Permanent Residency and Hunger Games
So, we are back from NZ with our nice, shiny permanent residency visas. Next stop citizenship! I'm a bit worried about this; not about the test, because I like tests, but about the ceremony itself. Here in Australia, you are not a citizen until you have had the ceremony with the local dignitary and been given the token gum tree/jar of vegemite/insert piece of Australiana here. For the Gold Coast, I am assuming that this is conducted by the Mayor, Ron Clarke, who is, quite frankly, a wanker of the highest degree and one of the drivers behind me wanting citizenship because then I can vote to get rid of the twat. I don't do well with politicians in general - Tony Blair and Kevin Rudd both give me itchy palms because I want to slap the self-satisfaction from their faces - but I really, really despise Ron Clarke. I may have to look into the possibility of going to Brisbane.
I have just finished the second book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, and am now eagerly awaiting the final installment. Post-revolution America is split into 12 districts ruled by the ruthless Capitol. To remind the districts that they are only allowed to survive by the grace of the Capitol, or else they will end up destroyed like District 13 was 74 years ago, each year they must send one male and one female tribute aged between 12 and 18 to fight in the Hunger Games, with the last survivor crowned as victor. District 12 has only had one winner in the previous 73 games when Katniss Everdeen volunteers in place of her 12 year old sister, Prim. Together with Peeta, the baker's son, she travels to the Capitol to fight for her life in the arena, sponsored by District 12's only victor, a seemingly useless alcoholic, and watched by the entire country. Katniss is such a good character - resourceful and lethal but with a very soft centre. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes especially with Peeta, who confesses his love for her before the nation in the pre-game interviews. Ultimately, she and Peeta survive the games, though not before Katniss makes an enemy out of the President by threatening to leave the 74th games with no victor to parade through the districts. They allow both to live, but Katniss knows that she will be punished eventually.
The second book, Catching Fire, opens with Katniss and Peeta back in District 12 and about to start the victory tour. There is a bit of a love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale, her friend and hunting partner who the Capitol have portrayed as her cousin. Katniss can't let herself love either man as she is terrified that any children she has will be forced to fight in future games, as has happened in the past. As the victory tour starts, she is visited by the president and told that her only hope for survival is to convince the people that her overiding love for Peeta is what caused her to act as she did at the end of the games. As they travel through the districts, they sense the unease building throughout the country which escalates to several uprisings, though news is supressed by the Capitol. Certain that the ruse has not convinced everyone, even after Peeta's public proposal, Katniss prepares to escape into the wilderness around District 12 with her family but is thwarted by Gale's refusal to go too. When she comes across two refugees from the uprising in District 8, she learns that District 13 still exists and that she is the unwitting symbol of the revolution. The whole country is shocked when the rules for the 75th games are read - tributes can only be chosen from the victors in each district. Knowing that the Capitol won't let her live, Katniss must once again enter the arena and fight for her life.
I also really enjoyed Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon. Great lead characters in the brothers Nick and Alan, who live in a parallel England with magicians and demons using people for power. Together with their mother, they are running from the magician that killed their father when they unwillingly join forces with a boy, Jamie, who carries two demon's marks and his sister, Mae. This novel is fast-paced and intricately plotted, with details teased out as the group journey to find and kill the magicians that placed the demon's marks on Jamie. The final chapter, where the truth about Nick and Alan is revealed, was a big shock to me, and I can only sit and wait with baited breath for the next book.
After watching the series True Blood, I sought out the books by Charlaine Harris and was very glad I did. Book Sookie is so much better than television Sookie - more self-sufficient and not so pathetic as she sometimes comes across in the series. Sookie is a waitress in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps when she meets her first vampire, Bill Compton. Two years previously, when the Japanese revealed theor new invention, synthetic blood, the vampires revealed their presence to the world on live tv. Now, they own businesses and have tourist bars where people can be thrilled by getting up close to a real vampire. Looked on as a bit simple by the people of Bon Temps, Sookie is a telepath who, with the aid of Bill, is begining to control her power when she comes to the attention of Eric, the ancient Norse vampire sherrif of District 5. Each of the books has a different mystery to be solved, but the overall arc is the triangle between Sookie, dark and serious Bill and the lighter but powerful Eric. Bill loves Sookie, but is tempted away by another vampire who then tries to kill him before Sookie comes to the rescue. Deeply hurt, Sookie cuts all ties to Bill, but continues to work for Eric, who she likes despite herself. Throw in the very sexy weretiger, Quinn, and there is something for everyone.
Other than that, I've been reading fun but undemanding chick-lit and trying to avoid reading Twilight, which P got me for Christmas. I still have a very large to-read pile, as I am buying books faster than I am reading them, so I have a fair few to get through before I succumb!