[Was] In My Mailbox & What I'm Reading This Week

This actually came the day before I went to camp, so I never got to post, but I got

Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy #1) from Harper Teen. Thank you so much! I'm reading it now and it's excellent!

Up next is
followed byHave you read any of these?
What did you get in your mailbox - last week or this week?

What makes a good character?

What makes a good character? To be specific, what makes a good main character or narrator?

I’ve been wondering about this more and more lately, especially after finishing the Hunger Games books and rereading some random book reviews. I think it’s interesting the words that keep reappearing when describing characters:

Strong, Shallow, Boring, Stupid, Cocky, Relatable, Funny, and the most descriptive word of all: … “Great”

I bet my criteria for a good main character and/or narrator is different from some of yours, and it dawned on me today that I’m actually a pretty capricious person in this regard, because I realized that I don’t even follow a set formula. Some characters just click with me, and others – for no major or noteworthy reason whatsoever –just don't.

I've copied some really interesting points made in reviews by one of my Goodreads friends and scatter them throughout this post. She has some really good ideas!

Now, for the reason I won't say, (Character) has an excuse for acting out of character, but EVEN considering said reason, he still acted like a jerk. Not once in the book did he do anything remotely redeeming.

First comes the issues of RELATABILITY (which is totally not a real word, but if Palin and Obama can make up words, so can I!). I’ve been thinking about characters, both as a reader and as a writer. I guess my question is – are all characters supposed to be relatable? I’ve seen this comment on several reviews, and it’s definitely on a lot of mine – about characters being relatable. And I wonder – do all authors even intend for characters to be relatable? If I say that I can’t relate to a character, am I even supposed to? What do you all think?

For the most part, I try to relate to the main character in each book, and usually I’m met with some kind of success. The last few MCs: Katniss Everdeen, Kelley Winslow (Wondrous Strange), Bertie Shakespeare Smith (Theatre Iluminata series), Jena (Wildwood Dancing), Grace (Wolves of Mercy Falls) and Grace (The Dark Divine) were all relatable in some sense. The characters I can’t really relate to are usually in the books that I give low grades to. That doesn’t mean, though, that characters have to be just like me. All of the above ladies have had experiences (within the realm of their stories) that I have not experienced, and all of them at one point or another made decisions that I probably would not have made, were I in their situation. That, to me, is one of the fun things about reading. In a way, it’s kind of like an out-of-body experience, isn’t it? You get to live vicariously through the characters. In my reviews, when I say that a character is “relatable,” I’m not saying “this character is a carbon copy of myself…” but I do mean that the character’s actions make sense to me. I may not have agreed with everything that Grace Brisbane did in Shiver and Linger, but I pretty much understood why she did them. I could relate to some of her actions, but I could almost always relate to her feelings. I guess this is the best way to explain what I mean when I talk about characters being relatable.

Next Point:

One thing that bothered me was how (Character) seemed to notice no one but herself. She is way too self absorbed, which made it hard for me to like her character.

(Raises hand) I’ve done this! It’s been hard for me to like characters because of their attitudes. I like characters who either start out strong and stay strong, or who gradually develop over the course of the story. Occasionally there are characters who are strong from the very beginning, but most characters have some sort of hindrance that they must work through or overcome. Sure, it’s nice to have characters I can relate to, but more importantly, I like characters I can look up to.

I also love smart characters. I don’t mean geniuses or always-make-the-right decision characters; I mean characters who know when they’ve screwed up and work toward a change. One of my favorite characters of all time is Jena from Wildwood Dancing, and she is the best example I can think of for this point. She’s a smart character to begin with, but at one point in the story she does something really stupid. She eventually sees her mistake and makes it right. I love characters like that!

It’s not necessary, but it’s an added bonus to have characters with a great sense of humor. Percy Jackson, one of my favorite characters of all time (and hands down favorite narrator) has a sense of humor that can’t be beat. It made reading the series more enjoyable, because who doesn’t love a laugh? It also really helps the mood and tone of the novel. Have you ever read a book that you thought took itself a little too seriously? Comic relief is definitely something that I find necessary in long stories.

When it comes to love interests, I personally prefer simple, sweet characters. I love “gentle warriors” who can be both sweet and affectionate and tough as nails if called to do so. Whether or not a guy is tough and good with a sword, though, I like them to be kind to the girl. Anything else is secondary to that. One of the reasons I love Peeta so much is just because he’s so kind-hearted. Every time he says something sweet (which is a lot) I get this big goofy grin on my face that won’t go away. I don’t look for complicated love stories, and I don’t need a lot of drama. The best love stories, for me, are the ones that feel genuine.

Last Point:

He lacked the elements required to make a fictional male of this genre appealing (bad-boy with a hidden heart of gold or an exuberant sweetheart in possession of a sense of humor, or tormented soul); and therefore, I didn't care what happened to him. When you don't care about the main character, a fantastic story is required.

