Hungry for more games

I realized that I haven’t written a single book-related feature since my very second post and that, to me, is just unacceptable. I’m a bookworm and feel like I’m missing something if I haven’t got a book to read. I’ve been in the process of reading a book for some time now, but I’ve yet to finish it; first it was because I was working on designing my blog and hadn’t the time and more recently I haven’t had a place to go and read it (the holidays are a busy, and often times quite loud, time of year). I will hopefully finish it soon and write a review for it because I am loving it so far! In the meantime, I’ve got an old book review of mine to share with you. Last year I kept a running list of books I want to read and, after I finished reading a book on the list, I’d cross it off and write a bit of a review for it. This is a review I wrote for Suzanne Collins‘s The Hunger Games in February of last year.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I haven’t been this excited about a book in years. I started it Monday night and finished it as soon as I woke up Wednesday. I would have finished it Tuesday night, but after reading for something like five to seven hours, I decided it was probably a good time to go to sleep. It’s so different from anything I’ve ever read and so hard to put down. Each chapter ended with a huge cliffhanger to the point where I’d always want to continue on to the next chapter until I was trapped. When I did finally put it down for the night, I had to finish in the middle of a chapter and it wasn’t even a good stopping point, but I figured it was better than the end of the chapter cliffhangers. It’s so suspenseful and interesting. I’d write more but it would just end up being a ton of different ways to say amazing. I don’t know what book will fill the void from finishing this book until I get my hands on the second one.

This is a bit of a summary; I’ve tried to leave out too many spoilers, if any. The Hunger Games takes place in what used to be North America but is now called Panem and is separated into 12 districts. There used to be 13 districts but there was an uprising from the citizens against the Capitol (government). The government stopped them and punished them. As a reminder to all of the residents of Panem, each year they have the Hunger Games. They select a boy and a girl from each district aged between 12-18. They put them all in an arena (could be a giant dessert, forest, etc.) and have them fight for survival by fighting for food and against one another. There can only be one winner; this is all televised and everyone has to watch… it’s a reality show. The main character is a girl named Katniss. Her young sister who is only 12 gets called to fight so Katniss volunteers to take her place. When Katniss was only 11, she is now 16, her dad died in a mining accident and she had to take care of her mom (who fell into depression) and her little sister. The description of the book didn’t prepare me for what I read at all.

The book is now the first of a trilogy that’s gotten a good amount of recognition. I’ve been wanting to read the second book since the minute I finished the first one, but unfortunately have not been able to get my hands on it. I’m think I’ll just need to purchase the trilogy. I usually don’t purchase books because the library was like my second home in the last place I lived, but I’ve not got nearly as big of a selection here for English books in Switzerland as I did in America. I’m lucky there are any English books at all in the city’s library (I checked out Eat, Pray, Love from the library here), but The Hunger Games has not yet graced its presence in the library nearest me.

Have you already read the book? The whole trilogy? Do you want to read it? Have no desire what-so-ever? I’d love to hear from fellow book lovers!

(Image clickable straight to source: SuzanneCollinsBooks.com)

Comments

Lauren
5 January 2011 - 10:28 am

I got the book last month, and after I’ve finished The Last Battle (the last book of the Narnia series; love it ♥ ), I look forward to starting it! 😀 Especially after your review. Hard-to-put-down books are the best kind. ^_^
…even though it can get annoying when you have stuff to do and can’t have a book to your face all the time, hehe ;p
Last time a book was like that for me was with Good Omens (by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet), though The Last Battle has been kind of like that for me, too. It can be a rare thing to come across with a book, so when it happens, you know you’ve got a good one.

Too bad that The Hunger Games trilogy hasn’t reached your local library yet. :[ Guess it hasn’t become quite THAT popular…yet. ;D

Eva
5 January 2011 - 1:57 pm

I know! I’m so excited for you to read it and let me know your thoughts! I really hope you love it at least half of what I did! 🙂 It felt as though those can’t put down books were so much more frequent before. Guess I need to go back to reading those type of books. Book after book was fantastic! I read that, in Stephenie Meyer’s review for this book, she said she took it to dinner and read it under the table; that’s how much she loved The Hunger Games!
Speaking of Stephenie Meyer, Twilight isn’t even available in English in the library here so who knows? Ha!

Mallory
9 January 2011 - 1:56 am

I read all three books in the series in one weekend and it was AMAZING. Amazing. As soon as I finished the last one I almost just launched into them all over again… but I restrained myself – I have so many other books I need to read!

Eva
9 January 2011 - 12:37 pm

Mallory – I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series even more now after reading your comment. I’m so glad to hear that the rest of the series is just as exciting and attention grabbing! I know what you mean about having so many other books to read. That’s why I hardly ever re-read a book. It’s got to be a really amazing book for me to read it a second time.

Pingback Four Leaf Clover » More than just a trilogy of books: The Hunger Games trilogy
9 September 2011 - 1:11 am

[…] the other, more as one book than three. I read the first one a little over a year ago (you can read my review here), but now re-read it with the others in a week and think it’s the only way to read them. This has […]





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