A Different Approach

So if you follow my previous blogs, you will see that I felt my last book did not have what I needed for my blogs, so I am taking the high road and going for a classic I have always wanted to read, Catcher in the Rye.  I have a brief idea what the novel is about thanks to Billie Joe Armstrong writing the song Who Wrote Holden Caufield? (which happens to be his favorite song off of their album Kerplunk!).  Also i am a complete fraud.  If you spend anytime with me, chances are you will hear me scream at the top of my lungs "KILL THE PHONIES!!!!!" and I have no idea what I am talking about.  So hopefully after reading this I will.  I will be looking for literary devices and themes that play a role that serves a purpose more than just entertainment.

Well this is awkward

Sooo I'm going to go ahead and give you a minute to read the post below this one.... Go ahead I'll wait.

Good?

Cause I'm not.

So I finished lines and right at the end repition kicked in once again, with an awful ending.  Now, I don't mean to say it was anticlimatic or poorly written, just that the ending did not really end, but i guess thats what you get when you read a series.  Once again the story is cut off and leaves you hanging simply wanting more. I also learned that there are six books in the series, so i still have a while to go, but I guess this is just another wonderful example of how repition is key for a series.  As soon as a reader is hooked on a series they want to be picking up the next book as soon as they place the current one down.

Also, I know that for Q3 we were expected to be more analytical with our blog posts, and I don't want to make this sound like a cop out, but I can't.  Well, maybe not in the sense I am supposed to be.  While reading this novel, I was looking out for literary devices and their effect on the book I obviously found how plot was incorportated and imagery was used to paint a picture for the reader, but after reading this novel and thinking of others I have read like it, they do not serve any other purpose than to entertain, and there is nothing wrong with that.  This is not Shakespeare.  This is not Coleridge.  It's entertainment.  The point of the style of this author is simply to get the reader hooked to continue reading the series.  I guess that is why Mrs. Reilly told us Harry Potter isn't literature, and that annoyed a lot of people...

I <3 Mrs. Reilly.

Same old Same old

It nice when things are familiar, especially in a series.  Lies starts of just like the other books of the GONE series with our (and my) hero Sam Temple and his thoughts.  He is still asking the same questions that he has been asking in each book.  What is the FAYZ? How did this happen? Plus facing new problems as the reluctantly appointed leader of the town.  Witht he electricity out and there is no water supply.  He walks around the town and runs into kids with powers one of which can read peoples dreams, and even the dreams of Sam's mother.  This same conflict of Sam and the mysteries facing his mother confront him once again.  Now while to some they may possibly view repition as a lazy tactic of an author, I would have to disagree.  Not only do reoccurring themes ties together a series and make them one big piece, but they also help fans of the series settle right back to the state of mind they were in reading the previous book.  I feel repition is the most useful tool that an author of a series can use for this purpose.

NEW BOOK

Soo while Hunger Games was amazing and I cannot wait to read the second book,  I have yet to get my hands on a copy.  Lazy you say? A little.  Done with reading forever? I think not! Instead i will be reading the third novel of one of my facortie fiction series, GONE.  The third book is entitled Lies and the series author is Michael Grant, and for the readers who are not familiar with these books I wanted to give a quick summary of what is going on.  Basically this is a world with no adults and kids with superpowers.  Sounds awesome? It's not.  This kids face starvation, evil kids with powers, a dome surrounding them that burns you when you touch it, and oh yeah the fact that when you turn 16 you disappear, unless youre Sam.  Sam was able to come back after his birthday (shocking that the main character stays in the novel).  So these kids do not know what happened and they are not getting far on figuring it out.  This series is like one long Twilight Zone episode, and Twilight Zone is one of my favorite shows.  I'm so glad i finally get a chance to read this novel.

Hunger Games Final

The only thing that made me upset (but not really) was thinking there was going to be an ending because I was unaware that it was a series... but I will be reading the other books.  It was incredible.  When the author brought in the rule change for District pairs I totally called the rule changing at the very end, but I did not see them attempting suicide even though it was hinted at the entire time.  They did show that the Capital did not own them and cutting off the book was an excellent choice.  The novel ended right at the rising action of the series and drives the reader to run out and buy the second book.  This was an easier read but that does not take away any of the greatness.  It totally lived up to everyone's suggestion that I would love this book.

It's all fun and games until you have to kill someone from your district

Well that was very interesting.  Picking two kids from each District to go and fight til the death for glory and rewards so that the Capital can remind every who is in control. Sounds completely normal, oh but don't forget that the boy/girl standing next to you on stage who was just picked for your district as well will be trying to kill you before you kill them and apparently there is a chance you will become an alcoholic if you win.... Anyway, I am finally out of the expositional or background descriptions and am wondering about the future course of the plot.  Obviously, Katniss will be fighting in the Hunger Games with the dreamboat baker's son, but I am hoping she will be leading some kind of revolution and confront the capital somehow.  Collins has been alluding to past events of Katniss's life and then cutting away to something else and eventually coming back to the flashback.  This is one of my favorite techniques, and I feel it is one of the most effective.  Nothing keeps a reader reading like a little piece of something interesting and then cutting to something totally unrelated.

Missed Out On History

Once again, Metallica.  For those who do not know, the members of Metallica are celebrating the band's 30th year together.  To celebrate, they played 4 shows in San Fransico, their home town, and invited other musicians they have played with or looked up to to join them on stage.  Many icons took the stages and former bass players, but greatest of all, Dave Mustaine creator, singer, and lead guitarist of Megadeth, one of my top three all-time favorite bands.  Dave joined his former band mates to play three songs off of Metallica's debut album.  I was able to catch the performance on YoutTube and my jaw dropped seeing him up there with Lars and James once again.  I noticed Kirk Hammett, Dave's replacement, was also on the stage which was honestly a little disappointing.  The overall atmosphere would have been awesome with only the original members (that is if the original bass player played that night).  I have always been Team Dave and have felt he is a better player, has better solos, and is a better songwriter than Hammett, but I love Kirk as well.  But with that being said seeing Dave take over the lead roles and playing the solos that he wrote back in 1981 was incredible.  I would have loved to be there and seen that icon take the stage, but then again I have.  I have seen Megadeth twice and it was fantastic, and I cannot wait to see them again on January 26 with Motorhead for Gigantour.  One last thing, Th1rt3en is an amazing Megadeth album; some of their best stuff.  Recommended tracks would be "Whose Life Is It Anyways?" "We the People" and "Deadly Nightshade."