And finally, the part of this post that is going to be the hardest to explain. For better or worse, I’m the kind of reader who almost always makes a decision about characters. I either like them or I don’t (Just liking a character, though, doesn’t mean I turn a blind eye to being objective – like with Katniss, for example). I rarely ever say about characters “I could take them or leave them.” But the weird thing is, I don’t always know why I like certain characters, and why I don’t like others. Are any of you the same way? I definitely agree with my friend’s comment, and I’ve made similar ones on my reviews. If I don’t like the main character/narrator, I will almost always be disengaged from the story. I don’t want to be that way, but I am. The main character is like the gigantic fat Santa Claus at the mall from our childhoods: you either run up to him squealing and laughing, or you turn on your heals and run in the opposite direction, but you can’t just get around him – he’s too big! Well, the main character/narrator is the same way.

So I listed my preferences. For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl, I like characters to

- be compassionate, and aware of other people’s feelings

- have a sense of humor

- treat the love interest kindly and with respect (in addition to completely necessary sizzling and smoldering kissing scenes!)

- be smart or somewhat intelligent. Not make stupid, random mistakes over and over again

- grow and develop over the course of the story. Overcome obstacles and move towards a goal.

Those are all the really broad things I could think of. What about you – what qualities do you think make a good character?

Giveaway - THE ETERNAL ONES ARC

From Goodreads:

What if love refused to die? Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was. In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again...

Razorbill was nice enough to send me a copy when they sent The Replacement, and I'd love to pass this ARC on to one of you!

I'm going to do this giveaway a little different from the other ones, so here are some rules:

1. YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER - please make sure that you click on "Follow" if you haven't already. I really do check!
2. You must live in the US or Canada. I'm so sorry, int'l pals - I bet you're all really sick of seeing this.
3. You must enter before Monday, August 9 (at 11 PM Central Time)

Extra Points for
1. Doing a blog post - +10
2. Being an 'Old' Follower (following before August 5) + 2
3. Tweeting (+2 for every tweet, and you can tweet as many times as you want)

The way you can enter is to leave a comment below. This is a pretty last-minute contest (I wanted to put it up before I went to camp, but alas that didn't happen) so it would help me so much if you'd help spread the word! The winner will be announced at 12 AM on August 10 (the day Eternal Ones is released into stores).

So long, July!

Whoa, July has come and gone, summer's almost over, and school is just around the corner.
However, this year the start of school doesn't have me crying and whining like usual.
Why?
Well, 1) senior year! and 2) school starts the same day Mockingjay is released! Ohhh, you know I'm gonna be reading that sucker in class!

July was a slightly slower reading month than June, but I still got in 5 books...which for me is pretty good. Actually, I finished Catching Fire on the 2nd, but since I started it in July, I'm counting it!

So here are some quick STATS!
Number of Books: 5
Favorite Read: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins (just as awesome as THG, but a tad more action put it in the 'Favorite' spot)
Least Favorite Read: Hmmm, I liked them all, but Uglies is probably the odd one out. Still gave it an A rating, though!
Most Original Idea or Story World: Hunger Games. Uglies was intriguing, definitely, but reminded me a tad too much of Stepford Wives to win this category.
Best Narrator/MC: Grace Brisbane, Shiver and Linger
Best Love Interest: PEETA MELLARK
Best Wisecracking Sidekick Character: drunken mentor Haymitch from The Hunger Games series
Author I'd Love to Hang Out With: out of this bunch, probably have to go with Suzanne Collins
Book That Had the Greatest Impact On Me: Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater. I read two majorly popular dystopian books: Uglies and The Hunger Games, and while dystopian novels always strive to make an impression on the reader (and both did!), it was the beautifully written, lyrical, simple love story of Sam and Grace and the intensity of Shiver that won me over.
Total # of pages read: 1,529
Final Grades:

Catching Fire
The Hunger Games
Linger
Shiver
Uglies

Review - CATCHING FIRE

Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) - Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA Dystopian, Sci-fi
# of pages: 391 (hb)
Amelia's Age-Level Recommendation: 12+
Publisher: Scholastic
Catching Fire @ Parental Book Reviews


All aboard the Hunger Games train! Yeehaw! Only 3 more weeks to go, folks!
Though it's hard to surpass the original, Catching Fire was in many ways more enjoyable to me than HG. This book covers more ground, and the pacing is crazy-fast, which made my fingers practically glued to the pages. I can't say enough how incredibly satisfied I am with this series. Suzanne Collins is a master-storyteller, and she has created a classic series. As always, I believe in objective reviews, so I'm going to mention the things that I thought were very well-done, and things I thought could use a little work. The "use a little work" things were so microscopic, though, compared to the broad enjoyability of the story, that they had absolutely no bearing on the final grade. Am I giving this series preferential treatment? Most definitely! That's what happens when I find a series I absolutely fall in love with.

