I picked up Battle Royale by Houshun Takami because I heard rumors that The Hunger Games basically copied its idea from Battle Royale. I also heard Battle Royale was fanfreakingtastic, so I would be sleuthing and having merriment all at the same time! Huzzah!

Battle Royale is about 42 kids, 21 male and 21 female, all the same age, all in the same junior high class, who get taken by the government and taken to an island for a government program. The program is that they have to kill each other until there’s only one kid left. The story takes place in a futuristic fascist Japan, so there’s certainly some commentary on fascism itself, and how much control a country needs over its citizens to keep them under control.

With 42+ characters, the beginning can be a bit confusing. But the characters that the author wants you to focus on really come to life as you learn their history, their feelings, their hopes, and their dreams.

There’s a certain amount of “What would I do in this situation?” that begs to be asked while you’re reading this book. Would you become someone who hunted other classmates?

I just decided to take instead of being taken. It’s not a question of good or bad, wrong or right. It’s just what I want to do.

Most of you have probably read The Hunger Games, and while there are quite a few similarities, Battle Royale is a COMPLETELY different book from The Hunger Games. You can’t even compare the two, so don’t even try. Yes, The Hunger Games probably stole some ideas from Battle Royale, but who cares? They’re both fantastic in their own way.

This book is exactly what Stephen King said it would be: “…an insanely entertaining pulp riff…”. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down. When I wasn’t reading it, I was wondering what would happen next. Yes, the translation wasn’t the best, but after the first 100 pages, I didn’t even notice it. I’ve seen a newer translation of this book, and folks have said the newer translation is better.

I loved the questions this book asked, the reasoning the government had for doing this program, the ideas why the program continued to run despite the fact that the people didn’t want the program to continue, and the groups that banded together to try and survive.

One of the things I think the author does well is remind us that this isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The book is FUN, and the author certainly has a sense of humor. For example, each kid, before they’re released onto the island, is given a backpack with one weapon and some supplies. One kid’s backpack only has a fork as the weapon, and another kid has some darts and a dart board. Unfortunately for them, other backpacks have guns.

It’s really interesting to see people’s morality and humanity break down. A common problem that the kids have is who they can trust. Can they trust their best friend? Can they trust the kid they’ve never talked to? More than having to kill each other, this is what drives most of the kids crazy.

Yes, there’s gore and there’s violence. But don’t let that stop you from reading this “…insanely entertaining…” book. The gore and violence can be skipped over, and they don’t go on for pages and chapters. Rather, you’ll skip a couple of paragraphs and be on with the story. In regards to violence, I wanted to point out a paragraph from Jessica’s review of Battle Royale.

First, horror tends to be heavy on the morals.  Any character who exhibits hubris, stupidity, lust, greed, vanity, or other vices is guaranteed to snuff it – and this is usually at least somewhat funny.  Second, there is always going to be an unstoppable dark force that just keeps coming at you, even past the point of credulity.  Horror is definitely not supposed to be believable!  If it’s a scary story and it seems completely plausible, it probably falls under suspense or drama.  Horror tends to have elements of fantasy, dark comedy, and occasionally steamy romance.

I loved this book. If the gore won’t bother you or if you can skip the gorey parts, make sure you read this book!

Rating: 95 out of 100

Other reviews:

Medieval Bookworm

Bermudaonion’s Weblog

My Friend Amy

Steph Su Reads

Book source: I bought this book myself.

And one more thing? If you click on one of the Battle Royale links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission!

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

Holy torpedo! The books for The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott  by Kelly O’Connor McNees went FAST! I’m glad I wasn’t physically handing them out…I think I would have gotten some fingers bitten off.

