Am I now a "Mockingjay"?

It's taken me approximately a week....I finished the first in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.  Wow.  As much as I'm enjoying reading Gone with the Wind, I have had an equally difficult time putting down The Hunger Games.  I finally couldn't stand it anymore today; I sat in my recliner/rocker and finished the book.  It really is a great book.

What is hard for me is not only that this book is apparently geared towards the younger generation (12 to 18 year olds in particular, it seems), but also that these are CHILDREN (12 to 18 year olds) killing each other!!!  There is never a question of IF Katniss (or her fellow tributes) will kill; it's simply a matter of WHEN Katniss and her fellow tributes will kill.  (Don't worry.  I'm not really giving away anything important that you don't learn within the first few pages of the book.)  It's so very disturbing. 

Just as Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" has always been disturbing..  It's always interesting to me that students who choose to read that story in my class are the very ones who come in the day we're working with the story talking about how much they hate the story--how "stupid" the story is because Tessie is killed in the end.  They argue that the story is pointless and just plain "dumb."  Yet, here's this little book by Suzanne Collins that is taking the country by storm. 

I finally read both the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series because others told me how great both series are and that if I love to read as much as I do, I'll love both of them.  So I read both series and, of course, have become a true "Potterite" and "Twi-Hard."  I've read both series at least 4 times through--all the books in each series, and yes, that includes the online availability of the partial draft of Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun as well as The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.  The same thing essentially has happened with The Hunger Games.  I've had a number of friends and students tell me that I HAVE to read the books; they know I'll enjoy them.  So, I finally got myself my copy of the first book, let it sit on my shelf for a good week, and then started it.....and even put aside Gone with the Wind to finish it first!!!

This book really keeps the audience's attention.....no doubt about that.  It's scary and creepy how well it keeps the audience's attention, though, considering the fact that it's a book about kids killing, yes murdering, each other in terrible and violent ways.  We were actually talking about this unusual phenomena the other day (in my British Lit class)--about how we as an audience are drawn inexorably to the scary, gory, unusual, awful, bloody, etc., etc., etc.  (The most interesting part of The Picture of Dorian Gray is when Dorian kills Basil and the way Basil's body is disposed of.) 

Yet, here we all are, hungrily (yes, the pun is intended) reading this new series, even chomping (again, pun intended) at the bit for the next one to come out!  Of course, the whole series has been released, but now that I've bought the first one in paperback, I can't buy the 3rd one until it's out in paperback, too!!!!  I'm sure I'll read it before then, but still.

Anyway, how am I supposed to reconcile my horror at what is happening on the page with the fact that I am drawn to this story--to reading each and every word of this story--like a hungry lion is drawn to raw meat?!  And, I can't wait for the movie to come out!!!!  I keep watching the movie trailers, anxiously wondering if my favorite (how can I say I have any favorite???) scenes will be portrayed as I envision them in my own head!!!

The Hunger Games truly is a horrific story.  I couldn't cry at all, which I found odd, but I knew what was coming.  It's not that the story is overly predictable, which typically ruins a book/story for me.  It's simply that when the reader knows that 24 kids go in to an area and they aren't allowed out until there's only one left standing, there can't be too many surprises.  There are a few, but not so surprising that I found myself crying over them.  I was, and am, horrified.....just not surprised.

Does that make any sense?

I'm hoping to get the next book in the series before the weekend is out and start reading it as soon as possible.  There's no way I can continue waiting to read the next book.  How did the original fans of the book wait for each subsequent book of the trilogy to be released?!  It's just as bad as waiting for the next Harry Potter book or the next in the Twilight series!!!!  Thankfully, I didn't jump on board with either of those series either until all the books were available!!!!  I'd go absotively, posolutely NUTS if I had to wait any longer to read the next book in the series!!!!

Finally, now that I'm a Hunger Games fan, what is my new nickname?  And how do I reconcile all three of my favorite series into one nickname rather than being called individually a "Twi-Hard," "Potterite," and...."Mockingjay" (????)?  I don't know what fans of The Hunger Games  are called, but I like the idea of being a "Mockingjay"-----I can live with that......

This is getting nuts....

It is not news that I read more than one book at a time.  This is the first time in a long time, though, where I don't know which book to read because I'm enjoying both of them so much!  And to make matters even more difficult, the new Jodi Picoult book comes out next Tuesday and I want to read it right away!  Plus, March 6, I think it is, Frank Peretti's first new book in over 7 years will be out!  I can't wait!  I signed up through Facebook to receive the book, so for every person who signs up, so many chapters become available for free!!!!  I have 10 chapters already waiting for me in my email!!!!!  Yeah!!!!  I love those authors; I read EVERYTHING they write!

