Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Anna's been really keen that I should read the books that have captivated her imagination. The Hunger Games  was a firm favourite before the build up to the film which was released in March this year and I've just got round to reading it.

You know up front that a book which is essentially about 24 kids being sent into an arena to fight to the death is going to be disturbing. The Hunger Games is a televised spectacle that everyone is forced to watch as a grim reminder of the consequences of rebellion against the almighty and brutal Capitol. Reading this book in a real life backdrop of Big Brother (which I haven't watched at all this year) and the Olympics (to which I'm addicted and having separation anxiety at the thought of ending) gave it a further, surreal dimension.

You don't get much lower in Panem's pecking order than District 12 where the people live in cruel poverty. 16 year old Katniss Everdeen has had to hunt in the woods to keep her family in food since her father died. Yet again, we see a book where poor mothering is to blame for putting kids in danger. From Snow White to Bella Swan, you don't often find a lead character with two sane, loving and supportive parents and it's usually the mother who has most to answer for.

The book tells the story of Katniss's enforced participation in the Games. The other teenager from District 12 is Peeta, who went out of his way to show her enormous kindness when she was starving years before. However much you swear to yourself that you aren't going to get to like any of the characters because any of them could die at any time, Collins pulls you in and there are cases when you just can't avoid it. Katniss as narrator conveys the conflicting emotions she experiences very well.

There's so much in this book about injustice, unfairness, inequality and abuse of power. The opulent Capitol, where appearance is everything, could easily be modern western society and the Districts the developing nations. The book makes you wonder about how and when to challenge authority, why people comply with a regime that requires them to do terrible things like sacrifice their own children.

Questions are also raised about the workings of the media. You can recognise characteristics of modern tv networks and tabloid press in the build up to the Hunger Games and you have to ask whether what they do is acceptable.

The story itself is well paced, dramatic, poignant and, necessarily, gruesome. It also encourages the reader to look beyond the action in the arena towards the shortcomings in society both in Panem and where they live. It's definitely worth reading.

Book Review: Jessie Hearts NYC by Keris Stainton

Over the past couple of years, I've got to know Keris Stainton on Twitter through my F1, chocolate and book loving friend Kate who introduced us because of our mutual love of Strictly Come Dancing.  I later realised that she writes books for young adults and she's recently had her second book, Jessie Hearts NYC, published. I started to read this on Aberdour beach last week, but Anna swiped it and wouldn't give it back until she'd finished it. She absolutely loved it.

By the time I finished it yesterday morning, I had quite a rosy glow of contentment. Enjoyment of the book starts with Mike Lemanski's gorgeously eye-catching cover. I would never be able to resist a book with the Chrysler Building, my favourite building on the planet, on its spine.

It's gold, shiny and makes you want to read it - not to mention the competition to win a trip to New York....although you can just enter that here......

And you get more Chrysler building and the fabulous Manhattan skyline on the back

Whether you have been to New York or not, you will fall in love with the city which provides the backdrop for the story. You'll recognise the movie and tv locations - although the one glaring omission for me was the cafe in Serendipity.  Anna's never really shown much interest in New York before but she will now be a very useful ally to have in constructing future holiday plans.

I went to New York City for a long weekend in December 1994 and have been wanting to go back ever since.  This book had me googling places I hadn't seen, like Strand bookstore (18 miles of books. Heaven) and The View restaurant. Although I suspect the Campbell Hotel is either so exclusive as to not bother with something as common as the internet or made up, as the only one I can find is in Tulsa.

The story itself follows Jessie, a girl from Manchester off to spend the Summer with her playwright mum who lives in New York, and Finn, an 18 year old native New Yorker deciding what to do with his life. The story switches between their two points of view in a way that's insightful and sometimes comedic. Keris' key strength in both her debut novel Della says OMG and Jessie is a very prescient understanding of what goes on in the heads of teenagers which comes across in her likeable, rounded characters. I saw bits of myself in Natalie, Jessie's mum, which made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Anna noticed the same things, but they seemed to make her laugh rather than traumatise her, so no harm done, I guess.

 Themes from both books include a perfectly healthy interest in delicatessens - her books certainly march on their stomachs.

I like her lively, funny dialogue too - although is the odd instance where the New York characters say things in a distinctly English vernacular. You should also know that I found a typo. You know how irate they make me, but the book had chilled me out so much, I reacted with just an affectionate tut. That has to be a good sign.

This story is perfect Summer reading, sweet without being schmaltzy, authentic and funny. Once you start reading, you really don't want to put it down. It covers themes of parental expectation, conflicting loyalties to separated parents, and early love and relationships. It struck me that maybe part of the reason the story draws you in is that Keris is writing not only about young love involving her characters, but about one of her first loves, for New York City.  It's one of these books that's just good for the soul.

It's part of the buy one get one half price promotion in WH Smith's at the moment, so grab it while you can and read it on holiday.