Action Heroine Fans discussion

Some Goodreads groups regularly do common reads (in some cases, even one every month --though I think that's excessive!), where the whole group is invited to read the same book during a particular month, and a special thread is set up to discuss it. We've never done a common read in this group; but I'm not opposed to the idea in principle, if people want to do one. (I would insist that participation be voluntary, not required, and would suggest they not be overly frequent, so as not to wear people out with them.)

This is the thread where you all can post invitations or suggestions for common reads, if you want to, or discuss the logistics of how to set them up (or debate whether or not we'd even want to!) Most of the groups I'm in don't do them, but a few do. In my Supernatural Fiction Readers group, doing our first common read back in 2008 really helped the group to take off. Participation in and enthusiasm for them has dropped proportionately since then, but we had a successful one in October, and I'm hoping to make it an annual thing.

Thanks for bringing this up Werner...I admit I've never been the one to bring up the book! I just started "The Hunger Games" which probably a lot on Goodreads have read already. Like any author, I feel tempted to mention my book, but that feels weird, so I'll just say the books I write have an action heroine and leave it at that. Will follow thread, this does look good!

C.C., this question only occurred to me awhile after I read your post the first time: are you wanting to invite someone to do a buddy read of The Hunger Games with you? If so, your post will reach more possible reading buddies if you post it on the "Buddy reads?" thread. :-) Sorry about any confusion I might have inadvertently created between the two threads!

No, no worries, Werner!! I usually read up to three or four books at a time and at my own pace. I'd like to follow this thread and see what gets suggested; I certainly don't want to spam my work. You never cause confusion, I'm an expert at confusing myself.

In the interval since C.C. mentioned The Hunger Games, I've decided to read it myself; the library where I work will be getting a copy soon. It occurred to me that it might be worth asking if there's any sentiment in favor of taking on that one as a common read? Judging from what I know about the book and have seen in the film commercials and elsewhere, Katniss is an action heroine of fairly formidable fighting skills; and the series is one that's gotten a lot of buzz in the literary world. On the negative side, the premise of this one is extremely dark: teenage kids being forced to fight each other to the death for the sick pleasure of a warped TV audience. That's bound to give the action component of the book a different mental flavor than violent action between adults (granted, death or injury even for adult villains isn't as optimum a solution as their repentance would be; but if the latter isn't likely, we're less apt to shed any tears over the former than we might be here). So I don't argue for or against the suggestion; I just toss it out to check the interest level!

If we do this book as a common read, I'd suggest scheduling it in November. That will allow time for the library here to get it cataloged and processed (I hope!).

I would be interested in participating, Werner.

I might, but I'm pretty swamped with books & group reads now. I'm halfway interested just to see what all the fuss is about.

Well, that would make two of us, and one possible. Depending on how Jim's reading schedule shapes up, if it turns out by November that there aren't more than two people interested, maybe you and I can do it as a buddy read, Danielle. (Another of my Goodreads friends and I also plan to do a buddy read later this year, but she's already read this whole series.)

That reminds me to mention, for the benefit of all our members: if we ever do a common read of any book you've already read (and I know several people here have read The Hunger Games), as long as you remember it well enough to discuss it, you're welcome to join in on the discussion; rereading it wouldn't be required (though you can if you want to). I've occasionally done this with common reads in other groups I belong to; I think the perspective of someone who's had longer to think about the book can add to the discusion.

I read and reviewed the trilogy, so I'd be glad to add input. I admit the controversy was more than I anticipated. I saw the film as well.

If a group read doesn't work out, a buddy read sounds good, Werner.

I'll try to put up a poll as to who would or wouldn't take part, when we get closer to the time. That'll give us a better handle on what sort of numbers we're talking about.

Nomad raised a worthwhile point over on one of our other threads. Most of us don't particularly like to read graphic descriptions of the killing of children; and of course the premise of The Hunger Games is teens (and even pre-teens) being forced to fight each other to the death. (The movie, I'm told, has a particularly gruesome child death scene.)

This is a point I hadn't thought about very deeply (though it had occurred to me, and I touched on it above) when I kicked around the idea of doing that book as a common read. I usually like those not to be R-rated (I don't know how the movie version was rated), in order to let more people feel comfortable in participating. Of course, we're a group of action fans, so few of us bat an eye over fictional descriptions of adults getting hurt or killed --that goes with the action territory. But the dynamic IS different when we're talking about killing kids --whose biggest worries should be acne and homework-- just for an audience's sadistic pleasure. (My interest in reading the book came about through a friend's review; in the "comments" section, another Goodreader and I got into a friendly argument, but since neither of us had read the book, we were pretty much arguing in ignorance. :-) I figured I should read it and remedy that, but I'd already realized it's not something I'd approach the same way I would, say, a Modesty Blaise novel; it's going to be much darker and morally disturbing.) How do the rest of you feel about this?

