Book review- The Hunger Games

If you know me well, you know that I DIE for a good book. It’s like my kryptonite. If I am reading a good book, I get on what I call a book high. This consists of me shutting out everything in my life to focus on reading. You know, reading before work as I am getting ready, reading at lunch, reading when I get home (and not paying attention to my husband- love ya babe!), reading at night until I can't keep my eyes open. The usual, right?

Some would say I have an addictive personality. I say….only when it comes to great books. Call me a weirdo if you like. But if you do, I would say you have never read #1 Twilight or #2 THE HUNGER GAMES. The latter series is my current obsession.

I must say thank you to one of my best friends, Kacey, who turned me on to the series. When she told me what it was about, I was skeptical. The run down goes something like this: Written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem which used to be North America. The heroine of the book is Katniss Everdeen. She lives in a world where a powerful government called the Capitol holds power and greatly abuses the citizens of the 12 Districts. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to show citizens that even children are not beyond the reach of the Capitol's power.

That’s the Wikipedia version. My version to people has just been, (in a very excited and slightly shrill voice) “Well, it’s about the future, and this girl named Katniss, and she has to fight in something called the Hunger Games where people kill each other and you just HAVE to read it. It’s SOOOO good!!”

And you do have to read it. It is SO good. Since it is a series of three books, #1 The Hunger Games, #2 Catching Fire and #3 Mockingjay, I have been able to extend my fix, if you will.

Katniss is an amazing character. I equate her to be just a little bit like Bella from Twilight, but SO much more likeable. She is strong, smart and relatable. And the world she lives in is very interesting for people of our generation to read about. Learning about the citizens in the Capitol, it is interesting to think if present-day Americans could suffer a similar fate… giving up their power to a government who had subdued them with excess. I’m not going to get too political here; it’s just an interesting theme to follow in the book.

But even as important as that story line is, is the story line that happens between Peeta/Katniss/Gale. It is very much a Team Edward- Team Jacob dynamic.

All in all, you just have to read it. It’s SO good!! AND they are making it into a movie- it will come out on March 23, 2012. Can’t flipping wait!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Xoxo, Emily

PS- Yes, I am putting the "Stuff that really matters" label on this post. Judge if you will.