I owe somigliana a big thanks for that book rec of The Hunger Games. It was a fascinating, riveting book.

The premise is actually rather horrifying if you think about it for more than a second, and it was especially brought home to me because the protagonist, Katniss, was from District 12... which is what used to be, in this world, Appalachia. Essentially, Katniss could have been from right here. District 12 is the coal miners, and less than a hundred years ago coal mining was still a very active part of life in this area.

I used to listen to Great-Aunt Effie talk about her father and brothers going to the mines, about the time when she lost one of her brothers to a mine collapse. There's a house out on our lake that once collapsed when someone was building it (no one was hurt) because it had been built over a coal shaft that everyone had forgotten about.

And then they rebuilt it and it did it again. And again, though apparently they fixed the problem, so the third time really was the charm.

I especially loved the Appalachian lullaby that was used during part of the book. I know the author wrote it, but it's likely based off something real, so I'm trolling what I can find to see if I can find something similar.


I adored the book and I really can't wait for the next one.