What We've Been Up To

After the success of our Hunger Games meeting, we have had two other unofficial meetings. While fun, for various reasons these meetings did not lead to intelligent discussion, and so we have decided not to post about their books on this blog.

We are excited and hopeful for our Dragonflight meeting, and the transcript for that meeting will be posted over the month of October. After Dragonflight, which was published in 1968, we hope to pick a more recent book to read. Suggestions are always appreciated!

--Dande and Jolly

The Hunger Games-- One Last Comment from Everyone

Dande:
I really liked it. Like any book, it was good at some things and bad at others, and the stuff that I think it was really good at was that it really threw me in there, and while I was reading it I couldn't put it down. And it seemed definitely realistic, I really could believe I was there.

Newhope:
It made me hungry.

Walle:
I liked this book a lot, mostly because it was completely different than what I expected. It sort of opened up my mind.

Windex:
I thought this book was really good, because of all the action and stuff, but I felt like the romance just kept going on and on and on and on...

Smiley:
I really liked this book too, but I don't know, I thought the romance wasn't that bad. But the romance made me so sad because I knew that Peeta really did like her, I just could tell, and I knew that she didn't. It was just so sad at the end.

O'Juice:
Yeah, I kind of agree with Smiley. The instant that they were interviewing the people and he said, "Oh, and I brought that girl with me who I've always liked." I knew that was real.

Dande:
When he did that, and then they had the chapter break to the next section, I was thinking, "Oh, no she didn't!"

Laughs

O'Juice:
Okay, so I think this book might end up being one of my favorite series, and it's really awesome. The romance... it was good, but it would probably be better if it was actually real. She was faking it, so there was nothing there. It was just, "I'll give you a kiss, and now I'm going to get food."

Chair:
Personally, I think it was almost violent enough for me to forgive that scene where he takes off all his clothes, when she's pulling him out of the riverbank.

Laughs

Smiley:
Not all...

Jolly:
I really liked it, there was enough romance where I can deal with it, but it wasn't Twilight. There was enough action to keep me in the book.

O'Juice:
It wasn't like love at first sight or something. I hate those kinds.

Jolly:
Yes, thank you. Love at first sight is shallow.

Newhope:
This story actually had a progression to it. I liked it a lot, it had highs and lows, it had peaks where it was really exciting, and then downtime to build up to being even more exciting. Except for the ending, it ended without that peak.

The Hunger Games-- Bloopers: Athens & A Japanese Game Show

Dande:
I actually read a little bit on the author's website, and it said that it was actually based off of, you know that Greek thing? With the Minoans? Who have that labyrinth with the monster guy in it?

Newhope:
Minotaur.

O'Juice:
You mean that bull guy?

Dande:

Yeah, and it was like a tribute from Athens, that Athens would have to send them seven girl and seven boys... but Newhope, didn't you have that Japenese game show thing you wanted to talk about?

Newhope:
No.

Begging and laughing

Newhope:
It sounded just like that, they had twelve students from this high school, and they had them all fight to death on this remote island, and it sounded just like this. They just gave them each separate weapons, pots and pans and stuff-

O'Juice:
Pots and pans?!?

Laughs

Chair:
See, who doesn't like Japan?

Walle:
Wait, so, this was-?

Dande:
No, not real-

Newhope:
Just a show I found.

O'Juice:
Can you kill someone with a cooking pot?

Laughs

Newhope:
You can deflect a bullet off of it.

The Hunger Games-- The Next Book

Dande:
I kind of got mad at Haymitch in the beginning for not helping them.

O'Juice:
It was kind of expected, because every time they'd die anyway, so he tried not to get close to them, because they didn't have a chance. I felt like he had to do that.

Jolly:
I feel really bad for them now though, because now they have to train the next tributes from District 12.

Dande:
Maybe that's for the 3rd book, because they're going to do the Gale/Peeta thing before that. Will you guys all be reading the next one?

Chorus of agreement

Walle:
I don't understand how the Hunger Games are going to tie into the whole story again.

O'Juice:
I feel like after the actual Games, there's no more story left.

Jolly:
They're probably going to revolt against the Capitol.

Chair:
The Games established the unstoppable, unchallengeable Capitol.

Newhope:
I thought that was going to happen in this book. Until it actually went into the Games, I thought she would try to run away, the rebellion would start.

