Another Awkward Intro

[Elanor]

@e-p-writes Hello! Nice to make you acquaintance. I’m known as Elanor around here on the forum. I’m pretty new myself having joined earlier this year.
Your talk of the Hunger Games books made me look them up. I’d only seen the first movie and nothing else. Well I opened the PDF for the first book and next thing I know 5 days later I’ve read all three! That’s the most held captive I’ve ever felt reading a book. I think it’s what someone priorly mentioned being the POV and tense it’s written in. It is the only book I’ve ever read that actually gotten me to cry and not just once multiple times. Okay and second warning to those of you who don’t like spoilers I’ll be giving some.

While I really liked Katniss and Haynitch’s I’m gonna say that Gale and Finnick were my favourite characters, I think. Their complexity and dynamicness that they have. When Finnick appears in there he appears as someone you detest the sight of to one of the most sympathetic characters in the series. How his undying love for Annie breaks through his marriage and in the end his sacrifice for Katniss.

And Gale… well. He’s just such a well done character dynamic character with evident strengths and weaknesses.
I was wondering how the books would play out the entirety of the series it wasn’t predictable at all (well except that they’d win in the end). When all is told I was satisfied with the ending of the series. I know Gale just disappears without much of any explanation but I think it almost didn’t need said. As the book goes on it becomes evident that Gale had a compassion meter of next to nothing and that while he does truly love Katniss he knows she doesn’t truly love him or even perhaps Peeta but she’s drawn to Peeta by his terrible pain because as Gale said after she kissed him that one time “I knew you’d do that.” “How? I didn’t.” “It’s because I’m in pain. That’s the only way I can get your attention.” And in the end what separates him from Katniss is what she loved most about him. His fierce determination to win no matter the cost. And the cost was great. This, once he has the resources and being driven by his consuming hatred and vengeance he holds towards the capital becomes channeled into his ingenious death traps. The traps for the bombs that ended up gaining the victory he’s been longing for his whole life but ends up also taking Prim’s life.

I think Katniss realizes in the end beyond whether consciously or unconsciously holding him responsible for her sister’s death that what she truly needs is someone who is comforting and healing. Who has compassion; like what Peeta was from the beginning as the boy with the bread. He helps her overcome her biggest fears and makes her happy.

Okay sorry that was really long winded. But I guess it’s all fresh on my mind. Im adding it to my favourite books list. And I’m going to have to read them in paper because on a screen doesn’t give the full effect.

My favourite color is also blue. So long as it’s not any neon  shade I’m good. But the best is the bluest blue of the sky.

My favourite food would be Mexican style. Beans and rice. Tortillas, Quesadillas…..

Ive only ever been in the US and Canada. But I’d love to go to Israel, New Zealand, and the UK.

As for writing I write mostly short stories and poetry. Though I do have a novel that doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

I have a great love for reading. My favourite authors (Besides God) are CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Lois Walfrid Jonson. Though there’s many other great books I’ve read by other authors. I’ve never read or watched anything Harry Potter.

Well that was quite a bit for you to read but all said, “welcome”. I’m sure you’ll love the forum as much as I have *bows and exits leaving a gift of your favourite treat*

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - Gandalf

[Power]

@kathleenramm Sorry, but I don’t have a pancake. Perhaps try IHOP.

@anatra23 I recommend not trying to translate it. It appears that the code got corrupted at some point in time (last time I trust a morse code translator. jk I’ll probably use it again 😜.)

You will love what you spend time with.

[Anonymous]

@anatra23

I love the idea of the contest you and your brother had! It sounds like something I’d enjoy 😊 Yeah, I was kind of at the point of “almost sympathizing” with him at one point. But then he blew it. I think you know when.

Wow, I can’t believe it’s coming out so fast! Honestly, though, I don’t think I’d ever see it unless it got freakishly good reviews. It’s just not a book I think I’d enjoy being brought to screen. If it didn’t come alive for me on the page, I don’t think it will on the screen either. I just didn’t love it enough to justify putting myself through that storyline again.

