Not entirely sure that'd work somehow...........

 

 

 

Just Finished Reading: The Hunger Games – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (FP: 2010) [455pp]

It was what she was made for, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Being a symbol of the growing resistance to the Capital was bad enough but now they were insisting that she become THE symbol of resistance – The Mockingjay. Pressure, always pressure and then before she could get used to the idea some more pressure just in case it wasn’t already too much. She wanted to help of course. She couldn’t think of anyone else who hated the Capital more or wanted to see President Snow dead more than her but…. Was she up to it? That was the question that kept her awake at nights – that and the nightmares from the previous Hunger Games she had barely survived. She had her PR Team to make her look good on the propaganda videos but still she had to perform, she had to look as if she knew what she was doing, she had to inspire others. But to tell the truth she could barely inspire herself. Everything changed when Peter, dear lost Peter, warned of the incoming attack on District 13. If a near-death experience and the chance to save the boy you loved wasn’t enough to get her ass moving she really didn’t know what was. It was time to end this. Time to smash the Capital once and for all time. But then what? What would they put in its place and who would be its new face? Katniss had no idea. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted no part in any future where people, children, fought each other for entertainment. If she could just stop that it would all be worth it. Time to go to work….

I read the original Hunger Games in 2013 and Catching Fire two years later in 2015. Fast forward another SIX years and I finally finish another trilogy. At this rate I doubt if I’ll ever finish my next challenge – the Maze Runner series….. [lol] But anyway, at least it’s done now. Despite not enjoying the movie versions (OK, except the risible 3^rd movie in the Divergent series) as much as its competitor I do think that, overall at least, I enjoyed the books much more. The end of the Hunger Games trilogy was vastly superior to the train wreck that was ‘Allegiant’. Not only did it have a (mostly) coherent plot and quite a bit a character development – both for Katniss and some of the other major players (those who loved anyway!) – but the ending made sense and gave the readers a sense of closure and final relief for the girl simply no longer wanted to be on fire. Satisfying I think is the word rather than anything else. I don’t think that any of the books knocked it out of the park for me. They were, as this is, competent, solid, entertaining reads. The translation from page to screen was very accomplished with the screen version being rather toned down from the dark and surprisingly bloody books. There’s definitely a lot more death, blood and tears between these pages than ever made it to the silver screen – so be warned! If you were expecting action and fighting without blood and, all too often, guts too then you might be shocked at the graphic nature of the narrative. There’s plenty of soul searching too that didn’t make it to the movies (it would’ve slowed the narrative too much) so be ready for some pretty HEAVY thoughts here. Overall surprisingly good and overall better than the movies.       

 

 

Favourite Female Characters in Literature from the Last 10 Years of Reading

I recently finished ‘A Town Like Alice’ (review in around 5 weeks) and not only loved it but became very impressed by the main female character Jean Paget. I couldn’t help but think about all of the other great female characters I’ve discovered in other books over the years so started to put together a ‘Top 10’. Needless to say, looking below, this grew beyond 10 fairly quickly so I restricted it to the last 10 years of Blog reviews. Some of the characters have become famous in their own rights whilst others are obscure characters from equally obscure books but, for me at least, stood out in some way or other. So, here they are – in no particular order:

Jean Paget – A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

Elizabeth Bennett – Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Anne Elliott – Persuasion by Jane Austen

Mara Carlyle – Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

Jean Louise Finch (AKA ‘Scout’) - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Clarissa Oakes - Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O’Brian

Claire Abshire - The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Berenice Charlotte de Mornay-Perigord, former vicomtesse de Laval - The Rising by Ian Tregillis

Sarah Fry - Sharpe’s Escape by Bernard Cornwell

Andy (Andrea) Rodriguez - Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Mary Boulton - The Outlander by Gil Adamson

Georgia Mason - Feed by Mira Grant

Tomisen (Tomi) Harkaway - The Last by Hanna Jameson

Irene Sauvelle - The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafo

Miss Jane Marple – Various by Agatha Christie

Helen Ambrose - The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf

Ms Michael Tree - Deadly Beloved by Max Allan Collins

Madame Defarge - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Lacey Flint - A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton

‘Skeeter’ Phelan - The Help by Kathryn Stockett

‘Reno’ - The Flame Throwers by Rachel Kushner

Martha Andersson - The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

Mathilde Donnay - A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot

Anna-Maria Mella - The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson

Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Mina Harker - Dracula by Bram Stoker

Lea Prism - Prodigal by Marc D Giller

Rae "Sunshine" Seddon - Sunshine by Robin McKinley

 

 

 

 

Just Finished Reading: Dark Tide – The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo (FP: 2003) [238pp]

Boston Harbour, Around Noon, January 15, 1919. It started with a bang like thunder followed by what sounded like a carriage or an automobile crashing into a long fence. For the briefest of moments there was silence and then screaming. One word rang out above all others – RUN! Brief seconds before the 50 feet tall steel tank located conveniently on the harbour-side had ruptured spilling around 2.3 million gallons of molasses onto an unsuspecting populace. The 15 foot high wave moved at 35 miles an hour – far faster than anyone caught in its path could move. Minutes later around 50 people were dead, some drowning in basements, and hundreds more lay injured or maimed. Wooden buildings had been swept away and even the Boston overheard railway had buckled under the onslaught. But what had caused the tragedy? With the clean-up operation still in progress the highly respected ‘soldier-lawyer’ Hugh W Ogden was asked to get to the bottom of things, decide who was responsible for the tragic events of the January afternoon and assign compensation accordingly. Confident that he could do so in good time he told the partners of his law firm that he expected to be back in his office in six weeks. The full investigation and presentation of testimony would last much, much longer than that.

The company that owned the giant tank and had it specially built to house the molasses knew that they were on to a good thing. With the war in Europe getting ever more deadly and with the USA about to join in the need for explosives was never higher. With molasses as a major ingredient for industrial alcohol and with that as a major ingredient of a whole host of explosive substances the profits were immense – and could be maximised if the giant tank at Boston was erected on time and if it was kept as full as possible as often as possible. The onsite manager knew what was best for him and his career and pledged to ensure that both happened with expeditious speed. Unfortunately for near-by residents, mostly Italian immigrants housed in poorly maintained blocks adjacent to the harbour, the manager had little knowledge or experience of construction or the safety margins involved. Seen leaking from the moment it was constructed and a source of ‘sweetener’ for local children the only response from local management was the occasional ‘caulking’ of the seams and finally a re-paint to hide the stains of molasses dripping continually down the sides. Naturally when the tragedy unfolded the company in question denied any wrong doing or any negligence. In their ‘defence’ they proposed that the tank had been destroyed by Anarchist terrorists without a single piece of evidence to support it – apart from one rather questionable ‘eye witness’ who apparently saw ‘smoke’ rising from the tank just prior to the disaster. Other witnesses and expert testimony told quite a different story.

Apart from the leaking, visible to everyone and regularly reported, the giant tank itself had never been stress tested at anything like full capacity – even with water. The plans for the tank had never been approved or even inspected by any independently qualified engineers and the sheeting delivered from the steel company had never been checked to see if they met the specifications given to them and which had been requested by someone with no knowledge or expertise in the design or building of such tanks – and someone who had never even sought advice on the project. It was in every respect a complete shambles.

I’d never heard of this truly bizarre incident until this book popped up on my Amazon recommendations some time ago. With such a strange story I just had to buy it. I was most definitely NOT disappointed. The reporting of the incident itself, the very interesting political background behind a whole spate of bombing throughout the US at that time and the look at the investigation was riveting. Told with knowledge and gusto this was a fascinating and often heartrending tale from beginning to end which did full justice to those who were injured and killed due to this avoidable disaster. If you’re looking for something more than a little odd or just for a gripping tragic story this is definitely the book for you. Highly recommended.      

 

 

 Doing it wrong.............