I’d like to start by asking this question: Why didn’t anyone tell me that this series is actually AMAZING!?  As usual, I was blinded by the phenomenon.  Most of the time, something that causes mass chaos with children and adults alike, turns out to be overrated.  The exception to this rule is Harry Potter, though, if I hadn’t jumped on that wagon at 12 years old, I may have been skeptical about it too.

Needless to say I read the Hunger Games series out of sheer curiousity.  I wanted to see what all the hubub was about.  I won’t give any spoilers, so don’t worry.  I will just make general comments on the series as a whole.  I read all three books (about 280 pages each) in less than a week.  Had I not had to work on some of those days, I would’ve been done in half that time.  Even Stephen King applauded Hunger Games for its addictiveness.  By the end, I felt like I had run a marathon.  My emotions were twisted and turned and even reading it as fast as I did, I had to wait way too long to find out how it ended.

It’s true that the main plot point to this book is almost identical to that of Battle Royale (a novel published in 1999).  But even if Collins did blatanly steal that plot point, it doesn’t matter.  The brilliance of the series doesn’t lie in the idea that this society forces youth to kill each other off for their amusement.  The brilliance is in the character development and interaction, as well as the great writing.  I compare most all “young adult” books to Harry Potter now because I think that J.K. Rowling set a new precedence for the quality in which a young adult book should be written.  Kids are beyond their years these days and there’s no sense in being lazy about the books written for them.  

As others can attest, I get a little too emotionally invested in books, television, and movies sometimes.  Example: I cried at the end of Captain America.  My Hunger Games experience was no different.  I acted like an addict and the books were my drug.  I read it at the gym, while I made dinner, while I ate dinner, while Jimmy watched TV, etc.  I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning on a “school night” just to finish the final book.  And when I did, I just wept.  It was a flood of emotions - like the levee broke and I couldn’t dam up the flowing tears.  There were multiple reasons behind my tears.  Suzanne Collins did such a great job and I was so invested in those characters, that when the story ended, I was: sad it was over, happy the way it ended, sad the way it ended, sad there wasn’t more, and happy that I was no longer a slave to it.  

In conclusion: yes, I began as a doubter.  I didn’t expect to agree with the mass majority of human beings.  But yes, I loved this series to the end.  

My advice: Read every book.  Don’t start unless you have access to all three.  Start on a Friday night, and expect to not get anything else done that weekend.

Had I read this as an academic, there would be a lot more to say.  It’s not that I didn’t get all the symbols, but mostly I was too lazy to really think about them.  That said, it’s still an entertaining story on the surface.  Lots of kookiness and silly things.  Mostly I was wondering why his wife didn’t shack of with the milk man after he was gone three or four times for years at a time.  I remember my mom watching a mini series of Gulliver’s Travels when I was a kid.  Maybe I’ll check it out.  I’d love to see how they interpret some of these crazy creatures.  Maybe I’ll try the Jack Black version, but an early 90s version starring Ted Danson sounds much more promising.

Also, note the sweet cover - got that puppy on my shelf.

As this is the third book in the series that I’ve read, not much has changed.  It was a great fast read, and I had no idea who the bad guy was until the very last page.  

I can’t wait for ‘D.’  I hear it’s about deadbeats.

Ok, so my mom has been right for 25 years - these books are awesome.  This one went by even faster than ‘A’, but I liked it just as much.  I’m so bad at guessing the solutions to mysteries, and that’s why it’s so fun.  I had no idea until the last five pages who the “burglar” was.  Also, I like to live vicariously through Kinsey Milhone.  She’s kind of a badass.  

This was a recommendation and I ended up quite liking it.  I love Sue Monk Kidd’s fiction, but I’d never gotten into her nonfiction.  What I liked about this was that it was a dual story - you never get bored.  Also I love travelling so I loved all of the descriptions of Greece and Turkey and France.  Traveling with Pomegranates is about a mother and daughter both at different crossroads in their lives, trying to figure out what to do with themselves.  I think that’s pretty relatable for most all of us.  It was a quick and enjoyable read.

My mom has been reading this series since before I was born.   They’ve always been on our shelf, but it wasn’t until now, when I’m 24 and don’t live at home, that I finally read one.  Logically, I started with “A.”  I think I appreciated this much more that I’ve put in a few good years of murder-solving TV shows. 

Here’s what I liked:

1. Short. I love being able to tear through a book.  They definitely get longer from here on out, but they’re also pretty easy reads.  Me likey.

2. Awesome 80s.  It’s more fun that the setting is in the 80s.  No cell phones, not a lot of computers.  That means good, hard investigating with card catalogs, message services, and newspapers and shit. 

3. Characters.  Kinsey Milhone is a badass.  She’s tough, she smart, and she’s witty.  And she’s perfectly fine with living alone and doing her own thing.  Plus she’s a private detective.  Equals badass.  Note: my mom named her dog after Kinsey’s landlord Henry cause she liked his character so much.

I’m excited to continue this series.  Every time I go home I’ll have to switch out for the next couple of letters.  Also, since my mom has been reading them since they came out, she has the original copies like the one above.  All awesomely 80s.

Let’s just hope Sue Grafton makes it to “Z.”  

I always get The Secret Garden and A Little Princess mixed up.  Probably because they both start have something to do with India and because they were written by the same person.  I had only seen the movies until I read my awesome threads version of The Secret Garden.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The imagery was fantastic.  I want to live in a 100 room house that backs up to an English moor.  I took a wrong turn somewhere in life I guess.  The story is full of imagery - mostly garden imagery.  But there is also a cute little story to go along with it.  I will say, look up an example of a Yorkshire accent and it will make reading this book much easier.  

This was a great, quick read - perfect for a snowy day.  

I’m not a horse person.  What I mean by that is that I’m scared of horses - for the most part.  I grew up with sheep, had cows behind our house, went to plenty of rodeos, 4H shows, and farms - but I think I’ve only ridden a horse once.  It’s not that I don’t like them, they’re just so big!  Anywho, I’m glad I read Black Beauty because it really does enlighten you about horses.  Granted, this is in the late 1800s, but I’m sure most of it still applies.  This was a very enjoyable story, and it was quite a quick read.  Plus notice how awesome the cover is.  Thanks to my mommy I have this version.