Book Remarks: Suzanne Collins, “Catching Fire” (2009)

I found The Hunger Games — the first book, that is — imperfect yet intriguing. That is also how I describe myself on my better days. The characters Suzanne Collins created were compelling enough for me to want to keep going with the trilogy, as opposed, in contrast, to the relative lack of curiosity I experienced after finishing the first Twilight book. I just finished the second Hunger Games book, Catching Fire, and it was entertaining, albeit not as much of a page-turner as the first one. Here are some reactions, written for those who have already read the book themselves.

Cover of "Catching Fire (The Second Book ...

Cover via Amazon

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Wednesday Night iPhone Photo – Kafka and a Salad

My afternoon activities. Kafka’s The Trial, and a delicious salad.

Wednesday Night iPhone Photo – Cafe Frankenstein

My afternoon companions at Cafe Venetia. Frankenstein and French press. Who needs glamor?

Thursday Night Video – Jonah Lehrer on Creativity

When I teach creative endeavors (usually some sort of theater-making) to kids, particularly those of high school age, one of the biggest gifts I can give them is to undermine the myth of genius and allow them to simply create. Too many of them get stuck on the desire to be brilliant, which actually tends to be counterproductive. Jonah Lehrer was on The Colbert Show on Tuesday hawking his book Imagine: How Creativity Works, and he spoke eloquently about creativity.

LEHRER: One of the themes of the book is that these ideas that we assume people just invent out of thin air, that they’re really just new connections between old ideas.

Monday Night Video – Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher

One of the reasons that I’m so glad that Rachel Maddow’s book reminds us of the Iran-Contra affair is because it points out much that is wrong in our country concerning national security. Namely, that we allow the president to do whatever he wants, which is much of the point of Drift. I also wonder how conservatives reconcile the sainthood they have bestowed upon President Ronald Reagan with their view of Iran as an imminent threat and Reagan’s history of, you know, selling them arms.

In case you missed it, here’s Maddow and Bill Maher talking about this in Los Angeles last week.


Polentical: Friday Night Video – Rachel Maddow on Romney’s Rovian Tactics
The Feminist Texican [Reads]: Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

Book Remarks: Suzanne Collins, “The Hunger Games”

When I traveled a bit last summer, it seemed like all of my friends (and their kids) were reading The Hunger Games or had already read it. Suzanne Collins’ work sounded appealing, as I enjoy science fiction and this seemed to have some sort of social consciousness to it. But it took the release of the Hollywood blockbuster for me to finally get around to reading it myself.

(Warning: I don’t recap a lot of the plot, but you might not want to read these reflections if you haven’t read the book yourself.)

Cover of "The Hunger Games"

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Best of the Week: The Colbert Report with Platchett, Pelosi, and more…

MONDAY

Stephen Colbert returns to the airwaves after his absence due to his mother’s illness.

I just want to address my recent absence from the national conversation. As the hub around which the Republic turns, I can understand why the machinery of this great nation ground to a halt last week when you were denied this. Now I’m sure you felt the same way that I do when I’m in a room with no mirrors.

His guest is Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto, who makes a strong argument for why independent bookstores can succeed where chain bookstores have failed. Patchett’s Nashville bookstore is Parnassus Books.

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News of Note

Three news items of note…

Note #1:
Google has agreed to a add a “Do Not Track” button to the Safari browser. Any privacy protection they give us is, like this, going to come from being pressured.

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

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Neil Gaiman on Internet Piracy

I strongly believe in a limited copyright law which ensure that authors can control their works and reap some profits for a decade or two. I’m wary when it stretches longer than that, because the nature of art involves appropriation and reshaping of shared images and stories. Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare…the western canon is built around authors retelling tales.

Piracy differs in that it’s the replication of a work, but Neil Gaiman approaches the issue from a practical point of view. He does not advocate giving up copyright, but he does speak eloquently about the advantages of having a free flow of art on the internet.

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Maurice Sendak on The Colbert Report

Was Maurice Sendak’s appearance on the Colbert Report the highlight of the week?

Maurice Sendak, author of the children's book,...

Image via Wikipedia

I remember loving it as a child when authors did not talk down to me. I could handle the nudity in Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen or the gruesomeness of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales, even if the grown-ups couldn’t.

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The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Michael Caine

With some celebrity autobiographies, one can get a sense of the person behind the prose, even if the reality is of a star relaying their stories to a scribe who then assembles it all into a coherent narrative. Or not, as sometimes the rambling forces itself through. (I’m thinking of you, Steven Tyler.) But I like that, as even stitched-together stories can reveal a lot, particularly if one examines the stitches.Michael Caine at the European premiere of The ...

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Tolkien Was Turned Down by Nobel Committee

According to The Telegraph

JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was rejected by the Nobel Prize committee for poor storytelling and bad writing.

I’m with history on this one, but am actually surprised that he got far enough in the process to warrant a rejection.

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