And the Winner is....

First of all, speaking of "The winner is..." I watched a few minutes of the American Music Awards last night and I honestly was laughing. It has become comical to me that celebrities think they are SO cool and SO important. For reals. JZ, do you really need to wear sunglasses all the time? even when you are in a dark theater? Lady Gaga, who dresses you? you look like a freak and your songs are terrible, as in morally terrible. Jennifer Lopez, your performance was ridiculous. Okay, I just thought it was hilarious.

The book for December is....The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book has received a lot of praise and has been a best seller. For those reasons, I hope it isn't too difficult to get at the library for those of you who plan to check it out. When I first heard about this book I didn't think the plot sounded all that interesting, but I've heard so many people (with good reading taste) talk about how interesting this book is, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Here is a brief summary:

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Manipulation

I finished Ender's Game last night. Overall, I really liked the book, althoug I felt like it dragged a little bit in the middle. The theme that stood out to me, was manipulation. Ender's entire life was manipulated; the fact that he was born at all as a third child, his confrontation with Stilson, getting him to go to Battle School, shaping his relationship with his peers, and the list could go on and on. The interesting thing was that Ender was always very aware that he was being manipulated and that everything that was happening to him was part of the adults' plan for him, yet he continued to play their games. I think he didn't resist because he didn't know what kind of life he'd be living if he wasn't at battle school; he didn't know any other life. Part of me is disgusted with the adults in the book for being so manipulative and partially taking away Ender's agency, but the other part of me is impressed that they were so successful at predicting his actions and where they could lead him. In the end, I felt sad for Ender. His life was not his own for the first eleven years of his life and then once the final battle was over, he still couldn't live a normal life, he was just left hanging. Good pick Randi! I've always wanted to read this book.

Who's Next?

Who chooses the book for December?

ender

Well, I think Cami has a great idea about posting questions about books we're reading. I think it's a good thing to do to keep our minds fresh as we have all been out of a school a while now. So, here's a question about Ender's Game:

Why does Orson Scott Card use a young boy as the protagonist in a book about a great war between humanity and aliens?

I am flying through this book because I really like and one of the things that keeps going through my head is a sympathy for these young children. As I read I find myself forgetting how young Ender is...6 when he goes to Battle school! I mean, six! And then he will remind us or he'll have a birthday and I'll remember how little he really is. I think it is smart and interesting of Card to use children in this novel because I feel like the children represent humanity in it's purest, most vulnerable form. Children are easily molded; easily taught. So, when they get to school, they are manipulated into machines. "Society"--or Battle School--changes them. Wow, I am thinking about a lot of things from Freud class I took at BYU-I, but I'll spare you that drivel on here. Anyway, children from the womb are pure and perfect. Society changes them. I'm not sure I answered the question. Hmm, I'm still thinking.
What do you think?

Commentary on the Religious Undertones of Dracula

I don't know if it's because I'm Mormon, for whom religion is life, but I found myself noticing the religious undertones as they related to the sexual undertones. First of all, I really didn't see that many sexual undertones. However, I found myself mourning for the misunderstood doctrines of Christ.
If Dracula's bite represents sexual relations, then it really should be considered rape. These women did not invite them into their homes; nor did they have control to say no. Yet, despite this, they were considered lost to God as if they had voluntarily broken His law. A similar scenario occurs in Tess of the D'Urbervilles. She is considered unclean because she was raped; and the sad thing is that they believe there is no hope.
I just want to sit these people down and explain the power of repentance. I want them to understand that even if they had chosen to sin, they could still change through the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.
The men kept mourning Mina's situation, but since she never indulged in the things that were tempting to her, as a vampire, there was nothing to mourn. She should never have had the mark on her forehead because God was always with her.

Logistics

I love having this book club and I'm so proud of us for keeping it going for over a year now!! I was in D.C. last weekend with Debbie and Kim, and we were discussing our love for the book club. However, we have two suggestions that might make it even better (maybe there were more, but I can only remember two).

Suggestion #1: More discussion of the books. Obviously, our separation makes it difficult to discuss the books, but we are all smart people and I'm sure we can think of some solutions. Some ideas are a conference call, having the host (person who chose the book) post questions throughout the month or maybe at the end of the month and we can all respond to them, ????? I'm sure there are lot of other things but I can't think of any right now. Do you guys have any suggestions? My preference would be to NOT do a conference call. I used to think that was a good idea, but we live in a total of three different time zones and it gets complicated. I also like to be forced to write my thoughts. Not being a student anymore, I have found that my writing skills are suffering and I'd appreciate the opportunity to work on them.

Suggestions #2: It would be nice if we chose books at least one month in advance so we have time to either buy it or check it out from the library. I think this will increase the likelihood that we all finish the book by the end of the month. An example of this would be announcing December's book on Nov. 1st.

What do you all think of these ideas? Does anyone have anything else they would like to change or add? Who is choosing the book for December? I think it is Anjanette's turn, if she is still participating. How do you spell her name? I know I always get it wrong.