I'm always fine with whatever gets thrown at adults. But... a 12 year old bites it rather graphically in HG. If I participated I would skip that part so as not to cry myself into a wheezing mess.

I'm fine with the morally murky... when it comes to adults.

Yeah, I usually figure that adults can take care of themselves. :-) But 12-year-old kids shouldn't have to.

I'll be okay with the decision of the group on the common read idea; I'll put it to a poll. (If we do read it as a group, participation will be voluntary, and as Nomad said, we can skip parts we don't want to read.) In any case, I plan to read it myself --though I might wind up shedding some tears, too!

I would be in, though I'd probably read the scene and become a mushy mess in the process :)

Ditto, Zee. I am sensitive to children being harmed/hurt, which is why I put off reading Hunger Games so long. But I'm willing to give it a try.

I had a real hard time with one such scene in Season 2 of Game of Thrones

I did a lot of covering of my face in Season 2!

I read The Hunger Games and "liked" the book (I think here I ought to mention that I was badly disappointed with the final book in the series). It's true that the book concerns the death of children, that's what the writer was going for to show the depth of depravity of the government the people were living under (view spoiler)[ Katnis is actually drawn into the Games when she'd be safe to replace her young sister who's still very much a small child (hide spoiler)]. So while it's disturbing it's actually part of the book that I think the author was building on, the revulsion adults feel (or should feel) et those who endanger children.

Here we are, discussing the book already. Neil Gaiman has said, as here in a note on the Harper Collins site, that children don't react to his story Coraline the same as adults, "It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares." I suspect something similar is true for the Hunger Games. Adults are more upset by the teenage deaths that the teenage audience the book is written for.

The book set up a situation where there were teens and then there were small children. I think it was part of the dramatic device she was using.

My individual reading plans have undergone some schedule changes since I posted last; a friend and I will be doing our buddy read in November instead of December, which means I won't be reading The Hunger Games before December. (That will also allow my library more time to get the book cataloged!) Do you all have a problem with doing a common read in December? Or (because of the holidays, and people often traveling at that time) would you rather wait until January?

I'm fine with postponing The Hunger Games until December or even January, Werner. October will probably be a very busy reading month for me, and November is National Novel Writing Month, which I participate in. So it will be crazy for me as well.

I'm okay with it too actually, it looks like I'm going to be moving all the way across the country very soon, so that would work better.

Ugh, that's tough, Nomad. I hope it goes well. It was rough just moving from CA back to TX. Took months to recover. :(

Good luck.

I've read the Hunger Games so it will be more of a reread type thing anyway, no big deal.

I'm okay with it actually. I'm a Rhode Island transplant living in San Diego and I am very eager to leave this place.

It is the 14th of September and it's over 90 degrees here in San Diego. G-d, do I miss fall!

We are having some deliciously cool weather in Texas right now. I just hope it lasts. Are you going back East?

As of today, I've got a poll up (first one on the Polls page, accessed at the Polls link just below our group logo) asking whether we should do a common read of The Hunger Games in January. That will get the poll out of the way, and (if we decide to do that) leave December free for holiday travel and the usual busyness of the season!

I think I can do January. And I have the book already. Yeah!

It's official; the poll results are in, and we have 9 yes votes, with (altogether) 3 no votes. So, we'll plan to do a common read of The Hunger Games in January! Now, if I can just get hold of the book by then; I don't think the BC library's copy has arrived yet.... (Book vendors; AAARGH!)

Werner wrote: "It's official; the poll results are in, and we have 9 yes votes, with (altogether) 3 no votes. So, we'll plan to do a common read of The Hunger Games in January! Now, if I can just get hold of th..."

I know it's not the most pleasant way to read but, if all else fails, Werner, I have The Hunger Games on my Kindle, so you could borrow it to read on your Kindle for PC.

Thanks, Krisi; you're sweet! Before we resort to that, though, I'll get a copy for the library over the counter at one of the venues around here where books are sold. That'll save time and shipping charges. :-)

I don't mind reading it again now that some time has passed from both the book and the movie.

But I assure you I will be picturing JLaw the whole time -- and loving the mental image.

Can't be helped.