But anyway, currently, I am reading Gone with the Wind, The Hunger Games, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.  All 3 are really great books that are each keeping my attention and making me want to read!  It's really pretty excited to be reading so many books at once that are each awesome in its own way!  The only one that is a new read for me is The Hunger Games, but I am still eating up the other two as if I've never read either one before!  Considering the fact that it's been close to 30 years since I last read Gone with the Wind, it feels like a first read!!!!

I honestly don't understand how/why people don't read.  It makes no sense to.  Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie version of The Hunger Games, but my imagination is doing a great job of seeing the story on its own.  I can't wait to watch the movie version of Gone with the Wind--again.  It truly is one of the few movies that does justice to the book and has characters, scenes, etc. that are worthy of the great novel.  Vivian Leigh is absolutely incredible as Katie Scarlett and Clark Gable was (and still is) the ONLY choice for Rhett Butler!!!  Oh, I love that man!!!! 

As you know if you read my previous post, I saw Dorian Gray, the movie, over this past weekend.  Boy was I ever disappointed.  I GET that Dorian lived a life devoted solely to pleasure [of the senses] and that Dorian is as sex-crazed as he's presented in the movie, but that doesn't mean I need to SEE it.  All of the boobs were totally unnecessary for the story as a whole.  I understand several of the things the director and writer chose to do with the story, but if he wanted to make a porno movie, why didn't he just say and do so?! 

I am honestly on pins and needles in anxiety about getting back to my books.  I have one I read just when I go to the bathroom.  One I read whenever I'm sitting in my "special" spot on my couch.  And the other I read when Samuel does his reading for homework.  And I am enjoying each book and can't wait to get to the next word, the next page, the next chapter of each one!!!!  It seems a little odd to be reading so many books at once that I am actually enjoying!  I usually read several books at once because I don't like at least one of the books I'm reading and reading something else helps take away the monotony of reading something I'm not enjoying!!!!

Now, I want to pick up each one and read each one---but all at the same time!!!!!! 

Dorian vs. Dorian

I'm going to start this by saying that I LOVE Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.  It's one of my favorite books--among so many others there are too many to count.  Anyway, I love the concept of the picture taking in EVERYTHING from Dorian's life, especially his sins/evil--he doesn't do any good, so there's no reason to mention it.  That's a genius idea of dealing with the whole immortal plot concept.  Who hasn't looked at a favorite picture and thought about the good times  and wished they could have lasted....forever?!

So I was excited, yet a tad trepidatious, about watching the 2008 movie version called Dorian Gray.  We're supposed to watch it in my British Lit class later this week and I felt the need to preview the movie first.  If you've read the book, you understand my trepidation. 

I did NOT like the movie one tiny iota.  First of all, it's awful.  I don't think the acting is good at all.  They deliver Wilde's epigrams as epigrams rather than smooth lines of comfortable dialogue.  Secondly, Colin Firth has straight black hair and dark brown eyes, almost black, even.  Dorian is clearly described by Wilde as having curly blonde hair and blue eyes!!!!  Why change that?!  Even Matthew McConnehy (sp?) would have been a better choice just because of his looks!  UGH!  Third, the BEST scene in the whole book isn't even in the movie!!!!  When Dorian breaks it off with Sibyl in the book, she has fallen on her face before him (yes, she's bowing before him), and she reaches her tiny, pitiful hand out to touch Dorian's boot as he tells her she has killed his love for her because of her bad acting [in front of his friends].  It's such an incredibly tragically, romantic moment in the book.  I can see Sibyl's pitiful, tiny hand reaching out, yet pulling back because she isn't even worthy to touch his boots, as Dorian pulls his boot roughly away from her and storming out of the room--leaving Sibyl to her pain and despair......and eventually, to take the poison to kill herself.

The movie has Sibyl kill herself by jumping in the river.  That IS more tragically romantic than taking poison, but it simply seems to me to be an unnecessary change to the story as a whole.  Overall, it's the least significant change in the story, but I simply don't see the need to change something like that.  Drugs are such an important part of the overall story, so having Sibyl die of some poison fits that part of the story more than her jumping off a bridge into the River.