On your favorite characters, I absolutely loved Rue! I wish she had been given a little more book time, but also, I think her death was a turning point for Katniss (spoilers are out the window, ya’ll, sorry).

On Percy Jackson, I’ve read the first series and the second series (heroes of Olympus I think it’s called?). My unpopular opinion was that the second series was much more well written than the first. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the first series and reading it again feels like traveling back to my childhood. I lived for the snark! But honestly, I loved the second series. My favorite book, probably of all of them, was the House of Hades, which is definitely an unpopular opinion. But I love how it took a deep dive into Percy and Annabeth’s relationship while also giving the other characters a chance to shine. When Percy and Annabeth were involved with the rest of the characters, it felt like their individuality was a little lost. I will admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Hazel and Frank, and Jason seemed almost too perfect for me, even when he was running into things and getting sliced open ever few pages. But I LIVED for Piper and Leo, and I really loved getting to see Percy and Annabeth at a stage closer to adulthood. Comparing them then to who they were in the first book is definitely a mental path I would recommend traveling down!

 

@power

The morse code got me for a minute, but thank goodness for online translators! Though the translation was a little wacky, I appreciate your warm welcome 😊

 

@kathleenramm

I would definitely recommend the ending. If you want to understand Snow and his motivations AT ALL, the ending is necessary. It was worth buying the book just to see how it ended. Again, I wish we would have gotten there a little faster and smoother, but the ending is SO poignant and heartwrenching. And the way it ends reminded me a little about the ending of Shakespeare’s Hamlet—utter helplessness.

Your criminal novel sounds so cool! If you enjoy that, you might enjoy the Heist Society series. There are three of them, I think, and while they’re not the most well written books on the planet, they’re enjoyable for a light read.

Oh  my gosh! I tried to get to Narnia through my closet too!! And I tried to get to Hogwarts by running into a brick post (I stopped before I broke my nose, don’t worry lol). The things kids do haha. But I agree, the wishing for the other worlds to exist definitely inspired my own writing in a unique way.

@Elanor

Thanks so much for your welcome! I am both honored and ecstatic that this thread caused you to go and read the Hunger Games! And I’m SOOOOO GLAD they lived up to the hype in your eyes! I truly believe it’s one of the most thought provoking trilogies ever written in modern times and I literally could discuss it all day. And yeah, I agree, spoilers are kinda out the window. You can’t NOT talk about the spoilers at this point.

Now that we’re giving spoilers, I will agree with you and say that FINNICK is the best character ever! I loved his complexity, his relationship with Annie, and just the mystery that surrounded his character. He was serious and funny (the underwear scene, oh my goodness, I died laughing!). And he was just… alive. His character was so well developed, considering how little page time he actually got, and I could ponder his character and imagine his past for days (which I have done.) I really just love him as a character, and he’s one of my favorite characters written in modern literature. Period.  I will say, his death was the one that broke my heart the most. It was like he had finally gotten out of the clutches of the Capitol, had finally gotten married, had even become a father, whether he knew it or not… and then he died. To me, that was probably Collins’ greatest example of the tragedy of war. I cried like nobody’s business when I read his death scene, which is magical and probably the most heart-wrenching death in the trilogy.

I do agree in that Gale was a very complicated character, and the way he was written was fantastic and really dynamic. Now that I’m reading your comment, the ending where Gale disappears does seem a little more fitting than it did before (fresh eyes, I guess, I haven’t read the books in a while—that’ll be next to reread them!) I just wish it had been more of a conscious decision, so the reader wasn’t left with the feeling that things might have turned out differently had Gale stayed.