Yay! The Hunger Games has arrived at the BC library; it's ready to be cataloged and processed, and I'm slated to be the first person who checks it out. So come Jan. 1, I'll be ready and raring to go! :-)

Cool. I have my copy ready as well.

Our common read of The Hunger Games formally ended today, and I'm ready to pronounce it a success! We had a lively, engaged discussion; some people who hadn't tried the book before were introduced to it and liked it, and I'd say those who took part enjoyed themselves. Warm thanks to everyone who commented!

Now that we've gotten our feet wet in common reading, would anyone else be up for doing another one next year?

....next year? Sure. We could probably discuss another this year if everyone is interested. Was it set up as an annual event? I'm in a lot of groups that have group reads and people participate if they're interested and don't if they're not, so I'm pretty much good with however we go.

Mike wrote: "Was it set up as an annual event?" Mike, good question! No, it wasn't set up that way; but I did have the thought that we could see how it went, and try it again if it went well. And I think the annual model is a good one --we do that every October in my Supernatural Fiction Readers group. Too frequent common reads, IMO, would interfere with people ever getting time to read anything on their own; and in the SFR group's experience, when we tried doing monthly common reads, it wore everybody out and folks lost interest. (The last monthly "common" read had just one gallant reader. :-( )

Of course, in the SFR group, every member has the authorization to suggest a common read in addition to the annual one (though nobody's done that so far). All the common reads are voluntary, so it's up to the members how many they want to do. We've got the same freedom here, as far as I'm concerned; you all can use this thread to bounce around ideas and scheduling (and of course any member can create a poll). If anybody else wants to propose another one later this year, I wouldn't rule out taking part myself, depending on what book is picked --I'd hoped to concentrate this year on reducing my piles of unread books I already own; but then, I can resist anything except temptation. :-)

Why don't you list some of the books that would fit that are in your TBR, Werner? Why don't others do the same? Where lists intersect, there is an opportunity for at least buddy reads, if not a group one.

It might also spark some interest in a book. I hadn't planned on reading "The Hunger Games", but was glad I did, even if I didn't turn out to be a fan. Also, I have several UF/PNR books in my TBR pile & have read quite a few others. It's been a while on some series, so I wouldn't mind a re-read. Many (most?) of those feature action heroines.

In the groups I'm in we participate if we're interested that time or skip if we're not. But I'm good with it either way. I'm over committed anyway.

Mike wrote, "In the groups I'm in we participate if we're interested that time or skip if we're not." Yes, that's the way we'll do it here, too. That's the only kind of set-up I'm comfortable with; I don't think anyone should be required to participate.

Jim, some of the books I own (or that Barb owns) that I haven't read and that would be viable possibilities for common (or buddy) reads in this group are: Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, by L. A. Meyer, which is a YA series opener; Bulletproof Mascara: A Novel, by our own Bethany Maines; the novelization of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith; the first book of Linda Barnes' Carlotta Carlyle series, A Trouble of Fools; Roy Chanslor's distaff Western, The Ballad Of Cat Ballou; and Sandra Scoppettone's This Dame for Hire. (I've also got the opener of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, One For The Money, though I don't know much of a real action heroine Stephanie is.) There are quite a few more books on my to-read shelf that would fit the bill (and a number of others on our group shelf that I'd be game to read). But the ones I've listed are the ones I actually own.

I'm about to start a February common read in another group, and my friend Jackie and I have scheduled a buddy read of Skinwalker (another action heroine yarn!) right after that. Until October, those are the only set-in-stone reading commitments I have; the rest of my plans have some scheduling flexibility. My general feeling, though, is that the summer months (June, July, August) aren't an optimal time for common reads, since a lot of people travel during those months. (I usually do, some.)

It's hard for me to do group reads for all my groups every month. Pretty over-committed and always running behind. I'm sure I could do a few a year for this group though.

I often don't do group reads because I read what I'm in the mood for & I'm a moody person.
;-)

Werner, I've read "One for the Money" & Stephanie is a tough gal, but not a kick butt heroine. Still, she gets the job done in good fashion.

I'm a moody reader as well, Jim.

I read the first 7 or so...mostly she blows up cars.

Yeah, from what I've been told about Stephanie, that's about what I expected. :-)

I've just posted a poll to gauge interest in doing a common read this coming February. (It has an option for gauging interest in making it an annual thing, as well.) I figured there's something to be said for getting the "to read or not to read" question out of the way well ahead of time; then we have leisure to think about what book to pick, and folks have enough advance warning to fit it into their schedules, if they want to. Discussion in this thread helps to gauge sentiment, but it's not really definitive the way that a poll can be!

Voted!