I also can't believe that the movie has Dorian dispose of Basil's body himself.  Dorian would not have done that.  He's above such things.  Besides, it's an incredibly powerful scene when he calls in his "friend" to dispose of the body.  That scene where Dorian has to convince said friend to do this terrible deed is a superb representation of how powerful Dorian has become.  While he hasn't grown "up" as far as appearances are concerned, Dorian has grown up and grown into his manhood.  He has taken charge of his own life.  He has realized the power of money, as well as his own youth and beauty.  He understands the power he wields...now.  He no longer needs Henry/Harry.  He can make his own decisions.  He has become even more of what Henry/Harry expects him to be---Evil incarnate.

And worst of all, it's really the director's excuse to create a porno movie.  I personally think the director should have called the movie Dorian Makes a Porno.  The graphic sex and drugs scenes are TOOOOOOOO..........I know that Wilde very clearly talks about the fact that Dorian, after Sibyl's death, proceeds to live a life of utter pleasure, doing anything and everything that pleases Dorian himself, including, but not exclusive to, sex with both men and women and drugs, opium in particular.  But Wilde was able to create an amazing story with vivid images of Dorian's life of pleasure without specifically describing the events in detail.  Which means that the extreme pleasure scenes this director takes with this movie version are completely over the top and unnecessary.  I don't need to SEE "it" to know "it" is going on......Do you know what I mean?  Besides, it's sexier to leave something to imagination.

I'm very disappointed in the movie version.....And I haven't even talked about the picture itself!  I'm not even going to get started on THAT......good grief.....did they have to have the picture growl evilly??????  Seriously?!  UGH!!!!  And then to have Dorian fall in love with Harry's daughter and betray Harry by sleeping with her?!  No words.......

For those in my British Lit class, if you want to see Dorian Gray, you'll have to watch it on your own time--with your parents' permission.  I'm not going to show this one.  I'm corrupting you enough just by agreeing to the class choice to read the book.......!!!!!

Dorian Gray and Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler

Ok.  I realize that I probably never would have thought of this if I hadn't been reading both The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gone with the Wind at the same time, but the truth is, I am reading both books at the same time, so I DO see that Scarlett and Dorian have a lot in common!

1.  Both choose to "think about [it] tomorrow"--which, in essence boils down to not thinking about "it" at all because usually when "tomorrow" comes, we have other things pressing that need to be thought about--or put off until....tomorrow!

2.  Both are beautiful.  And they're obsessive about their own youth and beauty--as well as of those around them, but mostly for themselves.  Dorian has always been petted and treated like a little prince because he's handsome--I mean, come one, he has blond, curly hair, and striking blue eyes!!!!  Matthew  McConaughey would make a WONDERFUL Dorian!!!  Yummy!  And Scarlett is very concerned with the fact that she has the smallest waist in the County--16 inches!!!!  And after having Wade, she forces herself into her stays, even though she can't breathe, so she can be back at her original waist-line!  She's very upset that she's had a baby and ruined her tiny figure!  (She's even upset after each child is born about her tiny waist, not just Wade.)  Dorian, of course, sells his soul for his Youth and Beauty. 

3.  Which brings me to the fact that both Scarlett and Dorian sell their souls.  Dorian does it in the second chapter while Scarlett does it after she's gone back home to Tara when the Yankees take Atlanta.  Dorian sees the portrait Basil has painted of him (Dorian) and he's attracted by the youth and beauty of himself in the painting.  To himself, he says that he'd sell his soul if the painting could take the pressures of life while he stays exactly as the painting (he is) at that time.

Scarlett sells her soul when she goes to the abandoned plantations to look for food for the starving mouths looking to her to lead them and feed them.  She's disillusioned because she'd gone home to Tara believing that her mother would take the burdens from her and Scarlett could go back to being the belle of the county with nothing more to worry about than which beaux will flirt with her next.  Rather than peace and tranquility, when she gets home to Tara (after being gone for more than 3 years), she finds that her mother died the day before she got there and her father quickly loses his mind as a result of Ellen's death.  Thus, everyone at Tara is looking to Scarlett to take care of them.  She becomes the master of the plantation--and she's only 19! 

(Another point of comparison between Dorian and Scarlett is that they're both young--I'm not sure what age is considered "coming of age" in Victorian England, but Dorian hasn't "come of age" yet, so he's got to be in his late teens or early twenties.)

So Scarlett goes to the plantations around Tara to look for food.  She finds a vegetable garden by the "darkies'" cabins and soon gobbles down a raddish.  Her empty stomach can't handle the food and she begins to vomit profusely over and over.  As Scarlett is walking home, she declares, "As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!"  You all know the famous line from the movie.  It's pretty powerful. 

