Sunday Morning Round-Up

I have a little time so I thought I would collect together a few stray (and unrelated) items that I've been meaning to blog... (Potential Spoiler alert! I will try to not give too much away as I talk about these books, but if you plan to read them and don't want to know anything about what is coming, stop here and go to the next section!) If you look at the "Last Four Reads" list on the right, you will see that I most recently finished Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I rated the books 3.5 and 4 out of 5 but if I had been a young(er) adult I think I would have rated them higher. There is quite a lot to think about in these books. The portrayal of the shallow and obscenely wasteful Capital citizens who love the annual Hunger Games (think Survival, with weapons instead of voting someone off the island)is really thought provoking. It would be especially so to a young person who hadn't already been jaded by the gap between haves and have-nots. I also think the combination of both waging and staging (yes, I mean like a TV show) of war would also be more effective with young adults. Although, I know there are many adults who don't realize that what they watch on TV and read in the newspaper is shaped by the perspective of the author.

Overall, I liked the series and think it should join the collection of books that make young people question the government, war, media, propaganda, and unfairness. I also think this would be a series that might interest boys. There is a hint of a love story, but not enough to turn them away. What might turn them away is the movie coming out. I know some kids who would rather wait for the movie than read the book. Sad!

 Other books that feel similar to me are the classic Animal Farm by George Orwell, and I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier which may now be called a classic. (It was written in 1977 which doesn't sound old enough to be a classic to me!) Robert Cormier also wrote some other young adult books with similar themes.

 Elefante: I promised pictures. I'll do better than that. Click here for the link to the pattern.  The Rainey Sisters have a pattern for knitted ears and I did that rather than crochet them.  Their elefante pictures and the ears pattern is here.

 Finally, a few pictures of my recent mileage (most of it in hills).  It's the California landscape that I love.   It is quite alarming that in mid-to-late February it still isn't emerald green.  This is going to be a bad drought year.  But depressing thoughts like that are for another day.  Here are some pictures...