The Hunger Games Trilogy

Talk about a page turner! I could not put these books down, which was not a good thing seeming as how I started them at the beginning of another school year. So, I spent most of September and the first week of October halfheartedly doing school with the kids just counting down the clock until 3pm when I would jump on the couch and read some more until I would finally pry myself off to make a dinner and pretend like I hadn't been reading all afternoon, only to jump right back into it as soon as the kids were in bed. Chris even decided that if he was going to have anything to do with me he'd better start reading the books so that we could talk. It reminded me of when I worked at Alexander's Copy Center in college while Chris and I were engaged and I was so into my job, that Chris had to get a job there just so he could see me.

A few things I learned about myself while reading The Hunger Games (not all good):
- I have an addictive personality, meaning that whatever the latest thing is that I'm into, it becomes all consuming in my life. I noticed this first with The Hunger Games and later with photo editing as well as buying, cataloging and yes, even reviewing books.
- I like books that are dark and violent, to a degree. The Hunger Games had the right amount of dark with little glimmers of light. As opposed to Wuthering Heights which I hated because there was not a single ray of cloudy or dim light in the whole book.
- I actually do like a love story and a happy ending after all. As much as I loved The Hunger Games, neither the love story nor the "happy" ending were enough for me.
- When a book is really, really interesting, I can read fast. I am generally a slow reader, but not with these books. It only took me so long because I just don't have a lot of time for reading.

Enough about me, would I recommend this book? Definitely, but I realize that having said that, not everyone will like it. It will be too gory, or too anti-war/government, or too unrealistic for some. And...I would definitely not recommend it for children. I'd say 16-17 is probably a good age to read this.