Catching Fire finally delivered on the *action* that I felt was sometimes lukewarm in its predecessor. Except for a few lulls in the story, this book went from one major event to another, and the excitement I felt was so incredible and so energizing, I literally dreaded coming to the last few pages. Collins really does know how to catch her readers and hold their attention. This was a strong, strong sequel and I already know, unless Mockingjay totally bombs, that this is one of my favorite series of all time.

While the overall plot was captivating from start-to-finish, I personally thought that the PACING of this book was like, on drugs. It was roller-coaster fast, then inner-tube-floating-down-a-river slow, and freakishly random at times. Like, something major would happen, but because the book is so fast-paced, there was little emotional and in-depth exploration. I thought the Quarter Quell, for example, was way too fast paced (don't worry - that's not a spoiler. I'm not telling you what the QQ is). I always find it interesting to see what an author chooses to emphasize and what he/she chooses to skim over, and it seemed like quite a few aspects of the story that *I* found to be incredibly crucial were just skimmed, and rather insignificant aspects were blown out of proportion.

In all fairness, I'm starting to get a little annoyed with Katniss as a narrator and character. Now that's not supposed to sound critical, because I actually think Katniss is one of the better MCs in current YA fiction: she's driven, she's goal-oriented, she perseveres, she cares about her family, etc. I can excuse her grammar and bleak outlook on life, but her tone really started to bother me. She's way to dry, detached, and matter-of-fact, no matter how dire and emotional the situation is, and as the stakes got higher in this book, I found her detachment hard to understand. She also had a tendency to be quite patronizing, especially towards Peeta. Umm, okay so Peeta obviously isn't a King Leonidas killing machine, but he's not a totally worthless loser, either. Give him some respect, Katniss! He's definitely smarter than you are!

Other high points: always good to have a consistent, strong villain. I've been waiting to read about President Snow ever since I asked my 14-year old cousin what team he was on, and he told me "Team Snow!" (he was just kidding, I think). I definitely was creeped out by President Snow. Bravo for scary-but-mysterious villains!
And now to the love story: Okay, here I absolutely LOVE the concept but am less than impressed with the execution. I think SOME of Katniss' attitude is refreshing. She's not boy-crazy and she's not leading them on, either. She's honest about her feelings (or lack thereof) and expresses fear and uncertainty about her future with either of them. Those are genuine, consistent feelings for a character like her. And I'm going to defend both Peeta AND Gale's personalities. I keep reading that the two needed to be contrasted more, and I just don't get that. To me, they contrast just fine. Gale's more the brooding, quiet, brawny type (he reminds me of Jacob from everybody's favorite series because he just seems to exude manliness) and Peeta is adorable, kind, sweet, incredibly shrewd and clever. Both are "good boys," and I quite enjoy having two characters who were somewhat alike. It makes Katniss' decision way more unpredictable.

Because my little critiques are really ULTRA-specific, they have no bearing on my rating. Catching Fire is one of the most exhilarating, enjoyable and amazing books I have ever read, and all I can do is just implore all of you to read this incredible series! See you all a few days after August 24 for my Mockingjay review. Until then,
Down with President Snow!
(and Peeta had better the heck be alive, or ELSE!)

Final Grade:

I'm Back!

In you didn't know, South Texas is BEAUTIFUL!

Hey everybody -
sorry 'bout the hiatus, but I've been away at camp and just got back :) Definitely missed you all, and it felt weird not making regular post.



Quick update:
Like the slow little snail that I am, I'm still on

Yep. I got absolutely no reading time. To go from reading over 100 pages a day for a year to reading none for 4 days was kinda an experience!
And after I finish that, hopefully by the end of the week, I'll be on either:

or

Missed you all, and glad to be back!

Review - THE HUNGER GAMES

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Genre: YA Dystopian/Sci-fi, etc.
# of pages: 378 (hb)
Publisher: Scholastic
The Hunger Games @ Parental Book Reviews

An argument breaks out until one tribute silences the others. "We're wasting time! I'll go finish her and let's move on!"I almost fall out of the tree. The voice belongs to Peeta.
- The Hunger Games, pg 168

My Thoughts
This is one of those books that just leaves you so amazed and perplexed. There are so many things I want to talk about and cover, but I probably should just start off with this declaration:
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ. Seriously. It was just as wonderful as everybody said it would be.