Here’s the folks participating in the reading series:

1. Lisa from Books on the Brain

2. Jilleen from Seaside Book Nook

3. Kristi from peetswea

4. Laura from Reading and Rooibos

5. Ti from Book Chatter

6. Mari from Bookworm with a View

7. Carrie from nomadreader

8. Colleen from Books in the City

9. Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves

10. Susan F.

11. Kathleen W.

12. Jennifer from The Literate Housewife Review

13. Heidenkind from Heidenkind’s Hideaway

14. Diane from bookchickdi

15. Jennifer D.

16. Jenny from Takemeaway

17. Jennifer from Rundpinne

18. Irene Y.

19. Susan Gregg Gilmore

20. Beth Fish from Beth Fish Reads

.

This Reading Series is going to rock my socks, I’m sure. (How can something “rock your socks”? Have I mixed two sayings?) ANYway, all this to say, I can barely contain my excitement for this. This will be like a regular book club meeting but on performance enhancing drugs. Fun!

All copies have been claimed! I look forward to discussing this book with all of you!

There’s been a lot of buzz about The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O’Connor McNees. I mean, who hasn’t read Little Women? Who hasn’t wanted to be Jo, and who doesn’t wish that Jo and Laurie had ended up together?

In case you haven’t heard of The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, here’s a description:

In her debut novel, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O’Connor McNees deftly mixes fact and fiction as she imagines a summer lost to history, carefully purged from Louisa’s letters and journals, a summer that would change the course of Louisa’s writing career—and inspire the story of love and heartbreak between Jo and Teddy “Laurie” Laurence, Jo’s devoted neighbor and kindred spirit.

In the summer of 1855, Walt Whitman’s controversial Leaves of Grass has just been released, and the notion of making a living as a writer is still a far-off dream for Louisa. She is twenty-two years old, vivacious, and bursting with a desire to be free of her family and societal constraints so she can do what she loves the most—write. The Alcott family, destitute, as usual, moves to a generous uncle’s empty house in Walpole, New Hampshire, for the summer. Here, a striking but pensive Louisa meets the fictional Joseph Singer. Louisa is initially unimpressed by Joseph’s charms. But just as Louisa begins to open her heart, she learns that Joseph may not be free to give his away. Their newfound love carries a steep price, and Louisa fears she may pay with the independence she has fought so hard to protect.

Isn’t this just the perfect book club book? And are you drooling yet? Because you should be.

I’m really excited to tell you that there will be a Reading Series for The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott (TLSoLMA)! Riverhead Books has graciously agreed to provide 20 copies of TLSoLMA.

The way the Reading Series will work is that it’s basically a book club, but you can stay in your jammies at home because the discussion will happen here at Hey Lady. Sounds great, huh? Those who sign up for the Reading Series need to be able to come and discuss the book on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. I’ll post questions about a week before the 14th so you can think about them and mull them over, then on the 14th, we’ll discuss TLSoLMA in the comments, and we’ll even get to have the author, Kelly O’Connor McNees, ‘live’ on Hey Lady for an hour so you can ask her questions and discuss the book with her!

To participate in the Reading Series, all you need to do is email me with your name and address. Please put “The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott” in the subject line, but please only request the book if you know you can participate in the discussion on April 14th! Unfortunately, this is only open to folks in the United States and Canada. The books are first come, first served.

I look forward to discussing this book with you!

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman was picked by my in real life book club. I knew nothing about it going in, but within a few pages I was hooked and excitedly tweeting how much I was loving this book.

I guess you could say this is a murder mystery, since that is the premise, but I would argue it’s much more than that. Basically, 30 years ago two girls, sisters, Heather and Sunny, disappeared, and the murder was never solved. The parents, Dave and Miriam, of the sisters ultimately divorced, and Miriam moved down to Mexico while Dave passed away in his 50s. The reason the case is brought up again is because a woman who is involved in a car accident tells one of the officers that she’s one of the missing girls. And she knows things about the area that you could only know if you’d lived there, and she knows details about the case that you could only know if you’d been involved, but she’s being awfully cagey and doesn’t really want to see her mom so what the heck is going on and maybe this girl is an imposter?

The story unfolds in alternating chapters, some in the present, and some unfolding the story from the past.

