Just Finished a Great Book ~ The Hunger Games

I am a huge fan of the Twilight books and their author, Stephenie Meyer. Months ago on her website, she raved about a book by Suzanne Collins called The Hunger Games. Always quick to heed recommendations from a favorite author, I hopped onto our library’s website and got my name on the list for the book. I had all but forgotten about it until I got the call from the library that there was a book on hold from me; in fact, when I picked up the book and read the inside of the dust jacket, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I’d even requested it. A story about a girl who is entered against her will into a tournament during which she must fight other kids to the death on orders from their government? It sounded like a far cry from most books I read and enjoy.

Finally, sometime yesterday morning, it hit me where I’d heard about the book, and I began to anticipate starting it. I read a few pages on my lunch, but had to get back to work before I could really get into it. Then when I got home from work, I had a few minutes to myself before I had to start working on a custom garter, so I decided to pick up where I left off. An hour later, I was completely hooked ~ it seemed like only twenty minutes had passed! I finally put the book down to get my sewing done, and took a few more hours away from the book to eat dinner and watch a movie with my dear boyfriend. But as soon as I could, I had The Hunger Games back in my hands, and before I knew it, it was well past my bedtime and I couldn’t imagine putting the book down.

I did eventually go to bed, the book unfinished, and I awoke this morning, anxious to find out how the story would end and frustrated that a day of work would get in the way of doing just that. Thankful that I’ve always been good at speed-reading, I was able to near the end of the book on my lunch. And then when I turned to the last page, I saw it ~ END OF BOOK ONE. WHAT?!? The story’s not over? I was immediately hit with a wave of mixed emotions ~ happy that I will get to hear more about the characters that have so grown on me after 374 pages, but frustrated that the story is NOT over, and that I’ll have to wait until September for the next installment (I found out this little fact after a bit of Internet research ~ apparently, The Hunger Games is the first of a trilogy). I do love reading series, but I generally like to wait until all the books have been published so I can devour them all at once rather than wait patiently for the next installment to be released. (Patience is not my thing.) Ah well, it’s too late for that now. While I wait for Book 2 ~ Catching Fire ~ to be released, the only thing I can do is tell as many people as possible about this wonderful book and hope they enjoy it as much as I did! I don’t want to say too much about it and ruin the story (I tend to rattle on once I get started), but what I will say is that it’s an amazing story about perseverance and love.

Hoping people take my advice and read this wonderful book,
Heather