Reading Song of the Day: "The Taste of Ink" by The UsedIt's time for some Road Trip Wednesday with the uber cool chicks from YA Highway.
Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.
This week's topic:
The Five Senses (how do you use them in your work, what books have used them well etc.)
So, when me and Pam saw this topic on Twitter last night, we were a little lost. We could go on and on about what we do wrong in our own writing concerning the five senses, but that would take more than one post...and it would be boring. So, after some thinking, we both looked at each other and said, "We know a book that didn't use the sense of taste very well!" After jinxing one another, Pam said: "Oh, but there is a book that DID use the sense of taste REALLY well."
And from there our blog post was born. We decided to compare two books that both used the sense of taste and tell why we thought one book did it well and the other, not so much. What are the books you ask?
Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games
As much as we love the franchise, we have to say Ms. Collins did not utilize the sense of taste very well. She goes on and on about food in the Hunger Games and it's counterparts, but the reader is left wanting Ms. Collins to continue with the fantastic plot line instead of spending pages upon pages describing the food that Katniss eats.AND
Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss
We have NOTHING bad to say about this book. It was pure genius and that didn't change with the way that Mrs. Perkins described French delicacies and cuisines. We both thought we weren't fans of French cooking...until we read this book.
Can you all think of a book that did a fantastic job with one (or more) of the Five Senses? Which sense do you excel at in your own writing?
8 comments:
Interesting! I never noticed that about The Hunger Games, but I totally get what you're saying now. Huh.
I'm with Meredith, I never noticed that about The Hunger Games, but now that you've pointed it out, it's so true. And I have yet to read AatFK (it's in my TBR pile of course), but I keep hearing nothing but positives about it!
I haven't read The Hunger Games yet and I didn't notice the sensory in Anna. I'll have to look that over again.
I don't think you can write a story that takes place in Paris and not do an excellent job with describing flavors. It's like, sacrilege or something.
I remember reading The Witching Hour by Anne Rice as a teen and being so immersed in her description of a thunderstorm (the smells, sounds, feel, etc) that I looked up from the page and was startled to discover I was not in stormy New Orleans. I mean genuinely startled, and disappointed.
I completely agree. Stephanie Perkins used all of the senses so well I basically visited Paris while reading this.
You make a good point about The Hunger Games. Food was a big part of the pre-games, but Collins didn't go into too much detail. Though sometimes the circumstances of the character (worrying about being in a fight to the death with some other kids) occupies the character's mind so much that they don't pay too much attention to the little things.
Oh, great point about HG. And I still haven't read Anna but can't imagine it would make me love French cooking any more! (Still gotta pick it up, though!)
Stephanie Perkins did have fabulous "taste." I never noticed that with HG either, but I think I was just so enamored by the story that my mind was not on that detail. I may have to go reread now!
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