The Portsmouth Book Club - February Pick - The Hunger Games

Last month we discussed, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Our group rallied around this book in unison and gave it the universal thumbs up. Although the book was heavily weighted in feminine character and thought (there wasn't one strong male character throughout), the men enjoyed this novel as equally as the women. For me it was a bit of a slow start, but once it got going, you just couldn't put it down. I was up until 3am one evening (morning!) finishing this book because I just had to find out what happened next. I have never understood how an author can take on the roles in first person of someone living a life so far apart from their own, yet be able to make it convincing. And Kathryn Stockett is able to do this twice. She actually writes in first person for three main characters, two of them being African-American Maids in the deep and racist south during the sixties. She wrote it well. It was thought provoking and addictive. I would highly recommend this book.

Our next pick for February is, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Some of you may wonder why we have picked a teen novel for the book club. That is the beauty of a book club, we pick from many different genres forcing you to read outside of your comfort level. This book actually came recommended from several Barnes and Noble managers. Honestly, I still can not believe this is a teen book. I have already read it and it is violent, extremely violent, yet it is distributed only by the Scholastic Press. As violent as it is, I suppose violence in books could be better than violence on the boob tube. I won't say too much about the book, except that I was so extremely riveted and fascinated, that I went out and bought the second book in the series (it is a trilogy). More adult than Harry Potter, no glittery vampires and wishy-washy love stories.....just a good dark story. I loved it!

Here is a brief synopsis of, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival.

The Portsmouth Book Club

February 9, 2010 7pm

The Rosa, Downtown Portsmouth