The Hunger Games

I will start this post out fully admitting that some of my "likes" tend to read like a list of a 14 year old girl.  Big fan of Harry Potter, Twilight, the shows on the WB (RIP) and now the CW.  A little teenage angst for me goes a long way.  I jumped on the Twilight bandwagon pretty far into the game.  The movie had started filming, but it was before it was the number one news story...everywhere.

Recently, Entertainment Weekly started talking about this other series, The Hunger Games Trilogy.  With the recent release of the third and final book, it was popping up in some lists, but it is not yet a top 10 bestseller.  I saw that were looking to cast a movie version of this book, and decided to give the series a go.  I wanted to be able to say I knew of the series way back when:)

The covers are deceptive, as they look more advanced and not the cover of a young adult novel and since they are not as well known as Twilight etc, I felt a bit better about breaking the books out on the T.  Also, Nick admitted that he actually read the synopsis of Mockingjay a few times because the cover is so unique and it was featured on Entertainment Weekly!  But he did NOT read it, I repeat did NOT.

The Hunger Games is the first in the series...

The story is of a Capitol that controls 12 Districts in some post apocalyptic era.  To reaffirm it's control, each year the Capitol holds what it calls the Hunger Games.  The Games involve a boy and a girl between the ages of 11 and 18, from each of the Districts who compete to the death.  The last person standing is declared the victor.  I guess that this premise is similar to Battle Royale as well as some others books and movies that I was not completely aware of.  Regardless, I was hooked.  This went from being my mindless T reading to taking over my life...skipping my favorite TV shows to go to bed early to read.  Nick loved it...(note the sarcasm here).

The day I finished the first book (the morning T ride meaning I had nothing for the ride back), I got a coupon from Border's for 40% off the second novel.  I thought by this point it would be in paperback and I would get it for 2 dollars...nope ALL hardcover. 

Regardless, I picked it up and went to a meeting at the Beehive.  I thought I was going to be a half hour early and would be able to dive right in, but other girls were already there, so no such luck...Yes, I was going to be THAT girl in the bar for this book.  I will not go into details about the plot because I do not want to spoil anything, but needless to say, the same patterned continued and I devoured this book.  I actually was conscience of what I was doing so tried to stay away, but was having trouble....

Shortly after the second book, I was on to the third, Mockingjay

I loved it...There were a few moments where I actually spoke out loud to the book, saying things like "I can NOT believe they did that" or "NO WAY."  Luckily, the third book is the final book in the series, and it is able to wind everything up well...definitely not a neat little bow, but gives you enough to move on, or so I thought...

A couple of days later, I was actually missing the book.  On more than one occasion, I was wondering what would happen next in the lives of the characters.  Now I am left to watch/read about the development of the movie on the series, and only hope they can do it justice.  To be sure, I will be one of those people criticizing everything, including the casting decisions for each character.  Much like those who hated the thought of Robert Pattinson as Edward in Twilight, and look how that turned out!