The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games (Book 1)

The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy. The second books are Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The first Hunger Games book was the required reading for our book club, but as soon as I read that, I read the other two straight away. The themes and characters of the book stayed with me for a long time. They say the definition of a good book is that when you have finished you feel you have lost a friend, I certainly did in this case.

The Hunger Games is aimed at a teenage market, and although it’s not the sort of book we usually read in book club, all but one person enjoyed it.

It is set in the future where in order to subdue the people, they are subjected to hunger games where two people from each of the twelve districts are selected to fight to the death every year. The heroine, Katniss, volunteers to take the place of her little sister who is selected.

My only criticism is that the book is written in the first person, so we know that Katniss will survive and win. The book would have been better, in my opinion, if it were written in the third person, thus giving doubt if the heroine wins or not.

There is currently a movie of the first book, which was very true to the story and not as gory as it potentially could have been. Movies of the other two books are expected out shortly. 

The Hunger Games 2-Disc DVD

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife

The premis of the story is that Henry travels in time, and takes nothing with him. So when he arrives somewhere, he arrives wearing nothing. He has no control over where in time or location he arrives. Nevertheless, he frequently arrives in the childhood of Claire whom he persuades to love him and eventually marry him. 

Life with a time traveling husband is not simple and the adventures are many and varied. 

Personally, I was riveted with the story. I listened to it on CD and really enjoyed the experiences of the unusual couple. Reading the reviews on Amazon, many were critical of the style of writing, but gosh, I have only admiration for someone who can produce a bestselling book. I know I couldn't. 

We watched the movie, which was just an enjoyable as the book, here's the link:

The Time Traveler's Wife

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

State of Wonder: A Novel

I was the only person in book club who didn't like this book. I didn't like it because I disliked the main character, I thought her cowardly and fearful and somewhat pathetic  Nevertheless, she did travel deep into the Amazon jungle, which is something I personally wouldn't do.

The book brings up a few moral topics that can cause a good discussion in a book club. The major one is the age at which women give birth. Another topic was the subject of research and the funding of research, as in who chooses the topics when people do research, the people who do the research or the people who fund it?

One person mentioned the fact that "State of Wonder" is a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest and that the book is filled with Shakespeare quotes, but not knowing The Tempest, I didn't notice them.

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Tortilla Flat

John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, and I was pleasantly surprised to find Tortilla Flat and realize there's a Steinbeck I hadn't read. So I suggested it for my book club. The book is very short, so we read this one and Travels with Charley in the same month. 

Tortilla Flat is classic Steinbeck, with unusual characters doing some very unconventional things. My favorite part was where someone was given the gift of a vacuum cleaner before she had electricity in her house. Because the vacuum cleaner was a status symbol, she could be seeing running it up and down the rugs in her house every day. You can't make up stories like that, it had to be real and that's why I love Steinbeck so much. 

I enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden better than this book, but I still loved the colorful characters living at Tortilla Flat. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

The book was narrated from the dog's point of view, and that in itself made it unusual. The story is that of a race car driver, his wife and child. He draws parallels from life and compares it with the racing circuit. Even if you have no interest in dogs or the racing circuit, then it's a great book to read, as the dog comments on life and feeling to which anyone can relate. 

My son loved the book because it's set in Seattle and he loves Seattle. This just shows that we all have our different reasons for liking or disliking something. Me, I'd have liked the book wherever it was set. 

How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

How to Be an American Housewife

This is the story of a Japanese woman who married an American soldier after the end of the Second World War. She then came to the US with him and raised two children. She follows a book called How to Be an American Housewife that was written to help Japanese brides with the culture of a different country. So, punctuated through the book are the excerpts from the guidebook. 

The book was in two halves and each part narrated by a different person - mother and daughter. In the second half of the book, the daughter goes to Japan to visit her relatives. While the book was a cute story, that was it, just someone's life story of moving to America from Japan. The book was meant to be fiction, but it was so close to the real story of the author, that it was more an autobiography.

Olive Ketteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

This book was originally a collection of short stories that was then put together as a book. But in my opinion, it didn't work as the stories didn't flow into one story and stayed a little disjointed. The only flow through the whole book was Olive, no one else appeared more than once. By the end of the book you did get a feeling for the small town in which she lived, but it was still not my favorite kind of book. I mainly disliked the book because the main character, Olive Kitteridge, was just not a nice person.