Book Club - 27/02/13

Another Book club been and gone, next months will be our year anniversary! Great turn out last night and we met at a pub called 'The Odd Shoe' which for some reason I had never heard of/noticed even tho I stand outside it waiting for the bus most days!! But it was alot better in there than the last few places so we'll stick with that next time too.

So this time we were discussing 'The Hunger Games' and it seemed to have a pretty positive review overall.  Some people went a bit mad and read all three books in the series (myself included), I think everyone agreed it was very easy to read and quite gripping so it didn't take long to whizz through!  Although we were technically only discussing the first book I have to say that I found the second and third books a little disappointing.  They were still good but really her first book was excellent to the point where it could have just stopped there really and kept us guessing!  I also had a bit of a different experience reading it to the others as I had seen the film already, which I loved, but it also meant I knew what was going to happen and I pictured all of the characters as they were in the film which is not really the best way to read a book. But there was so much more detail and depth in the book, as there always tends to be, that I did find it really enjoyable to read.

We talked about teenagers and whether we thought her personality and character traits were realistic for someone of Katniss's age and situation.  We thought she was quite a likeable character, headstrong and gutsy who has had to grow up way faster than she should have, becoming the mother figure in her family and providing for her sister and her mum.  The characters were interesting and had alot of questions hanging over them about their pasts (some of which may well be answered in the next two books, I can't possibly say!) but Haymitch was mentioned as a favourite character as he is quite a mysterious one and everyone wants to know how he won the Hunger Games in the past.  I really liked the stylist character Cinna (not just because Lenny Kravitz plays him the film) but although he doesn't feature alot he was a really important character in the book and becomes an important person in Katniss's life.  

Alot of it is quite far fetched (but then it is young adult and science fiction) but the way its written seems to let you forgive that.  There are alot of questions asked about the fact that if this is the 74th Hunger Games why has none of this happened in the past, has no one rebelled in 74 years?  How did the people in the Capital come to be the ones who lived there and were spared and why does everyone dress in crazy clothing? But the main thing for me is that from the moment I started reading it, it gripped me and made me want to keep turning the pages.  I wanted to know what happened next and I cared about the people in the book.  Marks out of 5 ranged all the way from 2 to 4 so it was a bit of a mixed bag but I think it was good to read something in a completely different style to those we've read so far!

Right this time we decided to choose the next book by voting and the book that came up trumps was 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker.

     'Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is a tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation.  Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie, and is trapped into an ugly marriage.  But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny.  Gradually Celie discovered the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves'

I am quite excited to read this, I think it is going to be a major tear jerker though.  There is also a film adaptation from the 1980's which I am hoping to get a hold of a copy so once we have read it those who want to can come to a dvd night at mine and cry with me!

Go get your copy and get reading :)

Next Book Club:

Date: 3rd April 2013
Time: 7.30pm
Location: The Odd Shoe (Park Street, Croydon)