While I was in the hospital, fresh out of surgery and still in the ICU, my friends Christine and ‘She (pronounced Shay) came to visit me. Christine was nice enough to bring me a three book series: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and The Mockingjay. They both insisted that I read it and swore that I’d love it.
I’ll be honest. I never gotten into this whole…mass hysteria, everybody has to read twilight and harry potter thing. Nothing wrong with it…I just never got into it. Some people read novels or whatever while they’re in school so they can take their minds off of school and simply read something that is completely separate. Well…I cannot do that. I cannot seem to get myself to read something that is non-school related when I have school related readings to do. I just can’t. I tried…and I had no idea what I was reading.
But anyhow, I digress. The girls told me that the Hunger Games movie was coming out and it was imperative that I read at LEAST that specific book in its entirety so that we could go and see the movie. Wow…okay! I honestly did not see myself being all that interested in the book, but I read anyways. I was actually quite glad that they brought the books for me as I did not want to spend tons of money on the TV.
Let me tell you. When I wasn’t with visitors or family chatting, going to the washroom, eating, attending transplant classes, or being wheeled to and from various tests like ultrasounds..I was reading The Hunger Games. I really enjoyed the book. I really felt connected with the characters.
To me, this book is reminiscent of The Running Man- that old movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. There is also a Japanese movie called Battle Royale that seems to have a similar premise as well. I haven’t seen Battle Royale yet as it was only just released on DVD here in Canada this year even though it was released in 2001. The Hunger Games seems to have similarities to both. Take into consideration that Battle Royale is said to be extremely violent, whereas The Hunger Games is aimed towards a more teenage audience and therefore will not be anywhere close to as violent as Battle Royale. I plan to see The Hunger Games in the theatre, perhaps in a few weeks when I feel a bit more up to it. I also just purchased Battle Royale online so I’ll watch that soon also…I think I’ll wait and watch the Hunger Games FIRST and watch Battle Royale sometime after that.
Anyhow, I do give The Hunger Games two thumbs up. I already finished reading Catching Fire, and will soon begin reading The Mockingjay. These books are easy reads. They are under 400 pages and the print/font is pretty large. Chapters are about 10 pages each on average.
Have a read if you haven’t already! 🙂