Stupid things people have said and done.
Internet highlights – w/c 21st June 2020
27 06 2020Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Best of the Internet
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – by Suzanne Collins
25 06 2020When a trilogy has been such a huge hit as The Hunger Games was, both as books and films, then a prequel published a decade later is going to be one of two things – excellent like the originals because the author has waited until they have a good story, or awful and they’ve just written it for the cash. I would say this falls into the former category – I really enjoyed reading this!
It’s set about 65 years before the original books, with President Snow an 18 year old in his final year of school, and following the tenth annual Hunger Games competition. The event is far more primitive than the high tech entertainment we were familiar with in the original books, and is just run in an amphitheatre with a few weapons lying around, though the same revolting basic rule still governs it – last alive wins.
Ten years of the games means it’s ten years since the war, and as yet folk haven’t really got into following the games which were created to remind the Districts who is in charge. The Head Gamesmaker is looking for ways to engage both those in the Capitol and in the Districts more, one way they do this is to have final year students in the Capitol mentor a tribute each, and this is where Snow comes in, mentoring the female tribute from District 12. His family has fallen on hard times since the war, but is trying to keep it quiet for the sake of their position in society, and a good result in the games could get Snow a University scholarship to secure his future.
I won’t give anything away, but even at over 500 pages I flew through it! I have one issue with Snow’s character that I’d like to discuss with anyone who’s read it, but won’t leave spoilers here!! But essentially, if you enjoyed the original books, I think you’ll like this.
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Tags: book reviews, Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, the hunger games, ya fiction
Categories : Books I've Read
Internet highlighhts – w/c 14th June 2020
20 06 2020
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Categories : The Best of the Internet
The Color Purple – by Alice Walker
14 06 2020One of the key things I’ve got out of the BLM awareness the last couple of weeks is the need to educate ourselves better. There have been various books recommended, and this was on a fiction list I saw early on (which I can’t find anymore), and it had been sat on my shelf for a long time, and so it seemed a very sensible time to pick it up.
The book is written as letters, initially from the main character, Celie, to God, (though later on this varies a bit and includes letters to and from her sister). Through these letters she essentially tells us the story of her life as a black woman in the American Deep South between the world wars, and of those around her.
It’s not been the easiest book to read, but for a broad variety of reasons:
- Because she’s talking to God, there’s a lot of assumed knowledge! She talks about people without explaining who they are, and it takes a fair bit of focus to work out what she’s on about at times, particularly at the beginning when everyone she talks about it new to you.
- No quote marks for dialogue!
- When Celie is writing (so, for most of the book), it’s written in the dialect she spoke in, the author has referred to this as “black folk language.” It very quickly becomes normal, but was a bit of an adjustment at the start.
- Time seems to move along without explicitly telling us. By the end of the book I’d say 30-40 years have passed, but it’s not at all easy to see this happen. Someone might refer to how they now have three more children than when you last saw them, or that someone you thought was a kid is nearly as tall as the adults. Hard to keep track of so I just sort of let it happen!
A quote which just felt so true of life, especially right now: “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.” - Finally, some of the actual content is upsetting, and could be triggering for some. On page one alone, Celie, aged 14 is violently raped by her Pa.
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Tags: alice walker, black lives matter, book reviews, fiction
Categories : Books I've Read
Internet highlights – w/c 7th June 2020
13 06 2020
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Categories : The Best of the Internet
Internet highlights – w/c 31st May 2020
6 06 2020I’ve split this into two halves this week. There’s a lot of very serious stuff going on, and there’s a lot of silly internet stuff out there. It feels like too much of an roller-coaster and too emotionally confusing to yo-yo between them, so all the stuff relating to the George Floyd situation (directly or indirectly) comes first, followed by all the regular nonsense (some of which is also serious, but still feels like it should be kept separate).
For me, the biggest thing to come out of all the below is the need for us to educate ourselves better. There are books and things suggested, and I am definitely going to be looking for some, but I feel like even reading and watching these posts has been an eye-opener.
An explanation of white privilege.
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1267834401259319296
https://twitter.com/jambotodd/status/1269020091997396992
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA4SMFjnQ16/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAx3sYTpAL_/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_xLyjFAfw/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA7Oz3rB2i4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBDqHVcHVVw/
https://twitter.com/andymilonakis/status/1266821069823975430
https://twitter.com/MikeH_PR/status/1267499513855594497
https://twitter.com/hughbon/status/1268866121861681154
https://twitter.com/SixShooter64/status/1268662135749402625
https://twitter.com/matthaig1/status/1267012110770417664
https://twitter.com/RibottoStudios/status/1264712183616663554
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Categories : The Best of the Internet
Little Fires Everywhere – by Celeste Ng
2 06 2020Yes it’s another of those books that’s been everywhere and then adapted for TV. But my theory is, there’s got to be a reason it’s been everywhere and that someone’s put money into making a screen adaptation. It’s gotta be good.
The Richardsons live in an overly planned suburb of picture perfect houses where everyone seems to live picture perfect lives. Mia and her daughter Pearl arrive to rent a small home owned by the Richardsons, having moved house every few months of Pearl’s life and don’t quite fit in with the ideal, but Pearl quickly forms friendships with the Richardson children.
The book starts with a rather dramatic incident, and then flashes back a year to show us how things got to that point. There are back-stories to be discovered, one of which takes a good 50 pages to tell when we finally get to it!
It’s set in the late 90s, which gave some lovely nostalgic moments.
It turns out, yes there is always a reason books go viral (is that a thing? books going viral? oh well, you know what I mean), because it’s a story that grabs you and keeps you interested.
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Tags: book reviews, fiction
Categories : Books I've Read
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