Many might argue that Scarlett sells her soul much sooner in the story.  Maybe back when Ashley won't marry her and she marries Charles Hamilton to spite Ashley.  Or when she actually convinces Ashley to kiss her, admitting that he DOES care for her.  Or at some other earlier point in the story.  But before Scarlett has the moment previously described, she tries very hard to be a good girl.  She isn't really a praying woman, but she at least TRIES to pray.  She tries so hard to be the young, virtuous woman her mother trained her to be.  She feels the same way Rhett does about so many different issues, but she's afraid to say them aloud because of her upbringing--her training--and of what others will say/think of her.

But once she yells, "As God as my witness...," she completely changes.  She soon kills a man (or had that JUST happened?  I don't have my book in front of me to remember which came first).  She quits praying or even pretending to pray.  She becomes hard (there's a quote--again, I don't have my book to quote it...).  When the war is over, she goes to ANY length to fulfill her declaration and to ensure that she and hers never go hungry again--but especially for herself.  She even steals her sister's affianced, Frank Kennedy (whom Scarlett never could stand), because she knows that Frank has the ability to make money and to make it fast.  (And that her sister would never share with the whole family and/or take care of Tara, while Scarlett will--and does.)

She's ruthless.  Just as Dorian is ruthless.  We don't get as much detail about what Dorian does, but we can understand that he's loved....a LOT....and left....a LOT.  We can also assume that many of his relationships have not been with just women.  He's become a drug addict, smoking opium in opium dens on a consistent basis.  (Remember, Scarlett has her first real taste of strong liquor her first night home to Tara after the burning of Atlanta; she continues to enjoy a good, stiff drink every so often thereafter.  She even uses perfume to try to mask the smell of alcohol on her breath!) 

And, yes, eventually, Dorian kills a man--violently, just as Scarlett has.  Dorian uses his cane (if I'm remembering the scene correctly) while Scarlett shoots the Yankee soldier's face off.  Both cover up their murders swiftly, having the help of someone to clean up quickly so no evidence is left of the act or the body.  And neither really feels any guilt or remorse over what he/she has done.  Again, they both decide to "think about it tomorrow," but tomorrow, they have other cares to concern themselves with, so their murders are swept under the rug as if they never happened.

These are just a few ideas I have at the moment that I can think of.....more is there, but I really need to bring this a close right now.....

Dark Lady of Grammar

This title, officially, was actually bestowed upon a friend of mine when a Darth Vader mask was passed down from another fellow colleague who originally had the title "Dark Lord of Grammar."  (He moved on up and is no longer actually teaching English, so he passed the mantle.)  Anyway, regardless of whether I hold the title or not, I feel that way.  Dame Mitchell has disappointed me.  No, her editors have disappointed me.

There is NO VALID reason for leaving out the comma before the "and" when listing in ANY context.  I guess it's called the "Oxford Comma."  There's been a lot of debate recently among the folks in the world of English about whether or not the "Oxford Comma" should be used.  It's a load of crap.  I'm including a few web sites who, apparently, agree with me.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Oxford-Comma/48254769340

The cartoon in this link is disgusting, but it makes the point very effectively:  http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/oxford-comma-cartoon/

So why bring this up?  Dame Mitchell leaves the comma out.  It's killing me.  I actually want to put the commas in for her.  I realize that her editor(s) more than likely preferred the comma be left out, but it's still killing me. 

I still see the greatness of Dame Mitchell's amazing work, but it's very frustrating to find the discrepancy of something like that in a work I consider one of the greatest of the 20th century.  But I also find it very frustrating and upsetting to read each of the Harry Potter books and see the grammatical mistakes there.  Granted, I'm trying to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt in hopes that it's not HER fault that subject/pronoun agreement is misused throughout each of the 7 books....maybe it's just taking it from Britain and translating it for Americans. 

I feel so strange even typing that.  It is so odd to think that Americans even need a TRANSLATION of the Harry Potter books because Rowling wrote them in true British fashion.  I realize I'm different from millions of other readers in that I truly do love British literature--the old and the new--so I WANT the British version of the stories; I'm frustrated and very disappointed in the fact that in order to me to even get a British version of the HP series, I'd have to sell my kidney, my husband, and probably my right arm.

But I digress.  (What's new?!) 

Anyway, I am trying very hard to focus on the STORY of Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton (she still hasn't remarried yet) rather than the grammar problems I'm finding in the story, but obviously that dumb comma, or lack thereof actually, is driving me crazy!