DB

I recently finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanna Collins, which I thought was a surprisingly good book. I thought that the world of the Hunger Games aged along nicely along with its audience, with me being one of them! There was a good amount of gray in the book, with flawed characters on either side of the Capitol vs Districts political parties, and a few fixes to the worldbuilding that was done in the earlier books. There was wonderful symbols scattered throughout the book in the transformation of trinkets, songs, and how they reflected the stories of the characters.

Naturally, after reading a book like this and knowing that it was popular, I went to check what other people thought. I think it’s motivated by the fact that I know that it’s a popular book, which means there’s a lot of eyes on it. That also meant that there may be other bits and pieces that I wouldn’t have noticed myself, and I wanted to enjoy the work as viewed by others–I don’t have their perspectives, after all.

I was a bit perplexed by some of the negative reviews, and me and my friend had a discussion about why that could be–could it be that people were different than us, and thus would have different opinions than us?

Surely not. (This is sarcasm.)

Besides the obvious reasons of difference of opinion, perhaps it was how the book was consumed.

How We Consume

How do you read a book? And is there a wrong way to read one? I argue that depending on the book, it really matters how you read the book and how long you take to finish a book. It’s sort of like food.

I remember growing up watching Iron Chef, and all sorts of cooking shows on the TV. The fun thing about Iron Chef was that during the tasting portion of the competition, chefs could specify to the judges the best way that they think the dish would be enjoyed.

“First eat the steak without the sauce, then with the sauce,” or something to that effect.

I think that much like a fine dining experience, there are books that should be consumed in a precise way. However, the author doesn’t explicitly tell us that, unless it was on their mind or if it is understood in the culture of that genre.

Binging and Overwhelming Sensations

When you go to a buffet, many of the dishes are fried, oily, and filling, so that your stomach will be somewhat padded before you get to the more expensive dishes. The culture of a buffet is to eat as much as you can, but the business of the buffet is to get you full before you eat more than what you paid for.

In following a binge of food that you probably should not binge, you feel heavy. Hey, I get it. I’ve been there. You feel heavy, a little sick, and even antacids can’t help with the acid or the food coming right back up your gullet.

There’s books that I’ve learned can’t be binged.

Smut.

I was just getting into the spicier books, so I decided to tackle one of the more infamous spicy texts. I read 50 Shades of Gray in 3 days.

There is a LOT of sex.

So much so that I couldn’t enjoy reading it. I typically binge most of my books, but this is where I learned that hey, sometimes these books should be read in very small installments over a long period of time.

How do you eat a bucket full of chicken? All in one night?

Probably not.

But, there are things that are better when read all in one sitting.

The Impressions Between Reading Sessions

I can’t speak for the experience of reading a book over a month, since I typically read most of my books within a week if I can help it. (With non-fiction being an exception, especially for drier reads.) I don’t know how to get in and out of a world more than a few days apart when I’m reading…but I can when I’m playing or running a TTRPG. Huh. More on that in another post.

One of the things that I noticed while reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was that I had a feeling of dread during a good amount of the book. We’re in the world of the Hunger Games, after all. Things can’t go well, can they? Small and large victories never felt permanent to me, and I was cautious in getting too invested in a happy reality. I knew the world, and I was very much immersed in it while reading the book.

This is mostly because I didn’t spend much time between my reading sessions of the book. I finished it in a few days. I carried the feelings between scenes pretty easily because they were fresh in my mind. And because of that, the book read well to me. It wasn’t slow, like others had said, because I was consistently in the world.

Without spoilers, I think that stretched over a longer period of time to read, I think this book may be worse. I think you need to be steeped in the dread of the Hunger Games world. And I think that’s best done in a big binge–I think it’s hard to gain that back in future sessions after a chapter or a section is finished.

Like a tart, it’s something I would rather eat all at once. I wouldn’t stretch out a grilled cheese over multiple sessions or meals. My appetite doesn’t work that way. And similarly, my appetite doesn’t think that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes should be read for more than 2 weeks.

Finding Appetite

Like food, I think it takes some time to find what you do and don’t like where it comes to books and any type of media. It takes time to figure out how much horror you can read at a time. It takes time to figure out what books can be binged, and what should be stretched out. And for each person, it may differ, and that’s okay. It’s just that you have to read to your pace and appetite, just like with food. We’re all different and that’s okay.

In addition to writing short notes after reading a book if you want to retain some things, it may help to write some notes about how you read it! Did you read it too quickly or too slowly? Is this a book you would’ve enjoyed in the park, or maybe just at home? Would you have enjoyed reading this together with someone else?

Just some food for thought. And I hope that your thoughts are filled with words, and your belly is full of food.

(Oh, right. The melancholy part. My heart ached while reading this book, and I was pretty down after finishing it. And maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t binge it…but I don’t regret anything!)