Honestly, Peeta was my favorite of the two from the very beginning, to be completely honest. It wasn’t because I didn’t like Gale, I totally did.  But what I loved about Peeta was that he was the first—and quite possibly the only—person in the trilogy that ever showed Katniss sacrificial love (romantic or otherwise) with no strings attached. Gale’s compassion toward Katniss was, deep down, based on a need. Had she not proved useful to him and his family, he would never have opened up to her and cared for her. Haymitch never showed her any genuine love, because he was always deceiving her and was either treating her like a piece in the Hunger Games or preserving her because she was the Mockingjay. Even Finnick would have seen no reason to show her any kindness or sacrificial love had she not been the Mockingjay. Even Prim loved Katniss because a) they were sisters and b) without Katniss, she would have died. I’m not saying that love was cheapened or anything, but Peeta was the first character to ever show Katniss the love that is contrary to everything the Capitol wanted to foster—it was selfless and based on nothing more than genuine care for the person that she was. He didn’t give her the bread or show her compassion because it would bring him any benefit. In fact, it brought him more hardship than anything. And I think it was that selflessness that really drew me to his character from the beginning. He wasn’t perfect, and at times, Gale was more interesting, but he was the only character in the whole series that didn’t have a personal agenda or a selfish reason behind his actions (not counting the time he was hijacked). If anything, I feel like he was the driving force of Christian morals in the story. He was, of course, not a Christ figure in the least, but the peaceful and self-sacrificing love he showed Katniss, without encouragement and acceptance on her part, set a tone of morality throughout the narrative. Though Katniss was the face of the rebellion, Peeta was the real embodiment of it because he was the opposite of everything the Capitol and the Games stood for.

Anyway, Hunger Games rant finished for the time being. Cheers!

[Kathleen]

@e-p-writes

Okay, I’m going to reopen The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes now. Even from what I read, though it wasn’t my favorite, I still learned a lot about writing from it. The writing style really inspired me to develop mine.

I love how you described it like poetry or song. Because it’s so true, yet it’s not blatant or distracting. Which is just another testament towards Collin’s spectacular writing style. It’s not fancy, so it doesn’t look like much at first glance, but when you delve into it you start to see how it has so much purpose, intention, and depth. And it achieves all of these things without sticking out like a sore thumb or seeming pretentious.

Also, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes being written as a hybrid between the traditional modern writing style and an actual ballad? Brilliant. Hats off to Suzanne for pulling that off, especially as it isn’t a style she wrote with in her past work.

What I’ve realized in the past couple years is that, books, don’t have have to be perfect or even above average, to appreciate the good and beautiful things about it.

I love what you said about Peeta being the one who fully sacrificially loved Katniss. In a series filled with terrible people and events Peeta is the moral compass. Which makes him so refreshing and the right one for Katniss.

Haha, it’s so funny how both of us tried to get into Narnia through our closets. I wonder how many other people have attempted the same thing lol.

@Elanor

Woah! It’s crazy how this thread introduced you to The Hunger Games! Finnick is definitely one of my favorite characters from the series as well. Makes my top three along with Katniss and Peeta.

Which book is your favorite out of the three?

[Anatra]

@e-p-writes

I hope they can do BoSaS justice in the movie. Until it comes out, I will ingest every article on it.

Oh I totally agree. I enjoyed the second more than the first, partly cuz I think it is written better, partly cuz PLOT IS GORGEOUS. Most of it, anyhow. The Nico ordeal with Cupid… that gave me some questions. I love Hazel and Frank, that couple just seems so right, and even though it’s almost a trope, I will defend that they are great together. Jason is pretty flawless throughout like, the entire series, even the sequel–Trials of Apollo–it’s kind of sad that he has little to no flaws, and so hardly develops at all. Plus, his relationship with Piper gets very messed up in Trials of Apollo, that makes me sadder. I’ll admit I haven’t read all of ToA, but I’ve read enough to know it was mostly made for money, or other reasons aside from Rick Riodan(author)’s original intent of the joy of writing a book, serving readers, and serving his son.

Percy and Annabeth were great in House of Hades. I loved that book mostly for them, and mostly for Leo and Calypso. Yes, I will *ship* Leo and Cal, but again, their relationship messed up in ToA and it’s tragic that it wasn’t developed as much as it could’ve been, but I’m ok with that. However, I didn’t fangirl as hard over the two of them as I did for Percy and Annabeth over all of it.

