My summer reading list is back! Hooray books! And I’m starting it off by jumping on The Hunger Games bandwagon. No shame.
In case you’ve never read the series, it’s a trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.
Background: S and our neighbor A read The Hunger Games for their children’s lit class our sophomore year (I know, it doesn’t seem like children’s lit to me, either) and both raved about it. I planned on reading the series last summer, but never got around to it. J got the first book for me for Christmas, but I only had a few days left of break and knew I’d want to grab the second book right after. (I was right—I ordered the second and third the day after finishing the first.) Instead, it was the first book I read when I got home for summer vacation.
Style: I think Suzanne Collins’ style has the same balance of dialogue and description as Barbara Kingsolver does. There were some description-heavy moments, but they were all intriguing and held my interest. Whenever I felt like I was starting to get bored, Collins broke up those long paragraphs with dialogue that quickened the pace.
Plot: Collins is the queen of cliffhangers. I couldn’t stop reading even if I wanted to, because each chapter left me wanting more. If I had to pee or wanted more coffee, I had to stop myself from racing back to the book to start reading again. (Sometimes I’d think, Annie, chill out, it’s just a book.) Mockingjay was a little slower in the beginning, but it picked up near the last quarter or third of the book. The series had everything a good story needs: competition, suspense, evil, heartbreak, a love triangle.
General thoughts: When I was a senior in high school, I momentarily jumped on the Twilight bandwagon and immediately regretted it. (And, after forcing myself to read the first two books, hopped right back off. I only give second chances, not third. Sorry Twilight junkies, not my thing.) I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in one sitting each, and took fewer than two days to finish Mockingjay. If you haven’t read it, run to the nearest library and pick up a copy this very instant. (Unless it’s closed. Please don’t break into any libraries.) Once you read it, I gotta know: team Gale or team Peeta?
My verdict: 