Jolly:
The next book they're probably going to revolt.

Dande:
I bet the author can't create a world like this, and not by the end of Book 3, have it so the world is a better place.

Walle:
I think, the whole thing where they mention the Avox, and then they mention her dad, I think maybe her dad is actually alive. So maybe that will do something.

Dande:
They're probably going to go on that victory trip with the other districts, and there's going to be something with the mute person, the thing with Gale, and some kind of rebellion.

Jolly:
The Capitol is going to try to knock off Katniss. They're going to try to take her out.

Walle:
I think the Avox people are going to be a big part if they do rebel, because their tongues got cut off.

Dande:
And we're going to find out what was up with the thing where the hovercraft in the woods got the person. And I think that we're probably going to get to know somebody who lives in the Capitol.

O'Juice:
We already do know someone...

Dande:
No, but really, how it would be one of the main characters, that's a kid. To know what the Capitol's perspective on all this is.

Newhope:
I want to learn about more of the separate Districts.

Dande:
I want to learn more about how the world got this way. What happened to the rest of the world?

Newhope:
There's absolutely no explanation. And everything's fine, I don't see any environmental damage at all in this.

Chair:
It's 1984, it's just this is how it is, deal with it.

Dande:
But it tells a good story.

The Hunger Games-- "Gale vs. Peeta" Part 2

Jolly:
I think they should have told us more about Gale.

Dande:
Gale seemed weird to me, they talked about this character and then-

Newhope:
-they offered nothing more on him at all.

Chair:
Yeah they kind of abandoned him after Chapter 2.

Jolly:
He's just her hunting partner, that's all we know about him.

Newhope:
He's just a plot device.

Chair:
Pretty much. They just kind of dropped him and then referred to him for the rest of the book.

Dande:
I think he's going to be a big deal in the next book, because that's where they're going, and so they have to include him here for him to be a big deal in the next book.

Chair:
I don't know, he seemed more like someone to refer to, like when she lost her hearing, like: I lost my hearing! If only Gale was here... I don't have any weapons! If only Gale was here... Peeta's not here! If only Gale was here.

Laughs

Dande:
Yeah, like an easy thing to say. She misses home, and we have to prove that she misses home, so, let's have her miss Gale!

Chair:
We need a character who is at home-

Dande:
Why couldn't it just be her sister?

Chair:
Because her sister's useless.

Newhope:
Maybe Gale's something to compare to... when Peeta moves through the woods, he goes so loudly, compared to Gale's moving silently.

* * *

Dande:
They try to set up this thing between Gale and Peeta for the next book, but they don't give us any reason to care about Gale. They say she cares about Gale, but I don't see any reason to care about Gale, Gale doesn't at all awesome to me. But Peeta, on the otherhand, he saves her a million times.

Chair:
But Gale is taking care of her family.

Jolly:
Until Peeta told his story about the first day he saw her, I didn't like Peeta at all, I liked Gale better. I liked Gale from the first minute they had him. I wanted him to end up in the Hunger Games just so that he could get to know her.

O'Juice:
Same here! I thought he would volunteer in place of Peeta or something.

Jolly:
I liked him better because he could hunt and survive.

Smiley:
I wouldn't have wanted Gale to come, because then the plot would be so much more-

Jolly:
I just wanted him to go so we found out more about him.

Dande:
I feel bad for him to have to watch this on TV. To watch what they were doing.

O'Juice:
She's always thinking, "I wonder what Gale is thinking right now..."

Jolly:
"I wonder what Gale thinks about all the kissing..."

Chair:
I wonder if you could concentrate on the people who are hunting you down as think about this!

* * *

Chair:
This is good now, but once the whole Gale vs. Peeta thing comes up, this could become Twilight way too fast.

Mixed squeals of glee and boos of horror

Jolly:
There will at least be a subplot of action and of them revolting against the Capitol.

The Hunger Games-- "Gale vs. Peeta" Part 1

Dande:
So what'd you guys think of Katniss and Peeta, that whole thing?

Smiley:
I felt so bad for Peeta.

Chair:
Sleeping medicine!

Laughs

Jolly:
That was funny, it's like-

Chair:
"Good night!"

Jolly:
"I'm not going to let you go off and try to save my life. No, you're stuck here with me."

Chair:
"Here, have some of this!" "Oh, what's this...? zzzzz......"

