs and stuff.

Is The Worst Journey in the World the Antarctica book you've been reading? It sounded pretty good when you posted about it; I was thinking about reading it already.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

The Hunger Games! :D They are a lot of fun, even if they're not particularly great literature. I also think they're one of the few cases where the movies are as good, or even better, than the books, so if you have any interest in checking them out once you finish reading them, I recommend it!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you've never read the Hunger Games books! I never have either, and I probably won't, because it's a plot I just ... don't feel like reading. Still, I enjoyed hearing my daughters' reactions to the books and seeing the first movie.

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

<3

The first Antarctica book I read was Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage; this is the second. They are both very readable but different. Endurance was written by a journalist 30+ years after the events it describes (with the help of interviews, photos and diaries), and everyone in the story survives and makes it home, though they are extraordinarily uncomfortable for a very long time. It's a much more compact book and a quick read. The Worst Journey in the World was written by a participant ten years after events, is more personal and expansive, and several of the men die in extremely sad circumstances. A lot of animals also die in both books.

It's odd comfort reading, but that's the niche it's occupying right now. They're really engrossing.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I've heard the movies are even better than the books; I'm reading them partly because my friends have been agitating for a Hunger Games movie marathon.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I will be! My friends have been discussing the possibility of a Hunger Games movie marathon, which is one of the reasons why I'm reading the books now.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I was hoping the library would have just one or the other to help me make my choice, but in fact it has both. Clearly I should save them for summer when I will need to read about the frosty cold!