1. Does anyone else LOVE the Hunger Games books but loathe Katniss? AM I A HORRIBLE PERSON??? I keep reading all these reviews and blog posts anticipating Mockingjay, and they keep mentioning how incredibly smart and brave and wonderful Katniss is, and I keep being surprised by this.
Don't get me wrong, Katniss has skills. But she is not badass, and she is not that smart. I mean, she occasionally does all right in a life-threatening pinch, but it seems Haymitch, Peeta, and/or Cinna do the brainwork in her life. She just has to be pretty, get people to love her, and occasionally shoot people. She is very good at all of those things. And she obviously cares enough about the people in her life to risk her life for them.
I think the main thing about her that annoys me is her neediness and drama-llama tendencies. She continually uses Peeta and/or Gale to make her feel better (which makes sense, as she has a horrible life in a horrible world), she's continually bursting into tears or having emotional problems or angsting about all her problems for a whole chapter.
Catching Fire did make me understand Katniss a lot more. In the first book, I was just "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GIRL" but in the second book it was a lot more clear that she is very scarred emotionally and mentally by her upbringing. She's so scared of having children that could be killed in the games that anything approaching commitment puts her off. Which just makes it easier for her to lead Peeta and Gale on.
I'm trying not to make this a hate-post, but honestly, I just can't like Katniss. I can empathize with her, and I hope she turns out okay. But I don't admire her much.
What about all of you? Do you agree with me? If you don't, what do you like most about Katniss?
2. Completely unrelated question/scenario. Imagine with me, for a moment, a bookshelf. Half of the shelves on this bookshelf are filled, and have two layers of books on each shelf (if you know what I mean....one layer in the back and another in front of them...the shelves are deep enough).
Then imagine with me a different bookshelf, on which all of the shelves are filled but only one layer deep. Which, to you, appears to have more books?
*waiting anxiously for Mockingjay*