Jolly:
He's yelling at her and then he falls unconscious.

* * *

Dande:
At the end, I got so mad at Katniss for being unsure. "Do I love Peeta? Do I not? Or should I just fake it?"

Jolly:
I got really mad at Peeta for being mad at her. He just overreacted.

O'Juice:
I thought he would know. I thought he knew all along that she was acting.

Smiley:
I knew he didn't know.

Jolly:
I knew he didn't know after the Games ended. I'm pretty sure he knew during the Games, but after the games ended I'm pretty sure he thought she was totally being real.

Chair:
I don't know, because Katniss knew that when romantic stuff happened, Haymitch would send in more food-

Jolly:
1 kiss = a pot of broth.

Chair:
But Peeta didn't realize that. He just lay in the cave, dying, like, "Still here... any more food yet?"

Laughs

Walle:
About Katniss, I think Katniss also thought that Peeta was faking it. I don't understand how she didn't realize that he actually loved her.

Smiley:
I don't think she wanted to believe that.

O'Juice:
I think she actually likes Gale though. I have a feeling, when she comes back-

Jolly:
I know. I kept expecting that to happen, that's going to be a subplot, there's going to be a mini-war between Gale and Peeta for Katniss.

Smiley:
Twilight series!

Jolly:
Pretty much. That's going to be the plot of the next book. There's going to be the rebellion, but there's also going to be Peeta vs. Gale for Katniss. I think that was the whole reason for the, "We could run away, and make lives in the forest, if we didn't have so many kids..."

Walle:
I also think that, when he's shouting, "Remember, I-" and then he got cut off-

O'Juice:
Yeah, when they were leaving, and he said that and then they shut the door behind him. I thought he was going to say, "I love you, don't leave me!" or something.

The Hunger Games-- The Ending

[Editor's Note* The first part of this is from the very beginning of the meeting, and this was the first thing everyone had on their minds.]

Dande:
So welcome to the Morris Young Adult Book Club... so what did you guys think about the book?

Chair:
Jolly, go right ahead-

Jolly:
It had no ending...

O'Juice:
I hated the ending.

Chorus of agreement.

Windex:
Is this a series?

Newhope:
Well the book says end of book one...

Dande:
There are two more books.

O'Juice:
But is it like all about the same person?

Newhope:
It better be...

Jolly:
The next one comes out September 1st.

Dande:
I get that you have to set up for the series, but that kind of thing gets me mad. You have to have some sort of conclusion.

Newhope:
Closure.

Dande:
I'm still going to get the next book, because I want to know what happens, but... * frowns*

Jolly:
There's no ending, okay? They're holding hands, and they're about to step off the train. That's it.
End of Book 1. That's not an ending.

Walle:
I think they should have at least shown how the crowd reacted, just for a second. A brief flash of Gales face-

O'Juice:
Then if they ended with the sentence, "And then I saw Gale," that would kinda be a little bit-

Smiley:
That'd be really worse!

Jolly:
They should have just ended it after Peeta got mad at Katniss. It should have been, she's just standing there, and he's storming back to the train.

Dande:
I don't know what the author could have done... you guys are saying to just add a couple sentences, but I think it's just the way that the story is made. The story is made for there to be a whole bunch of stuff that happens latter but she didn't want to have a book this thick- *pantomimes thick book*

Jolly:
She should've.

Dande:
-so she had to chop it off right in the middle. And I guess, probably, she likes it because people will be like, "Oh, what's going to happen?" and buy the next one, but it's annoying.

O'Juice:
I want to smack her.

Laughs

Dande:
I think that because she had to cut it off in a horrible place, I think it almost would have been better if she just cut it off after they start going home, after the interview drama thing, and not even introduced the Peeta thing.

O'Juice:
I feel like she just took a knife and chopped it wherever she felt like it.

Chair:
It would have been good if they go on the hovercraft and it ended there. If they didn't even go into all the preparation: her ear's fixed, he's got a new leg.

Dande:
But they have to have that extra drama, about: oh my god are they going to attack them for the berry rebellion thing?

O'Juice:
I've never read another book with an ending that makes me want to read the next book so bad.

Dande:
I have.

Smiley:
It's called a cliffhanger...

Dande:
No, cliffhangers are good for the ends of chapters, not the ends of books. When authors do it at the end of books, it's just mean.