Reread: The Hunger Games Trilogy

I just reread The Hunger Games trilogy so that I could actually read them in quick succession instead of waiting months between books.

I think I read them almost as quickly as I did the first time. Even though I knew the endings, it was still interesting and engaging. And I'm good at forgetting details of books and movies, so I can enjoy my second time around almost as much.

There are some complaints about these books and its main character. Katniss is a bit slow at picking up on the hints and help people try to give her sometimes. Some people also think she's a bit wishy washy when it comes to her two romantic options. But I think it helps to remember that Katniss is only around 16 years old when these books take place. How well would you have done in her situation when you were 16? I prefer not to think of myself at 16, so keeping that in mind, it helps me forgive some of her silliness. Also, if she always picked up on the clues that the readers do and was always certain who the love of her life is, where would half the suspense be?

I liked these books just as much the second time around. And I'm looking forward to seeing how they adapt them to movies. Especially since the main audience is YA and many of the scenes are quite gruesome. It reassures me that it's for a YA audience though, or I don't think I could stomach it in movie form.

Reread: Catherine, Called Birdy

Despite my goal to start reading all the heavy classics that I have on my TBR shelf, I needed something lighter the past few days. So I reread Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman.

My sister read it a few months ago and said that she thought it ended in a strange place because you really don't know what's going to happen with our heroine. I hadn't read it in years so couldn't remember it well enough to comment at the time.

I can definitely see what she means. Catherine's fate is uncertain at the end of the book. But the book ends at the close of her childhood and just before a new chapter in her life begins. So although I'm left wondering what happened to Catherine, I feel that what happens next would be another book entirely. And yet I don't think Cushman would write that book because the next book would be Catherine stepping into adulthood and wouldn't fit into the YA genre anymore.

The appeal of this book is a spunky, independent girl in a world where most women were neither of those things. And we'd all like to think we could be the same in her situation, but I don't believe that any of us can really know what we would have been like in a different time and place, if we had been raised in a completely different world. It makes me grateful for being born when I was, and especially grateful that one of my regular household chores if not catching and squishing the fleas in my bed.

Reread: The Midwife's Apprentice

After taking weeks to finish one book, I need something short and quick to get me back into the swing of things. While organizing my hundreds of books in our new house, I'm setting aside all the books I've meant to read but haven't yet. I'm also occasionally coming across a book that I leave out because I feel the urge to reread it.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman was on my reread shelf. I think my sister told me that she read it recently so I wanted to read it again.

I don't have anything remarkable to say about it, but I enjoyed it. And I'm looking forward to some Christmas break reading.