What I'm Reading

I find myself doing a lot of re-reading these days for some reason, and I'm currently re-reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

If you haven't read these books yet, you need to!  They really are very well written, even if they are young adult books.  The Hunger Games is the first in the trilogy, then Catching Fire, and then the conclusion Mockingjay.  The books are set in a future version of our world, where the United States doesn't exist anymore.  The country is now called Panem and is comprised of the Capitol and twelve districts that answer to the Capitol in a form of servitude.  The Hunger Games follows Katniss Everdeen, a young girl from District 12, as she goes to the Hunger Games as one of the tributes from her district.  There are two tributes from each of the twelve districts and they fight to the death in the Hunger Games, for the viewing pleasure of the Capitol.  This has been going on for 74 years.  It's really quite repulsive.  Katniss is a very complicated, introspective girl.  She is incredibly smart and a very efficient hunter.  The three books follow her struggles and her personal growth for over a year.

I want to say more but I don't want to give anything away to anybody who hasn't read them!  There are so many horrific things that happen in her life and you really feel compassion for Katniss.  But then there are other times when you want to shake her and make her grow the hell up and act differently!  It's very interesting to read about the progression of her relationships with Gale and Peeta, the two men in her life, and see her mature from a girl to a young woman.  That all sounds vague enough!

What I'm so, so, so incredibly excited about are the movies they are currently making from these books!  Entertainment Weekly seems just as excited as I am and covers every move on the movie making.  They recently had covers with the stars of the movie, and the actors portraying them look almost exactly how I picture them when reading!

Katniss

Gale & Peeta

Yay yay yay!!!  I can't wait!  And I think that these movies will be more true to the books than the Twilight series has been, because Suzanne Collins has been involved in the screen writing process.  Lenny Kravitz is going to play Katniss' stylist, Cinna; Woody Harrelson is going to be Katniss and Peeta's mentor, Haymitch; Donald Sutherland as President Snow; Stanley Tucci as Ceasear Flickerman, the Hunger Games interviewer; Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, the escort.  I think it's a great cast!

Check these books out - they're so worth it!