I’m on chapter 10 of this bestseller that’s been making noise for quite some time now for being a tight-plotted, fast-paced YA (young adult) fantasy book (now a series, with the release of it’s sequel Catching Fire and a 3rd book under way).

Not out of unwillingness to finish this book, as I am guilty of several others I own, I haven’t pushed farther than the 10th chapter. My schedule so far is not keeping up with this book’s pace, because it sure is a very enjoyable read. There is a possibility that I will change my mind about this when I get to the end, but most of those who have read this one made book 2 a best seller and one of the best books of 2009.

Ok, about my post title. Here’s the deal, real fast, before I start looking for best eye cream for dark circles in preparation for the sleepless nights I’m planning to spend to finish reading:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.

You read that right. They throw children into an “arena”, have them kill each other in however way they can, until there is only one surviving. ‘Survivor’ has nothing on this game/show. It sounds terrible, really, and that’s partly the reason why I’m apprehensive to read this book. But I’m assuming there’s a moral lesson to all of this. There’s got to be, right?

“Well,” gasped Mr. Button, “which is mine?”

“There!” said the nurse.

Mr. Button’s eyes followed her pointing finger, and this is what he
saw. Wrapped in a voluminous white blanket, and partly crammed into
one of the cribs, there sat an old man apparently about seventy years
of age. His sparse hair was almost white, and from his chin dripped a
long smoke-colored beard, which waved absurdly back and forth, fanned
by the breeze coming in at the window. He looked up at Mr. Button with
dim, faded eyes in which lurked a puzzled question.

“Am I mad?” thundered Mr. Button, his terror resolving into rage. “Is
this some ghastly hospital joke?

“It doesn’t seem like a joke to us,” replied the nurse severely. “And
I don’t know whether you’re mad or not–but that is most certainly
your child.”

So goes a scene from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Of course, everyone knows there’s a movie now, and although it’s not something that will make anyone rush for New Orleans hotel reservations, I found the movie gorgeous in more ways than one. In a nutshell, it is a story about a man who ages backward. Born an “old man” and spent his life in reverse, if only in the physical sense. If you need extra persuading, the movie stars Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt. There. I’ll be rewatching this next.

Here’s something I’m very excited about. One of my most favorite authors (for his epic and lyrical storytelling) will release this new book on August/September 2009.

Publisher’s description:

[514 pages. Published by Doubleday]

An unlikely group of Charlestonian teens forms a friendship in 1969, just as the certainties and verities of southern society are quaked by the social and political forces unleashed earlier in the decade. They come from all walks of life, from the privileged homes of the aristocracy, from an orphanage, from a broken home where an alcoholic mother and her twins live in fear of a murderous father, from the home of public high school’s first black football coach, and from the home of the same school’s principal. The group’s fulcrum, Leopold Bloom King, second son of an ex-nun Joyce scholar, who is also the school’s principal, and a science-teacher father, is just climbing out of childhood mental illness after having discovered his handsome, popular, athletic, scholarly older brother dead from suicide. Over the next two decades, these friends find success in journalism, the bar, law enforcement, music, and Hollywood. Echoing some themes from his earlier novels, Conroy fleshes out the almost impossibly dramatic details of each of the friends’ lives in this vast, intricate story, and he reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina [the nearby Outer Banks], or anywhere else in the U.S.

Now that the longish (mine started on Friday) weekend is over, I’m not at all excited about the coming work days (who’s gonna be, really?). I can’t say that I had a productive, nor what should have been reflective, weekend. Like most of my nonworking days, I spent the entire holidays inside my apartment, with the exception of Saturday night when I went out to play badminton.

Here are a few notes on what kept me busy and some news that caught my attention:

I started watching season 1 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: so far, so good. I’ve read that season 2, which had its finale last Friday, is even better. I’m not really drawn into action TV shows, or movies for that matter; guns ablazing and explosive action sequences do not interest me much, but I’m a sucker for dramatic voiceovers, so when TSCC started with that, with Sarah Connor talking about the love of a mother to her child, it got to me. I hope to finish the series before the Christian Bale Terminator movie comes out (although I don’t think the movie’s plot is tied to the show).