Lippman does a fantastic job at character development, but treats the reader to some humor while she’s at it:

But over time Kay came to realize that she preferred her books to other people’s company. Reading was not a fallback position for her but an ideal state of being.

Kay sometimes thought she should get a little custom-made button: I’m not gay, I just like read.

In particular there was a lot of development about the parents and their marriage. The point of view changes from various people throughout the book (the sisters (Heather and Sunny), the social worker (Kay), the parents (Dave and Miriam), etc), so you sometimes see the same incident through both eyes, say, a scene with the two parents, and it really gives you a deeper understanding of the complexities of a marriage.

(Dave is thinking about Miriam letting him open his own business) Lately he had begun to wonder if Miriam figured that she would benefit either way. The store would make them rich or provide her with something to hold over Dave’s head the rest of their lives. She had given him his chance, and he had blown it. Now every disagreement between them was rooted in that unspoken context: I believed in you / You blew it.  Had she hoped all along that he would fail?

And the way Lippman touches on the grief of the parents just ripped my heart out. Miriam chooses to move on, while Dave chooses not to. Can you really criticize either choice? Particularly after Miriam observes:

“But if I don’t accept the probability of their deaths at this point, how do I live? How do I go on?”

…

“It’s hard,” she said. “Remaining open to hope, yet needing to grieve. Whatever I do or say, I feel as if I’m betraying my daughters. We just want to know.”

I’m sure many people could figure out the ending within the first 50 pages. But this book is so much more than the plot. The author had so much more to say than to tell you whodunit. The complexities of marriage, guilt, grief, and responsibility are just a few of the subjects that Lippman touches on, and touches on well.

I was disappointed that only myself and one other book club member really enjoyed the book. In fact, after the other members left, I lingered with the other person who enjoyed the book and we discussed passages we loved, passages that touched us for one reason or another. But maybe that’s what makes books so special: not every book is important or profound to everyone else, so it holds a little bit of magic for those of us who it does touch.

Rating: 92 out of 100

Laura Lippman’s website

Other reviews:

Reactions to Reading

Shelf Love

books i done read

Bibliolatry

Book source: I checked this book out from the library, and ended up paying like $3.00 in overdue fines, so I should probably be irritated and give it a bad review, but alas, I liked it too much.

And one more thing? If you click on one of the What the Dead Know links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission! Mwahahahaha!! Maybe with the pennies I make I’ll be able to call someone who cares.

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

I wanted to let you know about this cool thing I’m participating in and even hosting a little bit!

Myself, Jen from Devourer of Books, Michelle from Galleysmith, and Heather from A Capricious Reader (and Beth from Beth Fish Reads, though she won’t be participating until 2011) have started a book club! The book club will read classics, and we’ll read four books a year, or one book per quarter. I’m sure you’re wondering why this is so awesome (Because it is. Awesome.). Let me tell you!

Lots of us want to read more classics! This is a way to do it!

One thing I want to do this year is try to delve into books more and try to get the message, the point, the author’s purpose in writing the book. I want my reading to go beyond, Oh, that was entertaining. The way the Classic Reads Book Club is set up, you’ll be able to do that because we’ll be discussing it in little chunks. You won’t have to worry about remembering things from too far back, because we’ll be discussing it as we go.

Since we’re discussing the book over 3 months, you can dip in and out of the book. You don’t have to worry about having to devote a week or two to one book. Instead, read the assigned portion, and then move on to another book!

There are so many benefits to the way we’re doing the Classic Reads Book Club. I hope you’ll join us!

You don’t need to do anything to join; all you need to do is read the book and join in on the discussion!

Our first book is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Here’s the schedule:

January 25th – Section 1 (Chapters 1-11)
February 8th – Section 2 (Chapters 12-22)
February 22nd – Section 3 (Chapters 23-33)
March 8th – Section 4 (Chapters 34 – end)

Join us to discuss East of Eden at

http://classicreads.wordpress.com/