Best for:
Fans of the Hunger Games series.

In a nutshell:
This is the story of Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games. The 50th one, the second quarter quell.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I heard good things about it.

Review:
I didn’t read the last prequel, and couldn’t get through the movie – I just didn’t find it to be a good film. Maybe the book was better? But when I saw that this was getting good word of mouth, I knew I wanted to read it.

I don’t want to spoil too much for those who go into it like I did – completely unknowing. But I do appreciate a few things. First, this book is still brutal. I don’t enjoy reading descriptions of the murder of children; Collins however manages to make those deaths serve the purpose of the book. The Capital is a cruel place, and the cruelty is the whole point.

I think Collins does a great job of developing Haymitch’s back story and personality. I get why the mentor version we meet is the way he is. And she also weaves in the stories of others we’ve met before, explaining some relationships and how people end up the way they end up in the later books.

The things that stood out the most to me were the discussions about what people accept, and when people fight back. There are conversations between Plutarch and Haymitch that are so relevant now. The US is dealing with fascism, children continue to be murdered in Gaza, and the UK just this past week had a horrible ruling that takes away rights of some of the most marginalised people in society. What are we willing to do about it? What can we do about it? Not just the collective we, but us as individuals? What sacrifices should we be expected and willing to make? And why do we have to make the sacrifices when the powerful are the ones making things so very bad?

It’s not a hopeful book in the traditional sense, but the hope in it comes from the community, and the ability for each person to play a small part, pushing towards a greater good. And this is not a spoiler – but obviously whatever Haymitch and his community work do in the 50th hunger games doesn’t stop them – there’s a 74th, and a 75th. But it’s a step. And an important one. Sometimes things don’t get better overnight.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a little bit of science fiction and a lot of philosophy.

In a nutshell:
The UK government has a time machine, but instead of traveling into the future, they’ve decided to travel to the past to bring four people to current time to see how they can integrate into the modern era.

Worth quoting:
“Who thinks their job is on the side of right? They fed us all poison from a bottle marked ‘prestige’ and we developed a high tolerance for bitterness.”

“Fitzjames had once asked him how he could approach life-threatening peril and minor annoyances with the same mildness and he’d shrugged. ‘It doesn’t improve my mood to catastrophise, so I don’t.’”

“An underrated symptom of inherited trauma is how socially awkward it is to live with.”

Why I chose it:
I’ve seen it in stores, and then it was the choice for a book subscription I’m in, so figured it was time to read it.

Review:
Ah, what a great read. I read it while on vacation and so was able to inhale it over the course of just a few days.

The book is told mostly from the perspective of the narrator, who I’ll call the Bridge. There are actually five bridges, one assigned to each of the five people brought from the past, including during the plague in the 1600s, as well as the trenches of World War 1. The Bridge who narrates this book is assigned to Graham Gore, a naval man who died in an arctic expedition. Except before he can die, he is saved and brought to the near future, as part of a test to see how people handle moving through time.

The science fiction of it all isn’t the main focus of the book, which I appreciate. Instead, the focus is on all the different aspects of what it is like for people who are brought from their time to now. What are the ethics of this? How does it impact different people? And what happens to the relationships they form in their new reality?

I love books like this. It’s not the same, but it reminded me a bit of ‘The Measure.’ And the writing? The writing is SO GOOD. There’s so much humor, and also humanity, in Bradley’s writing. The ending wasn’t my favorite, which is why this isn’t five stars, but it’s not a bad ending, if that makes sense. Just took away a bit from the rest of the book. But still, so, so good.

4 Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a quiet, intimate tale.

In a nutshell:
John is contracted to travel to a remote Scottish island to remove the last inhabitant so that the landlord can use the land to raise sheep.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
This book is very popular in Scotland at the moment, where I live. I took it with me on a trip to the Outer Hebrides, as that just seemed appropriate.

Review:
This book is a slow burn. While the backdrop is the highland clearances, the focus is on one individual, John, who is a minister trying to raise money for his new church. He and his site do not have a lot of funds, so he takes on a job of traveling to a remote Scottish to bring back the only remaining inhabitant, a man named Ivar who doesn’t speak much English.

While there, John has a fall, and Ivar takes him in. Meanwhile, John’s wife Mary decides that perhaps the job John has taken isn’t safe, and chooses to make the journey out to join him.

So much of the story is describing the land, and the lives of John, Mary, and Ivar. It’s about different relationships, against the backdrop of the cruelty of the clearances. It’s about how to communicate when you don’t speak the same language. And it’s about understanding and making changes for the people you care for.