Next, Angel. The Buffy spin-off is the only remaining Whedon show I haven’t finished watching (I’m currently on season 3, out of five). It’s a good show. Not Buffy, but good; funny and witty as well, although with less of the emotional punch. I’m trying not to like the characters so much because I know for a fact that they are all doomed, one way or the other.

 
The current Whedon show, Dollhouse, is getting better and better. Episode 9,  A Spy in the House of Love, is filled with plot twists and more revelations that kept me at the edge of my seat (make that my bed) for the entire 40 or so minutes. With this shot of Echo, though,I can’t help but think of Faith (the rogue-turned-good Slayer). Make that glass shard she’s holding wooden and she’s all ready to do some vampire staking.

In celebrity couples news, Freddie Prinze, Jr., and Sarah Michelle Gellar are soon to become parents. Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec, also expecting their first child soon, tied the knot.

My book reading project – three books a week – didn’t go as well as planned, but I’m slowly going through the volumes I currently have while trying not to buy more books, at least until after I’m down to two or three remaining unread ones. Here are a couple of titles I’ve been reading for weeks now (hopefully, I’ll have the time and the inclination to write decent reviews later):

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: One of the best books I’ve read. Ever. The prose is exquisite; the language is masterful and eloquent, which is not really a surprise because Margaret Atwood is a poet. The plot, not so much if you’re looking for a thrilling page-turner, but major kudos to originality: It has a story within a story within a story. As the narrator for almost half of the book, Iris Chase-Griffen, is laying down the events of her life and that of her troubled sister, Laura, we simultaneously read the novel that made Laura famous, The Blind Assassin, which tells the tale of mysterious lovers in hiding. Within Laura’s novel, the male half of the clandestine couple is spinning a science fiction yarn to keep his love interested.

The Birthday of the World and Other Stories by Ursula Le Guin. Now this is one book I wouldn’t recommend to everyone. Le Guin’s science fiction is easy enough to access, as she writes about ordinary actions and transactions of day-to-day living albeit set in a futuristic and intergalactic setting (utopian societies, as they are called), but her themes may be a bit of a head scratcher, especially for conservative point of views. In this volume of short stories, of which I’ve read only the first two for now, the recurring themes of exploration of sexual identity in an androgynous society and its political and cultural implications are rife. Forgive my ignorance because I’m rather new to science fiction, but if this genre is meant to be otherworldly, then this book definitely represents it. It presents an entire new world of thought, with its own terminologies (say, wombsib for “brother” or “sister”). I feel incompetent to say much about Le Guin’s works so to quote a Guardian reviewer: “If you can manage the sentence ‘None of my hearthsibs had been sent off to the Fastness before their kemmerday’ without either laughing or falling into a rage, you will get on with this book. If not, there may be some issues.”

…I’d buy this book right away. It will look good on display and it would make me very happy.

The blurb:

The Complete X-Files is a declassified look at all nine seasons of the American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter. Delve into the mystery and myth of X-Files with in-depth looks at its entire television run, the first X-Files film, and the upcoming cinematic sequel. X-Files creator and producer Chris Carter takes us into the never-before-seen archives with explanations of unsolved plots, discussions of the FBI’s paranormal investigations, scene by scene breakdowns of popular episodes, and insider information on both the previous and upcoming X-Files films. Discover the mystery behind Mulder’s alien abduction, Scully’s secret objectives, the designs of the shadowy “Cancer Man,” and the full truth about the Mytharc episodes. Includes many bells and whistles, such as gatefolds, alien and monster charts, alien and monster cards, movie posters, a secret dossier, Mulder and Scully booklets , and more! The Complete X-Files will captivate fans and sciencefiction audiences, proving that nothing is what it seems and that “the truth is out there.”

