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Wow, called out HARD. 😆

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Really happy to see this at my local library

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people will read books they Do Not Like™ and then wonder why they hate reading

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I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

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obsessed with mass market paperbacks. their pleasing rectangular proportions. how they fit badly in a hoodie pocket so you can drag them around everywhere with you like a temporary little buddy. the way they fit in your hand because they're MADE for human hands and not as bookshelf decoration. the way the pages feel when you riffle them gently with your thumb. How pristine and crisp they look when you get them and how creased and folded they look when you're done, even if you try to be nice to them. how that wear is okay, how that's correct actually, because they're made with the philosophy that books aren't meant to be PRETTY, they're meant to be read. that little ripple new ones get on the left side from where you hold them when you're reading, the way the ripple only goes as far as you've read, because u change stories by reading as they are changing you. how you can find thousands of these creased and folded and loved little dudes in every thrift store and used book shop and neighborhood library and you can instantly see the ones that someone carried around in a backpack for weeks or read to pieces or gave up on halfway through because they wear being read like fresh snow wears footprints. I love these poorly made, subpar little rectangles so much. truly the people's books.

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hold on a second man…

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Transgender Books For Your Libraries

I have said this before, but right now requesting and reading queer books from your local library is important. I want to take a second to say there is a direct attack against the transgender community around the globe, and it's worth your time to request and read transgender books. So, here are some transgender books to request:

(Some links are affiliate links and the money goes to Making Queer History's research fund)

People Change, Vivek Shraya

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Judith Butler

The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw

Transland: Consent, Kink, and Pleasure, MX Sly

Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi

Amateur: A Reckoning with Gender, Identity, and Masculinity, Thomas Page McBee

The Subtweet, Vivek Shraya

Dark and Deepest Red, A. M. McLemore

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Fantabulous Memoir, Kai Cheng Thom

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, Akwaeke Emezi

Dead Collections, Isaac Fellman

Disintegrate/Dissociate, Arielle Twist

Tell Me I'm Worthless, Alison Rumfitt

How to Be You: Stop Trying to Be Someone Else and Start Living Your Life, Jeffrey Marsh

A Lady for a Duke, Alexis Hall

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, Sarah McBride

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower, Erica Ridley

I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World, Kai Cheng Thom

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film, Tre'vell Anderson

Beyond the Gender Binary, Alok Vaid-Menon

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Welcome to the age of enthusiasm.

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whenever a kid is signing up for a library card and they and their parent have good silly vibes i like to treat it like a knighting ceremony. i'm like "jacob, child of hannah, i bestow unto you this card of great freedom and power. are you prepared to take on the literary responsibility of your very own library card? i believe you are." and it always makes them laugh and feel very important it's so much fun. like yeah we do a little improv at the library we do some bits

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We need to bring back children’s programming that focuses on reading. I’m so serious

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this national novel writing month i will be showing my love of the craft by not writing a single word. not even a text message

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the best way to support libraries is to use libraries. go get a card, check something out. not a big reader? they got movies. they got games. yes, like botw and fallout and let’s go eevee. they also have cds that yes, we workers know you take home and rip to your computer. we also do it. 

if you have a well funded library you might even have access to maker spaces that have 3D printers. or video/audio recording equipment. libraries aren’t these tomb silent homes for books any more. they’re community spaces. they’re full of life and things. 

put a middle finger up at jeffrey bezos and support your local library

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i hate when people are like oh ‘adult’ fiction sucks it’s all about divorce like first of all no it isnt and second of all divorce is awesome

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i think the world would be a happier place if we were all permanently stoned