The Lake and Lucky Loot

The Letter L Chapters 12-14: Looking for the Lake and finds Lucky Loot

Staying alive in the game is one thing. Running for your life when the game makers let loose fireballs is another. They launch them at Katniss and lure her toward the lake, licking her wounds. Her leg is badly burned. Her injuries lead her to climb a tree for safety out of the way of the other Careers. They had been looking for her with lover boy.

Night falls, and a nest of tracker jackers high up on a tree limb looms over their sleeping heads unknowingly. They are large poisonous bees spawned in a lab created by the Capitol in war times, like landmines in the districts of Panem. It is the only thing that will save Katniss from the careers, and she's gotta try to drop it on them while they're still sleeping; if she wants to live. It's a perfect opportunity really, thanks to Little Rue's ingenuity for pointing out the nest of Tracker Jackers.

She has until sunrise before they wake up, to carry out her plan. A parachute drops a pot of ointment for her burned leg. Lucky Loot. Lives are at stake. All of them seem to have been bitten by the giant wasps including Peeta. Lucky for her she was able to retrieve the bow and arrow from glimmer who dies from tracker jacker poison. 

Kids Killing Kids

The Letter K Chapter 11: Killing and Kissing are Key

Let the Hunger Games begin. Katniss comes away from the Cornucopia with a backpack, and a knife stuck in her pack from the girl who threw it at her from District 2. "Thanks for the knife," she says. She runs for miles into the woods. She was lucky to get anything at all let alone escape with her life after disregarding orders. At the end of the day, eleven are dead. She worries if Peeta made it out alive. I'm glad she's resolved to letting Peeta die from someone else rather than doing it herself *sarcasm*. I'm so happy he shook his head at her knowing Katniss, she would have wanted the bow and arrow after seeing all those weapons! They were told to run away from there and get to water asap. Peeta does. Katniss hesitates. Now she'll have to kiss him to deatIDKbut that's what I would do.

She settles up high in the tree for the night all alone and tries to sleep. Some tribute lights a fire and she thinks what stupid person would do that and then hears her scream. The careers attack the girl but Peeta ends up killing her. To Katniss' surprise Peeta is allied with the careers.

The boom of the canons, land mines, screams, blood, kids killing each other, make a jam packed action reality tv program from Capitol Entertainment.

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I had to choose a faction, I'd want to be divergent because I am all of the factions at once. I hated the factions - Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Erudite and Dauntless because they were too wierd for me. The Amity community reminds me of a Hutterite Colony. Only Tris and Tobias were real and so was Tris' mother because they were Divergent. I have to agree that the training and initiation of the Dauntless was more like torture and I'd have to be a masochist to join that faction. Fear is a terrible thing.

I liked Tris aka Beatrice and Tobias but Tris' mother was too short lived. I would have liked to know more about her.

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When was the last time you visited a library?

Divergent
It's been at least a couple months since I visited a library. It was when I returned a book. I can't even remember what the book was admittingly. I like to go to Chapters though. Recently I bought Divergent by Veronica Roth and finished reading it yesterday. I'm glad I don't have to wait long for Insurgent. It comes out next month so I'll probably purchase that book as well.

I should visit the library more, it would be much cheaper but then again I don't like deadlines and I also have no more room on my bookshelf. There's no excuse really. I live right across the way from one. I guess it's because I'm impatient. When I want to read a book , I want it and I want it now. I don't like waiting and most of the time because the book isn't available it means I have to be put on the waiting list, so instead I just go out and buy the book. It's different with Ebooks but I could spend a fortune there and I'd rather not.

Juliet is upset

The Letter J Chapter 10: Juliet is not jovial

It was Peeta's idea to confess his love for Katniss and make the crowd think they were together. He stayed right to his feelings, but unfortunately, Katniss was furious because she thought it made her look weak --- and shoved him into a flower pot.(suck it up, princess)

Haymitch helped her see that it made her look more desirable. I don't think she needed aid for that, but I believe she was totally out of line for attacking Peeta the way she did. He has the right to his feelings, however, personal. I didn't like the way she acted, and it was like throwing salt on a wound, adding insult to injury. Not nice. I guess she hadn't exhausted enough of her temper back in her room the night before.

Ok, so a remorseful Katniss now thinks she owes Peeta for doing her a favor again, helping her gain more votes from sponsors. I'm sure if Gale were there he would have punched Peeta in the face no doubt, but he isn't. I can see her action appear in defense of Gale unintentionally, but she said he wasn't her boyfriend so whatever. I've always been on the Peetas side, can you tell? If the choice were mine, I'd forget about Gale. Hasn't her mother ever told her that it's not ladylike to beat on boys? Fyi mine didn't either.

I hope by now Katniss will realize how charming and utterly winning the boy in love is. She, on the other hand, was only made beautiful by Cinna, desirable by Peeta's confession, tragic by circumstance and by all accounts unforgettable That about sums her up.