Fans who have already purchased the book have been rather satisfied with what they’ve seen although it’s a little disheartening that not a few mentioned several typo errors and editorial deficiency. It only comes in hardcover and is available only in the States for now so my only option  is to make another online purchase. At almost $50, it’s a rather hefty purchase that may even push me to apply for payday loans, but  what’s a Phile to do? I want me some Mulder and Scully pictures and behind-the-scene trivias.

We can argue that every fictional book provides some form of escapism. It takes you away from your world and lets you go inside another’s (made-up people, made-up circumstances). Looking at the works of fiction that I name my all-time favorites – Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love and Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides) – will highlight the fact that I tend to respond to stories of emotional journeys; it also helps a lot that these two authors both write in a style that is very lyrical. Some may find that tedious, but it’s always what makes me reread anything.

I realized that I stopped reading, or at least craving to find new books, when I started blogging two years ago. Time, or the lack of it, became an issue and I guess it’s OK because I didn’t feel then that I’m missing anything. Writing almost everyday, however, sort of depleted my reserves and lately I’ve been feeling that I wanted to get some fresh ideas, so my thirst for books returned. This time, I decided that I’ll go beyond my usual genre for a change.

I’m starting with science fiction and fantasy and, maybe later or in between, graphic novels and comics. There’s an interesting visual about escapist fiction here, and these are some titles on my to-read list (click the picture for description):

I already have most of these books, waiting to be devoured. Now all I need is my dream furniture that will make my reading experience infinitely better. It looks like this:

(where do I buy that, Dr. Horrible?)

I didn’t know that a literature piece can be used this way. I haven’t seen it for myself to put credence to the term ‘butchering’ (it just seemed fit with the theme) so let’s keep the quotes there until this book is out for us to judge, enjoy, and criticize (in whatever order those will come).

Details in my other blog.

So, this just proves that I can’t start talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and not keep on babbling. The show ended in 2003 but the story lives on. In comic books. I’ve read that the Buffy season 8 comics actually caused a spike (no pun intended) in the rate of females reading comics. Geek converts! I haven’t bought anything from the past 22 issues but I am keeping myself up to date, through the Internet of course. I’m not even sure if these are available locally, but like an emergency light in the dark, kind-hearted fans are always willing to scan and share stuff so I get to take a peek. 

The comics serve as the canonical continuation of the TV series, but somehow I don’t really accept that (Dawn’s a giant, then a centaur? Warren is alive, but no Anya, no Tara?). Not even if Joss Whedon says so. Ok, I guess I don’t really have a say in that but the covers are pretty awesome, especially those illustrated by Jo Chen (I mean, really, really awesome!).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Amber Benson has a new book, her first solo novel (it’s actually a 3-book series). She is the co-author of the Ghosts of Albion series, novels based on the BBC Cult animation created, written, and directed by Amber herself (written together with critically acclaimed fantasy writer Christopher Golden).

Reviews have been coming out and it sounds like something I’d totally check out. Ok, that’s also because I’m a total Buffy nut and I think Amber is uber cool, erudite, and talented and all that. I mean, just read her blog. 

Death’s Daughter is an urban fantasy about a sassy heroine who wants to live a normal life but woke up to realization that she is the Grim Reaper’s daughter and that she must save her family (and perhaps the world) by completing three nearly impossible tasks in the realm of the afterlife.

I wonder, if you find out that you are Death’s daughter, wouldn’t you want to take a paternity test just to be sure?  Sorry, that’s so lame [the suggestion, not the book].

Update: There’s an awesome video of Amber’s Writers on Writing panel (taken on February 8 at the New York Comic Con) up at Buffyfest where she talked about the different media of writing and how blogging is changing the world of publishing. It’s pretty neat.

Your heart is like a great river after a long spell of rain, spilling over its banks. All signposts that once stood on the ground are gone, inundated and carried away by that rush of water. And still the rain beats down on the surface of the river. Every time you see a flood like that on the news you tell yourself: That’s it. That’s my heart.

-Haruki Murakami (from Kafka on the Shore)

I think the heart holds everything. The reason for everything. It’s too small. But it’s everything.