#the WORLDBUILDING that suzanne collins manages floors me

[stormyrainyday]

i'm rereading the books and like. MAN i do this semi-frequently and they still manage to amaze me every time

forgive me for having hunger games brainrot in the year of our lord and savior jesus christ 2024 i'm about to be fucking insufferable

[isfjmel-phleg]

November 2023 Books

To Nowhere and Back by Margaret J. Anderson

Short time-slip story. Bit of an odd ending, but I enjoyed it.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (reread)

Reread in anticipation of the film, which I'm going to have to wait to see.

Between Floors by W. R. Gingell

Slowly making my way through this series. The character interactions in this one grabbed my attention, and I'm looking forward to the next installment whenever I can manage to get it.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Read for a book club that I'm sort of in. This was the first assigned book that I've actually wanted to bother with in quite a while, and then I wasn't able to join the discussion (no voice from a cold). Even so, I don't know what I would have said. I liked the book well enough but don't have any particular strong feelings about it. I guess I was expecting something a lot...more in-depth?

Giant Pumpkin Suite by Melanie Heuiser Hill

An extremely dedicated and single-minded young cellist has an accident that forces her life to take a different direction and finds growth and healing in helping her brother raise a giant pumpkin, a project that will bring them closer to their entire neighborhood. I enjoyed this a lot.

The Faces of Fear by Monica Hughes

This is an aggressively 1990s book with some rather dated perspectives, but I enjoyed the premise of the protagonist developing a friendship with someone she's never met through a VR game they're playing together, which has been designed to prey on their specific fears.

Sandwriter by Monica Hughes

I'd need to reread this one for it to sink in fully, but the worldbuilding and characterization were enjoyable, and I'd like to read the next book.

The Shadows of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny

Not as emotionally affective as the first book but nonetheless good. Although it had been long enough since I had read the earlier installment that I had forgotten names, and it was a bit difficult to get reoriented since the narrative expects you to remember everything right off the bat.

Tin by Pádraig Kenny

Beautiful. Moving. I never expected to get so invested in mechanical characters.

The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines by Mike Madrid

If you're going to discuss female characters in comics, maybe don't devote a significant portion of the book to overly detailed, purple-prosey descriptions of objectifying costumes or use derogatory terms to describe real or fictional women. Madrid claims to feel a connection with female superheroes but seems most interested in them for objectification while presenting his views as empowering/exalting them. Also way too many contrived comparisons to things in music history.

The Cloud Forest by Joan North

Some interesting characterization but too mystical (if that's the word I'm looking for) for my taste.

The Hideaway Summer by Beverly Hollett Renner

Such a delightfully middle-grade premise of young siblings who end up spending their summer living on their own in a vacation house near the woods and their domestic adventures. A lot of fun.

The Dark House of the Sea Witch by Joan C. Robinson

Slighter than Robinson's other books which I've read, but a well-written read.

Moonbranches by Anne Rundle

Fantastically Gothic atmosphere, but a weird, weird ending. I don't know how to feel about this one.

Mystery on the Isle of Skye by Phyllis A. Whitney

More of a travelogue/informational guide to the Isle of Skye than an actual story or mystery. Which doesn't make it bad, but I was less invested in it compared to other books I've read by this author.

Secret of the Stone Face by Phyllis A. Whitney

Standard Whitney mystery, not one of the more memorable ones for me.

Comics

The Ray 1994

The miniseries that preceded this ongoing series had a fascinating premise but not so much emphasis on characterization, so I was delighted to find that that changed with the 1994 series, which has a different author. Lots of shenanigans, to be sure, but we also get Ray's difficulties adjusting to adulting in the real world after living in lightless isolation for eighteen years, his doubts and insecurities and bouts of depression, and most of all, his complicated relationship with his father, the legacy he's been forced into, and his potential to become more like his father than he's willing to recognize. The Terrills have a fascinatingly complex and dysfunctional dynamic that provides a lot to analyze, and I'll be thinking about this series for a long time.

there is so much drama here that is being slept on, where are the Rayfam fics?