I think my fav book is either Mark of Athena (like, the beginning is so beautiful and the end is flawless) or possibly the Last Olympian. I adored the general plot of that book, and by the time he wrote it, Rick Riodan’s style had solidified and he just drew everything together so beautifully.

[Libby]

@e-p-writes There’s so much commentary here I’ll keep this short, but welcome to the kingdom 🙂 We’re so glad you’re here! (Also, the color blue is beautiful in all its shades, I agree).

@kathleenramm I’ve been meaning to tell you for a bit, but I read The Hunger Games and all books in the series this summer based on your suggestion… and they did not disappoint.  In the least 🙂 I have a new favorite author, and rereading (which I did in my non-existent spare time) definitely meant more to me than the first read (though that was quite the experience!).  Thank you so much for the recommendation 🙂

Also, I loved The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes… but maybe that was just me 😛

Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo

[Elanor]

@e-p-writes

Yes!! I’ve added them to my mental list of favourite books. They are indeed thought provoking and deep. They make you think. I don’t like books that you can read and then forget about the next day. I like books the I can read and then the next few days still be pondering the meanings and then deeper meaning behind the story. Like the Hunger Games after the main story points per say one of the biggest things I thought of was how do people deal with pain in their lives? Some like Haymitch drown it out with alcohol or others like the morphling addicts deal with it by drugs. Some become vengeful and calloused and consumed with overcoming the ones who inflicted such pain on them like Gale became. Others try to fix it by distracting themselves with immoral relationships. And still others try to eliminate their pain by trying heal/fix  others like you see demonstrated by Peeta. You see Katniss through the series goes through most is not all of these things to make her pain bearable.

Yes… that scene with Finnick was just too funny shouldn’t be but it is. Yess I cried several times reading parts with him in it like his and Annie’s reunion and then how after they are married they are literally glued to each other. And then especially his death. I also liked how the writer had him and Katniss share a special connection as friends when they are both experiencing the same heart wrenching pain as their loved one is captured and having who knows what torture done to them.

Mm yeah. Gale’s character is one that I kept expecting to appear more in the story than he did. But yet somehow from the little you do see and hear about him through Katniss’s  thoughts gives you enough info in the first book to know more or less what he may or may not be doing simply from how his character’s essence is so well portrayed in the first scene with her and him at their rock eating and then when he says goodbye to her when she first goes to the games. You know that he is going to be there every moment watching the games despite how he stated to detest them because of how much he cares about Katniss. Then the successive scenes or details added little by little gives just enough satisfaction like in the second one how he’s is portrayed by the media as her cousin and how he is not happy with it and then when he kisses her briefly by the fence telling her, “I had to do that. At least once.” (okay I’m not one for much mushy romance but when I read that part tears came to my eyes as if I’m hearing the heartache in his voice myself). Those little details little by little added to his character.

Yes, I agree that Peeta is the character I naturally liked and “trusted” from the beginning of the story. Like you said he’s one of the only people who shows true sacrificial love to another person in the series. He embodies goodness in the books.

Gale’s fondness for her came from necessity at first and then grew to actually love later on after the years it took to totally earn each other’s trust. Similarly with many other people in Katniss’s life they showed her love or she showed it to them simply  because initially they got something from it. From Gale to Finnick to Haymitch. Even though after a while you can see that all these characters do all care for and “love” her in their own ways by the end it’s definitely not the same.

The only other person other than Peeta who truly showed her love from the start simply for the sake of kindness was Cinna. I really did cry when he was murdered.

And yes I agree that I loved Rue’s character while she lasted but she died too quickly to really see enough of her. But her death was well written so…

I like how the story ended with new life and freedom for the next generation who didn’t have to experience the pain that their parents went through.

Oh man that got reaally long again. 😆😆 Like you said it’s such a deep book that it’s easy to write on and on about.

 

@kathleenramm

I’d say that I liked the 3rd one the very best. Each book was better than the one prior to it. Though it did get a little dark at around the middle when Katniss is struggling to keep sane and out of depression when she’s trying find something worth living for.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Elanor.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Elanor.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - Gandalf

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