The Hunger Games

I just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I'm so sad that it's over. It's an excellent book and it had me hanging on the edge of my seat almost the entire time. I was so tense, I'm sure I burned some extra calories reading it. I was snapping at my kids and Peanut Head while reading it. I just wanted them to stop talking at me so I could read it. I was a little manic. And no one in the house has any underwear because of it. Oops.

The Hunger Games is about a futuristic reality show in which 24 teenagers are pitted against each other to the death. I'd compare it to Survivor, except it spares us the nauseating drama, and contestants kill each other instead of voting each other out of the game. Oh yeah, and the contestants don't want to be in the game. It's a death sentence.

The games take place in the Capitol of Panem, which is situated in what used to be North America. There are twelve districts outside of the Capitol, and each district is forced to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18. These teenagers are the contestants in the annual Hunger Games, which is broadcast live on TV.

You might think this book contains a lot of blood and gore, but it really isn't terribly graphic in that respect. Thankfully. What I think is most fascinating about this book is the philosophical struggles and reasoning, along with the wit that enables contestants to survive past the first day.

I don't want to give anything away, but I feel I should warn you that this book is the first in a trilogy. Ack! The second installment won't be out until September. I'm a little irritated by that because I want to read it now. I just want to be up front about that though, because when you finish this book, you'll be left wanting more. And you'll be mad at me.

Regardless, I think you need to read this book. So go and get it from your library, borrow it from a friend, get it from your local bookstore, or buy it online here:

Just so you know, Mattie Cake recommended this book to me. We trade a lot of books back and forth. She even got me to sign up on Good Reads, which is a cool site to keep track of books you've read, rate them, and share the information with your friends.

Mattie Cake recently gave me a tongue lashing because apparently I give every book five stars. And okay, I admit, last week I added all the Janet Evanovich books I've read and I gave all of them five stars. But I love the Stephanie Plum Bounty Hunter series, so I'm sure they are all five stars. Even though I can't remember all of them exactly. Just to appease Mattie Cake, I went back and rated some of my books, those that I read awhile ago and can't remember so well, with four stars. So, if you see five stars on my Good Reads bookshelf (see sidebar), just check to see if there's a month and year date and that will tell you if I added it right after I read it, or years after I read it in which case I'm probably just talking out my bum. I joined Good Reads in late 2008. Just so you know.