Final instructions from Haymitch is to get as far away from the Cornucopia and find water. It is no place for them unless they want to be a part of the bloodbath. Haymitch wants them to 'Stay Alive.'

The time in the arena can last for weeks, but there is no way of knowing how long it's going to take for them to die. The game makers don't reveal what the arena will be like either. Katniss hopes there will be trees.

That night..... She's feeling anxious and couldn't sleep so decides to get some air and finds Peeta also on the roof. It's a convenient place to talk when they both should be sleeping. Peeta opens up about not being a contender in the games and that he wants to die as himself without becoming a monster and a pawn in their silly Games. Okay well so much for a pleasant conversation, Katniss is like "I can't wait to cut him down and rip his heart out" wtf is wrong with her?

Cinna would bet on Katniss to win if he could. Aww, how sweet. At least he wins her heart. I'm so disillusioned by love at this point. Where is the Joy in it?

Impressive Interview

The Letter I Chapter 9: Impressive Interview

The parade of tributes is forced to talk to a man named Caesar Flickerman, who embodies the inanity of the entire Capitol. He's as irritating as American Idol's Ryan Seacrest.

I'll never understand why Katniss doesn't make friends with Peeta or trust him. After all, he's done for her

" risked a beating to give me bread, steadied me in the chariot, covered me with the redheaded Avox girl, insisted Haymitch know my hunting skills"

Why is she so convinced they can't be friends? Because of her, they fail to form an alliance from the start. I'm sure she thinks she's going to die yet she promises to win for Prim. Why does she think she'll have to kill him? She's irrational. Yes, the games are unjust, unfair, cruel, barbaric, absurd and unreal. Peeta is a really nice guy but what he feels for her is real, and she has every reason to trust him.

Katniss spends the next 4 hours with Effie preparing for her interview learning how to walk in high heels and a full-length gown and all kinds of mannerisms like posture, sitting, eye contact, hand gestures, smiling. All this is irrelevant anyways seeings as they will all be dead soon but still, the point of the interview is to make the audience like her. I think Katniss feels indifferent towards the capitol.

The afternoon spent with Haymitch learning how to present herself isn't any better. He thinks she comes across hostile and has as much charm as a dead slug. She's mad at him and can't accept the injustice of the Hunger Games but has to try to be herself and answer the questions as honestly as she can.

Katniss takes all her anger out on everyone by smashing plates around in her room, and when the Avox girl tries to clean up, she yells at her too. Being Avox isn't the worst thing that can happen. There was really nothing she could have done to save the Avox' boyfriend without the risk of being one herself or dying. Oh, the injustice! Only a new uprising could change things where nobody would have to attend another reaping, play in their hunger games, get their tongue cut out, be punished for learning to feed their families instead of starving to death.

I love the dress Cinna made. It was very impressive indeed! It had fiery flames like the other costume and looked stunning on her. When she twirled, the dress engulfed in flames at the bottom. Peeta admits to all of Panem that he's loved her forever.

Hayyyyymitch

The Letter H Chapter 8: Haymitch No Harm Done

Katniss believes she failed miserably in the private audition with the gamemakers and they'll make her family suffer for shooting an arrow at them but she was only trying to get their attention. Nothing happens of course. No harm done. Being a tribute in their Games is punishment enough. Haymitch tells her if they wanted to punish her they'd probably just put her through hell in the arena. Oddly enough the advice she gets from Haymitch cheers her up. Peeta was also ignored but he didn't take it as bad or overreact like she did.

In spite of her hissy fit they thought she deserved the high score of 11. Peeta gets an 8, Rue got a seven and the careers scoring in the 8-10 range regard her with disdain. The higher the score the better chances of getting sponsors. I was a little suspicious for the Gamemakers giving her such a high score. In Catching fire we hear that Plutarch Heavensbee, the gamemaker who fell over in the punch bowl was part of a secret hidden rebellion that was planning to overthrow the Capitol. He's on Katniss' side and so is Haymitch but Seneca Crane isn't and neither is President Snow.

Katniss was really starting to miss hunting in the woods and the first time she met Gale. It was on a Sunday afternoon in late October while she was out hunting and gathering. She spotted a dead rabbit in a snare that belonged to Gale. He thought she was going to steal it and said "That's dangerous" but she was just curious and wanted to know how to set traps and snares because hers weren't working. They began trading their knowledge of hunting. Gale, with snares and traps and Katniss, with edible plants. Katniss gained a new sense of security having him around and became a better hunter. He was her confidant and a strong shoulder to lean on.

She never questions Gales motives but she always doubts Peetas. The difference with Gale is they were thrown together by a mutual need to survive whereas with Peeta the other's survival means their own death. It's quite easy to die in the hunger games if one chooses and I think Peeta would sacrifice his own life for hers. There is no telling what Gale would do. In my mind he would let her die.

Haymitch announces a change in plans when Peeta decides to be coached separately. Katniss does not understand it and questions his motives again.