The world that Collins created was both creative, original, and somewhat otherworldly on one hand, yet shockingly plausible on the other. I was a little hesitant of the premise in the beginning, like "what kind of society would really be that outrageously sick?" Then I thought of movies like Kill Bill and Saw and all those other gory flicks of absolutely no redeeming or artistic value, and I thought, "you know what. I can totally see Panem existing."
I was especially interested to see how THG would stack up against the other dystopian sci-fi that I'd previously read - Uglies. In my opinion, THG wins. It just seemed like a deeper, more substantial book with more memorable characters and less of an agenda, which is always appreciated. The idea of Panem's creation, its turbulent history and ruthless policies were put together effectively yet simply. Collins gives the reader just enough information to be absolutely absorbed in Katniss' world, and she doesn't take forever to start up the story, either, which made reading much more enjoyable.
The characters were memorable, likable, and thoroughly unique. Haymitch, Cinna, Effie, Rue, Katniss, Peeta, and that one guy that only gets like just a few lines and yet everybody's on his "team" - were very well rounded and each contributed nicely to the overall story. And here's something that I wasn't expecting from this book: intrigue. I've heard HG penned as "Survivor"-esque, I've heard it penned as "Gladiator"-esque, but there are also times when it reads kind of like a spy novel a little bit. Just like Katniss, I was also wondering which characters to trust, and which ones were telling the truth, and so forth. Her paranoia seeped through the pages and got into my system, too!
And wow - the romance... okay, let me just say, that as far as romance in a series goes -this is the way to do it! THIS. RIGHT HERE. The romantic aspect did not take center stage, and yet it wasn't just thrown in there willy-nilly (yes I just said willy-nilly) to be interesting. It served a purpose, it was well-written, and it was ADDICTING. :) Wow, Suzanne Collins! All I can say is: I think I've picked my "team"!
Here's one thing I noticed though: Katniss’ voice started out great, but slowly and surely began to get on my nerves. I’m having to pick my words carefully, because if I say she was too bleak and detached, it sounds like I prefer emotional, angsty characters. And I don’t. Katniss is the provider in the family; she’s had to take on the role of an adult, and she lives in a horrible, brutal society. However, I do think that I would have had an easier time relating to her if she was just a little more emotional or vulnerable. It just seemed like Katniss’ frankness was totally understandable at first, but became implausible as the story went along. Her determination and self-reliance actually became a crutch for her, and if Collins did that on purpose, it was a very thoughtful idea! And yes, being thrown into the Games would turn even the most rational person paranoid. Totally get that. But this is why I don’t think it's a good idea to have characters spend too much time alone: their thoughts get way too irrational. I know that Katniss’ life and upbringing have made her a very guarded, closed-off person, but as the story progressed, she started to sound downright selfish. Specifically, the way she treated Peeta and interacted with him seriously got on my nerves. It just seemed interesting to me that she was so ready to assume the worst in him, yet she didn't really treat him any better (at first). But that’s a pet peeve of mine – when girls act bitchy to sweet, patient boys.

I think I’m one of the last people to read THG, and so naturally I’ve heard all about the hype. And the only real criticism I’ve heard of the book (apart from Katniss’ character and narrative voice) has to do with the violence. And you know, The Hunger Games is an annual event in which kids (12-18 years of age) pretty much kill each other in an arena, so umm...you kind of go into the book expecting that. And see, that’s the description I was given, and so I had an expectation that it would be like some kind of Coliseum setting and kids would fight gladiator style. And there would be fight scenes. This is going to sound absolutely horrible, and I apologize in advance, but I feel like I was misled about the content of the book. I was actually surprised at how little violent content there was. Most of the killings happened “off-screen,” and the reader only has Katniss’ ultra-bleak, ultra-dry rendering of events. Not too disturbing, but not very emotional, either. It's my theory that the more intense or disturbing your story’s scenario is, the more emotional and psychological you have to make it in order to be plausible and engrossing. Otherwise, your story just sounds kind of flippant. Now, I can appreciate Collins not getting too gratuitous or throwing in stuff for “shock factor,” but really, all I’m saying is that I think there should have been more “fight scenes.” The Percy Jackson series, to compare, is not very violent at all, and yet Riordan wrote some very detailed, very well-choreographed fight scenes. The Hunger Games actually reminded me more of “Survivor” the reality show rather than “Gladiator,” which was referenced on another review I saw. So anyway… I guess it just boils down to me thinking that this book is not NEAR as provocative as some have made it out to be.

But even with Katniss' room-for-improvement narrative and the somewhat laid-back approach to the subject matter, The Hunger Games is one of the GREATEST books I have ever read. Seriously, this is a new favorite, and I am betting that the rest of the series will be just as amazing. Suzanne Collins is definitely one of my favorite writers. Her creativity and gift for storytelling is practically impossible to top.
:D
THANK YOU to EVERYBODY who has recommended this book and spoken so highly of it. You made me excited to read this, and I am so glad that I did!

Final Grade:
If you haven't read The Hunger Games, I am almost positive you will enjoy it. There are a lot of YA books out here, and this is one of the best - if not THE BEST.

PS - I don't know what's going to happen in Mockingjay or anything, but I think I'll have to throw my lot in with the Peeta folks! :)