Hi Readers,
Thank you for your patience; I am aware my writing schedule has been hectic and inconsistent, and I apologize. I won’t promise more consistency due to the nature of my life at this moment (have I mentioned I’m moving to NYC?), but I can assure you I’m still steadily chipping away towards my reading goal of 25 books before I turn 25. There will simply be fewer posts than books.
After my last post about Irish writers, I felt compelled to read another book by Sally Rooney – Conversations with Friends. Out of the five novels that she has published, this one, for some reason, always called to me the least. So, of course, I was quite surprised when I found myself enraptured in the first 20 pages, so much so that I was taking pictures of different passages every few pages. (Note: I didn’t have my tape flags with me, and the book belongs to my roommate, so I didn’t want to write in it!). For a minute, I was upset with myself that I had waited so long to pick this book up, but I also think I may not have enjoyed it as much had I read it earlier on. The exploration of the relationships between the four main characters kept me on my toes because each metamorphosed throughout the novel. Every time I felt like I understood the nature of these relationships, Rooney had new revelations to share that shifted my view. I had a discussion with a customer at the bookstore who shared that she thought Frances, the main character, was frustrating/annoying. I understood where she was coming from, but I thought Frances’ character was really interesting, especially her dry wit and odd lack of drive despite her talent and desire to be seen. Honestly, it felt sexist to dislike Frances for these reasons because if her character was male, I think people would find her attitude acceptable. I’m going to leave it there since I have two more books to get to, but if you’ve read it let me know how you feel in the comments!
I also read Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar, which was absolutely amazing. As I’ve previously established, I really enjoy it when fantasy is written within a historical setting, and this particular novel took place during Spain’s Golden Age (the 1400s-1500s). One of my favorite classes in high school was AP European History, so I wasn’t surprised to find myself easily drawn into the world of post-Inquisition Spain. The story itself centers around a poor teenage girl who becomes caught up in the politics of a royal competition to find a miracle worker that will advance Spain’s position after recent defeats by England. Luzia’s ability to perform “milagritos” or “little miracles” is noticed by her mistress, and immediately scheming begins to bring the family into better standing. Luzia must find a way to compete while hiding her Jewish background. The addition of Santángel’s mysterious character created a delicious dynamic that kept me reading all throughout the night.
My most recent read is, of course, the new Hunger Games book by Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping. If you knew me at all in 2012, then this comes as no surprise to you. The Hunger Games series, Percy Jackson, and Harry Potter were the main cornerstones of my personality for a solid four or five years, and I have absolutely no regrets!
If you haven’t been keeping up with The Hunger Games lately, Suzanne Collins released a prequel called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020 that focused on the origins of the wicked President Snow and his first personal encounter with the Hunger Games. While I enjoyed this “historical” look at the early days of Panem (the country of the Hunger Games), I know many people were not interested in reading about Snow since he is so vile in the original trilogy. I totally respect that opinion, but having read that one definitely gave me some more insights into the most recent book.
Sunrise on the Reaping has come out to much more fanfare, including midnight release parties, which I’m attributing to the focus on Haymitch's distasteful yet lovable character and the desire to see how his Quarter Quell game went down. (Quarter Quell is what The Hunger Games are called on the 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversaries). MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD! In the original series, the readers are provided with minor information pertaining to Haymitch’s games, so Collins had a great opportunity to be inventive in this new book. In my opinion, I think she could’ve done more. First, I felt like Haymitch’s story paralleled Katniss too much; I wanted there to be more variability within his story. Furthermore, there were so many cameos that they didn’t feel believable to me. I enjoyed seeing these characters, but it felt too coincidental for his mentors to be both Mags and Wiress. Feel free to disagree, but I thought it was a cop out to use these characters instead of inventing new ones. The odds of these characters all knowing each other should be very low – but maybe the point is how incredible it is that they did cross paths. Part of my skepticism also probably comes from me not having read the original trilogy in a long time, so it’s hard to remember what is canon and what is not. I know I just did a lot of hating, but I do think it was worth reading, especially if you’re already a big fan.
Ok, I hope this post has sufficiently caught you up on my reading journey over the past few weeks! Let me know in the comments if there is something you really think I ought to read in the next 10 weeks because that’s all the time I have left to reach my goal :o (and I think I’m one book behind). Cheers to more reading!
11 To Go,
Clare
You should read the Summer Book by Tove Jansson :)